At least once a year in many communities the drugstore cowboys get to replace their backwards-turned baseball hats with western wear- cowboy hats, Wranglers, big belt buckles and boots- and become a make-believe cowboy for a few days.
In the Florida Panhandle, the annual Northwest Florida Championship Rodeo is that opportunity, and this year the 74th Annual occurrence of this event happens on October 4-6, in Bonifay, Florida.
The glamour of the old west and hard-as-oak spirit is typically seen from the cheap seats in the stadium gallery, and what most never see are the bent and broken young men, appearing much older than their calendar years, as they don protective gear, splints and pads, ‘Ace’ bandages and lots of surgical tape as they prepare for the brutal reality of rodeo competition.
As tough as high school football is on the bodies of eighteen-year-old students under ‘Friday Night Lights’, nothing compares to the brutal, and at times tragic physical wear and tear on these athletes competing in bronc and bull riding, wrestling and roping as they hope to make enough income to pay their expenses to the next venue.
What you will not see, however, is one of these cowboys taking a knee or failing to salute the flag, as a pervasive patriotic spirit fills even the most distracted casual attendee at this truly American sporting event.
As in any professional sport, many attempt but few achieve fame and fortune, and the bulk of the show is focused on those who don’t last long in this career path, as seen in in these photos from the 2017 Northwest Florida Rodeo by Real Florida Media, a subsidiary of The Goulding Agency in Chipley, Florida.
