Fort Madison IA - Tonight marks night number two of the four performances at the Tri State Rodeo in Fort Madison Iowa. The heartland was in for a treat for yet another night of top notch rodeo action.
Tonight brought a lot of familiar names to the table such as the Demoss brothers, Heath Ford, Justin McDaniel, the 2008 PRCA World Champion Bareback rider. Also out tonight in the bull riding was the 19th ranked bull rider in the PRCA world standings Howdy Cloud, and with two weeks left in the season of the PRCA the man on the bubble in the bull riding Beau Schroeder of China, Texas, he is only a few thousand dollars ahead of 16th place bull rider Jarrod Craig so its crunch time for Schroeder and he is hitting the road hard and making every stop count. Also in attendance tonight is the man who placed in the top 5 in all 3 of the events that he participates in, in Dayton Iowa last weekend was in town but didn't have such the great turn out that he did in Dayton. That man would be the 5 time winner of the Linderman Award for working both sides of the arena Kyle Whitaker. He was bucked off of his bronc tonight, but you have to hand it to the man who went from one side of the arena and back.
Once again looking out into the crowd was like looking into a strobe light when The One Arm Bandit entered the arena. Cameras were flashing, people were cheering, and Boyd Polhamus was talking about what happened to John Payne to make him The One Arm Bandit. As the buffalo came out of the back and started rolling around to cover themselves in dirt, Boyd distracted the crowd for a split moment while The One Arm Bandit ran out of the gate and traded his paint horse for a long eared mule. The crowd loved it. Boyd talked about how it took 3 years for Mr. Payne to train that mule to perform the act that so many rodeo fans across the world love.
The rodeo will continue through Saturday night Sept. 11. Friday night following the rodeo performance will be Travis Tritt, and headlining Saturday night will be Jake Owen. So if you’re around southeast Iowa you ought to come out to the 9 time PRCA Great Lakes Circuit Best Large Outdoor Rodeo Of The Year! For more information head on over to tristaterodeo.org or call 319-372-2550
