1 week Ago
The Jefferson County Cattlemen’s Association hosted its third annual pro-rodeo at Hallmark Farms in Warrior. Officials said it was a record-breaking weekend for attendance as the event gets bigger and bigger every year. Nearly 6,000 people came out to the rodeo on Saturday alone.
Steve Watts with the association said that’s more people than ever before. The overwhelming turnout forced staff to close the gates at 7:30 p.m.
to avoid overcrowding. One of this year’s rodeo attendees, Preston Bennett, said he grew up going to rodeos with his grandfather. Now, he’s sharing the same experience with the youth in his church.
He told WVTM 13 they brought a group all the way from Montevallo. “It’s almost like a culture shock, a little bit, I think, for some of them, right?” Bennett said. “It’s probably their first time being around actual cowboys and bull riding and all this stuff.
I think for them it’s fun, but at the same time it’s kind of like, ‘Whoa! That’s surprising,’ or ‘Whoa! I didn’t know they do this. I think it’s really fun for them.” Watts said the cattlemen’s association wants to highlight agriculture across the area through the rodeo.
Proceeds raised go towards giving scholarships to students to study growing their own crops. The rodeo site will soon be the hub for the Agricultural Exhibition Center for students to learn the business. He said the center will be one of the largest in the country once it’s completed, but that’s a few years away from now.
“We have a good association here in the state of Alabama and in [Jefferson County],” Watts said. “We work together with other associations, such as the farmers' federation, to make sure that agriculture is remembered. There aren’t that many farmers out there anymore, and we need to promote them as best we can.
” Watts is focusing on the need for agriculture is important because the more than 600,000 people in Jefferson County consume more than 1,700 tons of food every day. Only 1% of those crops are grown in the area. He and others want to see the next generation take an interest in the field to make sure those products being consumed are locally grown.
.
