The 42nd installment of the Kaw Valley Rodeo, which kicks off Thursday night and will run into the weekend inside Wells Arena at Manhattan’s CiCo Park, will have a different feel this year.
“We’re really excited about a new rodeo announcer this year,” rodeo spokesman Josh Kinder told Riley County commissioners Monday morning. “Dr. Lynn Phillips has done a great job for our rodeo for a long, long time. But we went a different direction this year with Scott Grover.”
Grover — a Morrowville, Kan. native — graduated from K-State in 2001 and worked the K-State Rodeo numerous times before moving into the professional ranks in the PRCA and also serving as the announcer for the PBR World Finals (Professional Bull Riders). Grover is also unique to the Kaw Valley Rodeo, as he works in the arena horseback.
“He’s excited to be back,” Kinder said. “He’s never been to this rodeo as an announcer, but he used to attend it as a kid.
“I grew up going to rodeos with the announcer on horseback. It’s a different feel, you can see the announcer the whole time, he engages with the crowd. It’s a little bit different. Sometimes he becomes part of the action though and he can help out — it’s exciting.”
The only PRCA rodeo in the area, the Kaw Valley Rodeo will feature seven sanctioned events — beginning at 8 p.m. nightly — and including bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle-bronc riding, tie-down roping, bull riding and barrel racing.
Kinder said this year’s rodeo has over 200 entries and include several big names, such as Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame roper Joe Beaver.
Thursday will be Military Appreciation Night and Kids Night. Children 12-and-under get in free with a non perishable food donation brought to the rodeo to benefit the Flint Hills Breadbasket.
Everyone is encouraged to wear pink on Friday night, as the Kaw Valley Rodeo Association takes part in the annual Tough Enough to Wear Pink event to support the Kansas State Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research.
Other nightly events for kids include mutton bustin’ and the new nanny goat scramble. Rules, more information and how to register is available on the KVRA website, www.kawvalleyrodeo.com.
Also new to the Kaw Valley Rodeo this year is rodeo clown and barrelman, Andy Burelle. From Ardmore, Okla., Burrelle has been entertaining crowds through both freestyle bullfighting and protection bullfighting since 1999. He’s worked some of the largest rodeos and bullfightings in North America, including the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, Calgary Stampede and the California Rodeo Salinas. He’s also set to tackle the Hall of Fame Dodge City Roundup Rodeo the first week of August.
“It’s always a great rodeo,” commissioner Ron Wells told Kinder.
