The first weekend in August always marks one of the oldest celebrations in Iowa, the Old Settler’s Picnic held yearly in Maxwell. It began literally as a yearly picnic for members of the community. By the turn of the century it had became a major event for many surrounding communities as well. Today with every town having some sort of event and so many large amusement parts individual town events do not always bring the outside visitors they used to. Not so with Maxwell. For many years now the Maxwell Rodeo Committee has held their annual rodeo in conjunction with Old Settler’s.
The Maxwell Rodeo Committee should be commended for taking a vacant lot adjacent to the City Park and turning it into one of the nicest rodeo facilities in the state. Each year the committee has invested in improvements in the rodeo grounds. In the beginning everything was a temporary setup. Slowly they added permanent chutes, arena and back pens. The arena is complete with permanent time chutes and gates at one end with rough stock chutes on the opposite end. One extremely nice feature of the facility is its announcer’s booth. The bleachers that used to be hauled in every year have been replaced by two complete sets on each side. The area is well lighted for the fans although there is a need for better lighting directly in front of both sets of chutes. The center of the arena is extremely well lit which makes watching the specialty acts and the roping extremely enjoyable. The arena itself is well managed and provided excellent footing for both equine and bovine competitors. There is a large vacant lot that serves as trailer parking for the contestants which adds to the pleasure of competing at this event.
The rodeo was sanctioned by the United Rodeo Association and the Iowa Rodeo Cowboy Association brought 240 contestants to town along with their family, friends and fans. Rite-N-Gear Rodeo Company owned by Barry Wright and Maxine Ghreer produced the event. The company is respected for its award winning productions and the quality of their livestock. The crowds at Maxwell saw a fast paced rodeo featuring announcer, Wade Grinager and funnyman Steve From. Wade has a nice clear voice with extremely good diction that was very easy to understand. The act that most impressed the staff of Rodeo Attitude for Steve “Snorkle” was his act on Saturday night which featured a television and all time cartoon favorite Bugs Bunny. The children in the audience got a big kick out of “Snorkle” on stilts as well. Cowboy protection was provided by Josh Jacobs and Kyle Brundage who were joined in the arena by pickup men, Cody Wright and Mike Flattery. The difference between an enjoyable night at the rodeo and a boring night at the rodeo is often in the hands of the production team as much as the athletes and livestock. It takes a certain talent to put together a good team and Barry and Maxine did an excellent job in this category. Judging duties were handled by Rusty Gheer and Randy Garey. With $2900 in added money up for grabs and a final payout of $11,500 the judge’s decision plays an important roll in each event and in my opinion they did a very good job.
One of the hardest jobs at any event is that of the secretary. Maxine Gheer served as the secretary who not only takes entries, checks in contestants, and records scores but most importantly helps the announcer. A job she deserves recognition for. Another person, or in this case, two people who deserve recognition are the timers. For this event they were Shirley Wright and Tenysa Wright. I often feel these people do not get the recognition they deserve especially for how important their jobs are to the overall out come of the event.
We had a very enjoyable night at the rodeo. This is a rodeo we have watched grow over the last decade and we once again want to congratulate them on their growth and quality of their event.
COMPLETE EVENT RESULTS
