The stands were filled to capacity Saturday night as the second round of the Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo drew people from all over the world to compete or watch the fun.

"Look at the crowds," said rodeo co-chairman and Kiwanis Club member Bill Anderson. "It's a great night. The weather cooperated, the stock is outstanding, and the riders are doing really well."

Hedrick Rodeo Company owner Danny Hedrick said competitors came from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and all across the United States to compete in the National Rodeo Association event. World champions brushed stirrups with local competitors as both nights brought lots of live action to Statesboro.

Chaps-clad cowboys stretched their long legs as they warmed up for the bronc riding event, while cowgirls loped sleek quarter horses around back of the arena, preparing for barrel races. Steers stood in pens, patiently waiting for their turn to be roped or wrestled, and clowns kept the laughter going as they bantered back and forth with the announcers.

"It's a fun night," Anderson said.

After each event, Miss Rodeo USA Kirbi Allen made her way around the arena, carrying the American flag as she rode. Allen competes in rodeo events, but having grown up in a rodeo family in Springdale, Ark., she is more interested in what it takes to put on a rodeo, she said.

The Statesboro crowd "is absolutely amazing," she said. She loves rodeo because "it is always fast-paced and exciting."

The 26-year-old University of Arkansas graduate has a degree in agricultural communications but hopes to own her own business, possibly an online boutique. The sharply dressed young woman makes and designs all her own rodeo queen clothing.

"It's great because no one has anything like yours," she said.

While she and competitors were busy behind the scenes getting ready for each event, members of the crowd were obviously enjoying themselves as they watched bulls buck, horses spin and young children chase a calf, hoping to be the one to yank a ribbon off its tail.

It was the very first time Jose Bautista had attended a rodeo. The Statesboro resident was disappointed at first, standing in front of pens holding steers for roping events.

"I thought they would be bigger," he said, but he brightened when informed that the really big bulls used for the bull riding were held in another pen out back.

"I just want to see people go out here and have fun," he said. "And I want to see a lot of people fall."

That's also what Dylan Sapp, of Blackshear, said, sheepishly grinning.

"Bull riding is my favorite event. I like seeing how long they can hang on."

Mike Ballmann, a cowboy from Fort Benning, prepared to board one of the huge bulls. He said he had been riding in rodeos since he was 5, when his family lived in Arizona.

"This is the greatest sport on earth," he said.

Between events, clowns did silly things, and others participated in fun games such as the steer dressing event, in which teams competed to see who could put clothes on a steer the fastest. A performance by trick roper Marshall Greene showed off his world record skills, while trick roper Roy Kuzak wowed the crowd with unique twirls and spins with a 100-foot-long rope. He performed his act on a sleek black mare named Miss Coffee Belle, who nuzzled a reporter's notebook as she waited for her rider to begin his show.

Kuzak, from Nashville, said he couldn't remember how he had begun trick roping, "it has been so long." He started as a kid and enjoys playing with the rope so much that he does rope tricks when alone at his home.

"It just feels good," he said.

He is a full-time trick roper, but also works as a herdsman for a cattle company.

The Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo is one of the club's annual fundraisers, having been in existence for a few years since the club began a partnership with Hedrick Rodeo Company out of Madisonville, Tennessee.

For more information about the rodeo company, visit www.hedrickrodeocompany.com. More information about the Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo is available at www.statesbororodeo.com

Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.