Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo is big business, and that’s no bull

It's boots and chaps,

It's cowboy hats,

It's spurs and latigo.

It's the ropes and the reins,

And the joy and the pain,

And they call the thing rodeo.

— Lyric excerpt from "Rodeo" by Garth Brooks

SIKESTON, Mo. — Country music superstar Garth Brooks probably wasn't thinking about Southeast Missouri when he recorded "Rodeo" 30 years ago because most people don't associate bull riding, calf roping and bronco busting with this region.

But this week, the center of the rodeo universe will be in Sikeston, Missouri, for the 69th annual Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo. The four-night event kicks off Wednesday night and runs through Saturday on the rodeo grounds along North Ingram Road in Sikeston.

"We call ourselves the Beast of the East," said Jeremiah Quick, this year's rodeo chairman. "We've been calling ourselves that for a long time because we're the biggest rodeo this far east, even though we're west of the Mississippi."

Considered one of the premiere stops on the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) circuit, the rodeo will draw upward of 40,000 spectators and will generate an economic impact of roughly $8 million for the Sikeston area.

And that's not counting the charitable contributions the Jaycees will provide out of the rodeo proceeds.

"The more money we make, the better our community thrives," said rodeo co-chairman Dwight Bizzell.

Last year, the Jaycees donated more than $100,000 to dozens of organizations, including $30,000 to the Kenny Rogers Children's Center, the rodeo's primary charity dating back to 1977 when Rogers headlined the rodeo's entertainment.

"The Kenny Rogers Center is our baby," Quick said, and explained how Rogers, who was a horse breeder, donated an Arabian stallion to the Jaycees. The horse was sold in auction for $75,000, which was used as seed money for the Scott-Mississippi-New Madrid Counties United Cerebral Palsy Center's new building. The building opened two years later as the Kenny Rogers United Cerebral Palsy Center.

"He took that under his wing with the understanding the Jaycees would make sure it never failed," Quick said.

The Kenny Rogers Children's Center is just one of many organizations that have benefited from the rodeo since it began in 1953. Among some of the numerous beneficiaries have been the Sikeston YMCA, Missouri Delta Medical Center, Southeast Missouri State University, Three Rivers College, food pantries, school systems, area law enforcement agencies, fire departments, homeless shelters, drug rehabilitation programs and many others.

"Over the last 10 years, we've given more than $1.5 million back into the community," Quick reported. The Sikeston Jaycees donated millions more prior to that, but Quick has only been a member of the organization since 2012 so he said he could only speak for the past decade.

Cassy Hooks competes in the barrel racing during opening night of the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo on Aug. 9, 2017, in Sikeston, Missouri.Southeast Missourian file

It takes money to make money

Quick and Bizzell estimate the rodeo's expenses will be about $1.2 million this year to cover approximately $200,000 in prize money, various bills, the cost of entertainment, and the salary of the rodeo's one employee (everyone else associated with the event works on a volunteer basis). Whatever is left is donated to various charitable causes.

Ticket sales generate about half the rodeo's revenue followed by food and beverage sales and sponsorships.

"The gate is a huge source of revenue," Bizzell said. "We try to sell 10,300 tickets a night, which would be considered full capacity."

Over the years, the rodeo has built a loyal following of fans.

"This is our 69th annual rodeo and I would love to see the stats about how many season ticket holder families have been attending since the first year," Bizzell said. "It's probably a large percentage because there have been families around that have supported us from the beginning."

As for sponsors, Bizzell said several of them — such as 3 Eagles Distributing of Southeast Missouri and Floyd's Equipment in Sikeston — have been longtime supporters "because they know their money is going to a good cause."

Tanner Aus competes in the bareback riding during opening night of the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo on Aug. 9, 2017, in Sikeston, Missouri.Southeast Missourian file

Just one vote

Although it is now one of the most successful rodeos on the PRCA circuit and second-biggest Jaycee event in Missouri (surpassed only by a joint event by the St. Charles and Jefferson City Jaycees annually at the Missouri State Fair), the Sikeston rodeo came within just one vote of never happening.

In the early 1950s, one of the Jaycees, Louis Jones, had an uncle named Art Saunders who worked as a traveling salesman for a milling company in Kansas City. During his travels in Western states, Saunders became a rodeo fan, and during a visit with Jones in the fall of 1952, Saunders suggested the Jaycees start a rodeo in Sikeston.

Jones pitched the idea to other Jaycees, but many of them were skeptical and had the misconception a rodeo was nothing more than a "wild West show" with actors dressed up like cowboys and Indians.

The project was debated for months until it finally came up for a vote at a Jaycee meeting in May 1953. Thirty-one of the group's 35 members attended the meeting and when the votes were counted, there were 16 in favor of the rodeo and 15 against it.

Because of that one vote margin, the first rodeo was held that September on the Sikeston VFW Memorial Park grounds. It didn't take long before the event outgrew its original location and was moved to its current 52-acre site on North Ingram Road.

The arena there, named in honor of Art Saunders, is said to be the only rodeo venue on the PRCA circuit shaped like a triangle. According to Quick, that's because at one time Sikeston was vying to host the Little League World Series there.

Tickets for this year's rodeo may be purchased online at www.sikestonrodeo.com or by calling (800) 455-BULL.

(By the way, it's possible Garth Brooks may have been thinking about Southeast Missouri when he released "Rodeo" in 1991 after all because he performed at the Sikeston rodeo in 1990.)

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