Bulls on Main Rodeo rides back into Amory for 2nd year
AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) – Grab your boots and hat, the rodeo is coming to town.
Organizers are getting ready to saddle up in Amory for the 2nd Annual Bulls on Main Rodeo, which features bull riding, barrel racing, sheep and pony rides, live music, and more.
What started as an idea between two friends at lunch one day turned into a community event for the city of Amory.
“We partner with several local businesses to bring in the dirt. But it takes a lot of businesses, local businesses, to come together to make this a free event for the public,” said Michael Harlow, co-founder and promoter.
Co-founders and promoters Michael Cole and Michael Harlow say last year was a huge success, drawing several thousand people.
This year, they’re working to make the arena bigger and better, and making the fun last longer.
“We’ve doubled it up to two nights this year so that we can have two nights of fun. Through the labors of putting the arena together, we thought we might as well do it two nights because the hard work was getting it set up,” Cole said. “Last year, we didn’t have bleachers. That’s a new addition. We had so many people, and the community support was so great that people being able to see was what was really the only complaint we had last year.”
This free event is made possible through local sponsors who have helped raise more than $40,000 to bring the idea to life.
And it helps kick up the city’s tax revenue.
“It immediately helps stimulate the economy by people coming into town, buying food, buying gas, the local hotel is about maximum capacity for the weekend, and then also it brings people from different counties, different states, even to see what Amory has to offer,” Cole said.
“It’s going to help everybody bring more people to Amory and put more eyes on Amory,” Harlow said.
But not only that, it helps boost the city’s morale.
“Since the tornado, Amory has been in kind of a little bit of a low spot, and we’re just trying to bring light back to Amory and build it back up,” Harlow said.
Harlow and Cole say that as local business owners, they know what it means to have community support. And that’s why they are having the event – to give back to the people who help them every day.
“Without the community’s help and local businesses, we can’t make any of these events possible, and it means the world to me,” Harlow said.
Over 20 vendors will be at the event along with food trucks.
Harlow and Cole suggest bringing chairs in case the bleachers fill up.
