By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
ELLICOTTVILLE — More than 11,000 people attended the 35th annual Ellicottville Championship Rodeo that ended Sunday.
The rodeo draws about 350 athletes from around the world and around the area, said rodeo founder and owner of Sommerville Valley Riding Stables, 6319 Sommerville Valley Road.
Good weather this year — along with lots of advertising — made this year’s rodeo the one with the highest attendance on each of the four days.
Shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday started at 7 p.m., while Sunday’s show started at 2 p.m. Saturday’s show drew about 4,000 people, Kent said as he sat with his wife Karen near the entrance gate Sunday.
All American Rodeo ran the four-day show and all participating cowboys and cowgirls are members of the International Professional Rodeo Association.
Cowboy hats and boots were pretty ubiquitous. It was very much a family show. Young visitors also got to compete in stick horse races.
The real cowboys and cowgirls — most of whom were from Texas, Oklahoma and Florida — competed for cash prizes.
The cowgirls competed in barrel racing and breakaway calf roping, while the cowboys competed in bareback and saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, team roping, bull riding and junior bull riding and calf roping.
The Kent family has built up the rodeo over more than three decades.
“The first year I plowed up the field with a neighbor so we could have the rodeo,” Kent said. No one thought it would be successful, he said.
With 350 cowboys and cowgirls and 4,000 peop-le coming from all over to watch, 2024 was “an exceptional year,” Kent said.
“The weather was just right,” he said. “People wanted to get out. I spent more on ads. It paid off.”
Kent rented nine billboards and owns 35 4 by 4-foot or 4 by 8-foot signs. He also put up 1,500 posters and printed 100,000 brochures. Add to that local ads on eight radio stations and three TV stations and social media, plus word of mouth and you’ve got an event.
“It rained on Thursday, but people still came and waited in their cars until it stopped,” Kent said. “It was a record night. Every show was a record-breaker this year.”
There are bleachers on one side of the corral and wooden bleacher built into the hillside on the other side. Many people brought lawn chairs or blankets to sit on.
The beer tent opened after the show. There were also food and other vendors on the rodeo grounds. Parking was free.
