BROWNSTOWN
This weekend, families and fans from across the state will travel to Brownstown, but not for the typical sights and sounds at the race track.
Top youth from across Indiana will be competing on a new stage — the biggest one possible in Jackson County.
For the first time ever, the Indiana High School Rodeo Association is hosting a high school/junior high rodeo at the Jackson County Fairgrounds. It starts Saturday evening and concludes Sunday.
The idea to host a rodeo sprouted from a pair of couples who are heavily involved in the rodeo community, Darin and Sherry Rorig and Dill and Deanna Whittymore.
An estimated 60 to 70 sixth- through 12th-graders will compete in the rodeo.
Events will include team roping (header/heeler), bareback, breakaway, steer wrestling, goat tying, saddle bronc, pole bending, calf roping, barrel racing and bull riding.
Darin Rorig said there are families traveling from Plymouth to Lanesville for the event.
Three locals from the area be in the rodeo: Josh Rorig, 16, Claire Schepman, 11, and Colton Whittymore, 13.
Rorig, a sophomore at Brownstown Central High School, has years of rodeo experience and looks forward to showing his talents at the fairgrounds. He said he will be in the calf roping and team roping events and will be in 40 to 50 rodeos this year.
“I think everyone should be watching (rodeo) more,” Rorig said. “I love (rodeo). It is what I’ve grown up with.”
For Whittymore, rodeo is the perfect sport.
“Rodeo fits me,” he said. “I did football, baseball, all those other sports, but I wasn’t really good at them. I was like, ‘You know what? I do horses all the time. Why don’t I just try this?’ I can show everyone what I do and what I enjoy.”
Schepman said she has done rodeo for about a year and usually competes in Salem.
“What I love about rodeo is that you have a bond with an animal,” she said. “I think it is really cool you get to work with these amazing partners. I really like (rodeos) because you meet a lot of friends over time. You get to be involved in a sport you love.”
Both Whittymore and Schepman go to Brownstown Central Middle School.
All three of the kids thanked their long list of sponsors for all of their support.
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, and there will be a special preshow at 6:30 p.m. before the main event commences at 7 p.m.
“We are going to introduce Reins to Recovery at the beginning of the rodeo and have them come out on a team of horses,” Deanna Whittymore said. “We have some vendors set up, and the Jackson County 4-H Horse and Pony Club will be doing all of the food, and all of the money will be going to them for that. We’re selling T-shirts and have games set up for kids to show them what it is like to be a cowgirl and cowboy.”
On Sunday, the gates open at 9 a.m., with events starting at 10 a.m. The rodeo will then run all day.
Deanna Whittymore said those unfamiliar with rodeo should come out and give the sport a look.
“You can come out and learn what it is all about,” she said. “It’s a great sport for kids to get involved in. There’s a lot of family time. There’s a huge connection between the kids. They make friendships for life.”
Sherry Rorig said there’s a ton of help that went into making the event possible. The Rorigs and Whittymores plan on making the rodeo a tradition for years to come in Brownstown.
Jackson County hasn’t hosted a rodeo since 2014.