Silver Spur Rodeo hits attendance record

The 73rd annual Silver Spur Rodeo hit some record attendance this year.

The three-day event had about 7,000 attendees on Saturday.

“We had record attendance this year,” Silver Spur Rodeo Chairman, Peggy Collins told News 11. “It’s been our most in the last three or four years and so I mean it was amazing that the community came out and supported us so well and not only the spectators but the businesses in town that come out to support us each year by giving us cash sponsorships,” she said.

Most people may not realize that the rodeo takes over nine months to put together and it’s all done by volunteers.

“Being able to stand and look out at the crowd and see the stands, I can’t even describe what I felt when I was there and I saw that and it’s just awesome to have so much support in the community,” she said.

Unlike most years there were a lot of people that came in from out of town to see the rodeo.

“And that was proven by many phone calls coming in from hotels because the guests were asking about the rodeo,” she said.

Also, the increase in championship rodeo contestants played a role in bringing in the larger crowds.

“We see about 15,000 people come through our gates for the weekend and it was probably a little bit better than that this year because we did set a record on Saturday,” she said.

As for the rodeo parade many spectators are still adjusting to the new parade route.

“We hope the community will get back out to support us and come out and watch us and we hope the community will also get more involved with entering into the parade,” Collins said.

In two years will be the big 75th annual Silver Spur Rodeo and Collins said they are already working on some big things to celebrate that milestone rodeo.