Rodeo Action Returning to Zanesville

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Memorial Day Weekend is just around the corner and the Muskingum County Fair is hosting a standalone rodeo for the first time in years. 

Muskingum County Agricultural Society President Jerry Miller talked about the event and shared what spectators can anticipate.

“We’re going to have your standard bull riding and barrel racing but we’re also having mutton busting and junior bull riding with it and a trick roper,” Miller said. “In the past couple years we’ve had tractor pulls in the summer. This year, we’re changing it up and going with the rodeo to give a more family oriented event for the family to come to on Memorial Day weekend.”

The techniques of herding cattle may have evolved over the decades but horsemanship and roping skills continue to remain time-honored skillsets. If you are interested in participating in the rodeo, you can preregister for select contests through the fair’s website.

“It’s different from the fair just because we do have more events with it. With the mutton busting and the junior bull riding, where normally at our fair event on Friday of the fair, we have in the past, we have had bull riding and barrel racing. And so this one here is going to have… the summer event is going to have the bull riding and barrel racing but we’re adding the mutton busting and the junior bull riding,” Miller said.

Admission for the Rough E Rodeo is $10 dollars with kids 5 and under getting in for free. The event will take place 7 p.m. Saturday, May 23rd, at the Muskingum County Fairgrounds. For more information, you can visit them online.