For some of the little ones who’ll burst out the chute atop a sheep this weekend, it literally will be their first rodeo. For the seasoned pros competing for dollars as part of the Southeastern Pro Rodeo Association, it’ll be a welcome return to avenue that knows how to serve up some welcoming Southern hospitality.

For both mutton-bustin’ small fry and their grown-up professional counterparts, it’s all part of the 37th annual Stars & Stripes Rodeo, the annual signature fundraising event of the West Point Band Boosters. The rodeo will fill the Cullman County Agricultural Center on both Friday and Saturday evenings, with proceeds going to fund new uniforms that band members will be sporting when the Warriors take the field this fall.

Band Boosters president Josh Sellers says the rodeo — which had languished in recent years before the boosters began reviving it about four years ago — now routinely packs the venue, especially on Saturday night.

With pro competition, kids’ activities including the aforementioned mutton-busting (which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Friday), as well as a calf scramble that’ll have kids competing to snatch a dollar off a calf’s tail, there’s definitely something for everyone. 

Also new this year is a costume competition for kids, which will award two $100 prizes in two divisions (ages 0-6 and ages 7-13) for the kid who shows up wearing the best rodeo clown outfit.

“I’m 36 years old, so this event is older than I am,” Sellers jokes. “It had kind of languished for a while, but we turned it around and made it start making money for us again, and it’s the biggest fundraiser that we have. We’ve been able to buy an ATV outright for the band program; to buy an equipment trailer and now new uniforms with the money that it raises, without having to ask our kids for money. It’s been a big help.”

Though it’s not a requirement, band students tend to get involved, working hard behind the scenes to help make the event a success. 

“Our kids look forward to it; they step in and they own this,” Sellers says. “Between our kids, parents, and boosters, we’ll have people selling peanuts, running food back and forth, doing face painting and working the parking. They look at it as ‘their’ event.”

Advance tickets to the rodeo are $10 for adults, and $8 for children ages 6-12, and they’re available at any Premiere Bank location, as well as at Jack’s Western Wear. At the door, tickets run $12 for adults and $10 for kids ages 6-10 (children ages 5 and under get in for free.) Gates open at 5:30 p.m., with the show starting at 7 p.m. each night. 

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 145.