The Kiwanis Club of Statesboro is holding its 13th Annual Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo Thursday, April 25 through Saturday, April 27.

The 2024 event will bring the comedy of rodeo clowns, the bucking broncs and bulls and the usual excitement as previous years, but with three nights to attend instead of two.

For the fourth year in a row, the Rodeo will be held at the Bulloch County Agricultural Complex, off Langston Chapel Road. The annual event draws larger crowds each year and this year’s Rodeo Chairman Jonathen Bunch felt that adding a third night to the rodeo was important to the club and the community.

“By adding another night of rodeo, we can offer more opportunity for people to attend as well as raise more money for the Kiwanis Club to give back to the community through donations,” Bunch said.

Gates will open for each day at 5 p.m. with the rodeo starting at 7:30. No tickets will be sold at the gate. Tickets will be sold online at www.statesborokiwanisrodeo.com and at local stores Taylor’s Tanning and McKeithen’s Hardware.

Since moving the event to the Ag Complex in 2021, the club has seen exponential growth in the funds raised and in the number of attendees. With attendance trending upwards, a third night of rodeo is needed to allow for the additional number of possible attendees, Bunch said.

An IPRA-sanctioned rodeo, the Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo will again bring Hedrick Rodeo Stock Contractor to town. Owner Danny Hedrick is a fan of the Kiwanis Club and its fundraising efforts through the rodeo.

New event

Due to some changes within the IPRA organization, a new event is now required at each IPRA rodeo, breakaway roping.

Hedrick describes the event as high-adrenaline with fast-moving riders. Breakaway roping is a woman’s timed event in which a calf is released from the roping chute and the rider must ride up behind the calf, rope the calf around the neck and come to a stop. The stop breaks a string attaching the rope to the saddle horn, stopping the clock.

“It’s one of my favorite events. Across the sport, we’re seeing some times under five seconds. The breakaway is really fast-paced and it’s a fun event.” said Hedrick.

The Hedrick family typically all come to town along with the Rodeo. Son Justin Hedrick works as a “pickup man” during the events and helps riders to bail off of bucking horses and helps to rein back in horses after a ride, while daughter Emily Hedrick (now Moss) has competed in barrel racing, as well as performed as a trick rider during the event. The two have even paired up as trick riders to perform before.
This year, Hedrick’s crew will look slightly different. Emily is expecting twin girls in May, and Justin’s wife, Kayla, is expecting their daughter in early April. Both of the younger Hedricks will be at home in Tennessee, tending to the newest generation of Hedrick Rodeo.

Danny Hedrick acknowledged that this will be his first rodeo season in Statesboro without either of his kids along for the ride, but he is excited to take on his new role and a grandfather.

Award winners

In February 2022, Hedrick Rodeo attended the American Roughstock Association Finals and won several awards for the 2022 rodeo season. These awards include: Bareback Horse of the Finals, Bareback Horse of the Year, Saddle Bronc Horse of the Finals, Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year. Justin was awarded the PickUp Man of the Year Award.

It's that award-winning stock that makes the Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo a great rodeo for competitors to travel to. Some of the competitors over the last 13 years have come from Canada and even Chile.

Another upside of adding a third night of rodeo is that it will give contestants the ability to compete here and travel to other rodeos to compete, thus increasing their chances of winning and scoring points.

Kiwanis President Matt Anderson is excited that the club is kicking off 2024 with an exciting change to the rodeo.

“We are excited to host our 13th annual Kiwanis Rodeo at the Bulloch County Ag Arena,” he said. “This year we are hosting a three-day rodeo! To top that off we are adding Breakaway Roping to the Rodeo lineup. This is going to be our first of our two annual fundraisers for this year. The best part about this event is the fact that it helps us give back to our community each year. We hope that everyone will come out and bring the family to a full night of Rodeo Fun!"

Funds raised

Funds raised at the Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo and the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair are dispersed back into the community in Bulloch and surrounding counties including Bryan, Tattnall, Jenkins, Screven, Evans and Candler Counties. The funds support a variety of causes, but the Kiwanis mission is kid-centered.

Many well-known organizations in these counties benefit from the events such as 4H, FFA, law enforcement as well as Ogeechee Area Hospice which covers many of the same counties. Bulloch Parks & Rec, Georgia Southern University, Ogeechee Technical College and East Georgia State College all benefit in various ways from the fundraising efforts.

This year, the Kiwanis Rodeo Committee will raise money in a different way for a local organization.

The Bulloch County Horseman’s Association will be the beneficiary of a campaign by locally owned Helpful Tees, a branch of Catalyst Promotions. A tee shirt design will be sold on Helpful Tees’ website and all orders placed will directly impact the BCHA. Funds raised will be given to the association by way of the Rodeo Committee.

The Association’s Mission Statement is “to promote interest, encourage participation, and to educate Bulloch and surrounding counties in various equine activities.”

“We wanted to help the Horseman’s Association because of the scholarship opportunities they offer to different age groups,” Bunch said. “Kiwanis is dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time, and if we can do that by helping the BCHA to give a scholarship to four different children, then we’ve made an impact in their lives.”

Secretary of BCHA Rachel Selph, expressed gratitude to the Kiwanis Club for their generosity in choosing them to benefit from the Helpful Tees Campaign.

“Several years ago, we started by offering scholarships to high school aged youth members but were quickly able to surpass our own expectations and now we offer educational scholarships to elementary, middle, & high school aged youth members. We award two high school scholarships, one middle school, and one elementary school.  The high school awards have been $1000 to first, $500 to second, $250 for middle school, and $150 for the elementary aged kids.,” said Selph.

Any youth member is eligible to apply and their applications are based around age, volunteer projects and their BCHA volunteering.

“These kids are rock stars, not only do they all manage to have great academic success, they participate in church groups, 4-H, FFA, Boy Scouts, shooting sports, school sports, on top of all their equestrian activities!,” bragged Selph. “Like I said, they are truly remarkable and we think they should be rewarded for their dedication.  They are learning to be well rounded leaders of tomorrow.

The organization hosts four to six horse shows each year that can allow members the change to earn the chance to show at the Georgia Federation of Saddle Clubs Annual State Championship Show held every Labor Day.  We also hold member meetings, fundraisers such as the Broken Clay Youth Scholarship Shoot held at BayGall, and other events and activities for our members and friends.

Miss Rodeo

As is tradition, the reigning Miss Rodeo USA Kaelanne Quinonez will be in Statesboro during the week of the rodeo, making various appearances at local businesses who are supporting the rodeo through sponsorships.

“This rodeo would not be possible without the support we get each year from the community, both sponsors and in the community and we hope that the community will support us by buying tickets and help us to raise money for the Horseman’s Association by purchasing tee shirts before April 15,” added Bunch.

Sponsors include Platinum Sponsor Virginia Luxe Boutique; returning Gold level sponsors include JC Lewis Ford and Aspen Aerogels and new addition to the Gold level is Ginny & Georgia Boutique.

For more information on tickets and for updates, follow the Kiwanis Club of Statesboro on Facebook and Instagram and visit www.statesborokiwanisrodeo.com.