City Slicker in a Haystack.

Even at a rodeo I will still wear my Ice Cube shirt with my headphones in while listening to my favorite Hip Hop. This is what I posted on my social media two years ago back in September of 2020 when I went to my first rodeo ever, thanks to some family from the country.

All my life I grew up in the mainlands of North Carolina, mostly in Chapel Hill and Greensboro, among other places. Never did I ever think I would one day attend a rodeo, honestly the thought never crossed my mind. The only times a rodeo had ever crossed my mind in even the slightest was when I was watching a tv show or movie in which a rodeo was part of the setting and even then I never saw myself as someone who would one day attend one. Up until 2017 I was never closely affiliated with anyone who had ties to rodeo culture, that was until I started going to church with my best friend the week after my birthday that year and met a woman who became my adopted mother from church.

Not only did this woman make me part of her family, but the rest of her family embraced me as family as well, so I ended up being with them for a lot family events and get togethers. Being that this adopted mother of mine came from the country and her younger brother is a cowboy rodeo veteran, rodeos are something she has attended a lot. One weekend she invited me to a rodeo that her brother, who I refer to as uncle Frank, was having that was only ten minutes down the road from my house and I thought to myself “well I’ve never been to a rodeo before. It’s never really been my thing, but hey, maybe this might be a new good experience, so why not take a chance on it?”.

So I arrived at around 3:45 pm at this rodeo location that was an 11 minute drive from my house. The location was in the back of a church in a wide spaced area and all the cars were parked in the front of the church parking lot. As I got out of my car and started walking to the back where the seating area would be, I asked myself in a humorous tone “so I wonder if I’ll be the only Black dude here?” Funny enough that was actually true in that first few minutes. As I arrived in the back and looked around I saw a growing large crowd of people wearing cowboy hats with boots, making seats for themselves. There was also a snack stand serving hotdogs, chips, soda, candy and fries. About 20 minutes after I got there everyone else who was supposed to be meeting there showed up and the ball got rolling.

The rodeo started with a performance of the national anthem, much like a sporting event and was immediately followed by a prayer and thought to myself “Wow I didn’t know relationship with God and church played such a positive role in rodeo culture”. As the show kicked off I actually enjoyed the scenery of all these cowgirls and cowboys ride their horses up and down this wide range area all night while catching bulls and roping them in during their challenges. They played a lot of music while all this was going on too and not just country music like I expected. I learned by the end of the rodeo that these rodeos are also charity events and that they raise a lot of money for churches that contribute a lot of help to their communities.

So it was at this first rodeo that I learned how rodeos are not just fun traditions but also service to the community and a place where people of faith fellowship in good spirit. This rodeo was an amazing first and I’m glad to say it wasn’t the last. I attended another rodeo with uncle Frank a few months later. This rodeo was bigger and better and I even help be a co-host with my church by passing out snacks and getting a little dirty myself in the process. I really have come to appreciate rodeo culture and I really do look forward to going to more of them in the future.