Cowtown Rodeo

The Cowtown Rodeo is the longest running weekly rodeo in the United States, it was started in 1929. The show is at 7:30 on Saturday nights from May through September.^[1] In 1957 and 1958, Cowtown was syndicated on national television.^[2][3] It is located in Pilesgrove, New Jersey and Woodstown, New Jersey. Grant Harris and his family have been running the rodeo every Saturday night during the summer months, since 1955, when it was first staged as a weekly event. ^[4][5]

External links

• Official website
• NJ documentary - Cowtown Rodeo

References

1. ^ "At New Jersey's Famed Rodeo, Going Broke Is as Easy As Falling Off A Horse.". Washington Post. August 22, 1998. "The sky tonight seems as fine and wide as a Montana sky. The air, if not exactly silky, has something autumnish in it. There are real American cowboys wandering about these pens and chutes and gated stalls, and they have names such as Rhett Fincher and Troy Rowen and Cisco Velez and Luke Lefebvre. Soon, when the audience is in its seats, they'll climb on some bucking stock and try to hold on for eight seconds and dear life. Most won't. Never mind. Cowboys are used to dusting themselves off and picking their hats out of the dirt and starting over. Maybe one reason they're so good at the art" 
2. ^ Strauss, Robert (August 6, 2000). "Yes, It's A Rodeo, Right Here In New Jersey.". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E1DC173CF935A3575BC0A9669C8B63. Retrieved 2007-08-21. "That was the year after Howard Harris III came back from winning the national intercollegiate rodeo championship as a student at the University of Idaho and persuaded his father, Stoney Harris, to put on a weekly rodeo. Stoney Harris had been holding an annual rodeo for the Salem County Fair for a number of years to supplement the family livestock business, so he was willing to take a flier on his son's idea. In 1957 and 1958, Cowtown was syndicated on national television, which attracted cowboys from all over the Northeast. ... The rodeo begins promptly at 7:30 with the Grand Entry, in which all the competitors parade into the ring on horseback, waving to the crowd and doing loops a Big Ten college band would envy. Howard Harris's granddaughter, Courtney, 19, leads the procession, sitting tall in the saddle and carrying an American flag. Howard Harris retired more than a decade ago and left the tradition of Cowtown to his son, Grant." 
3. ^ "Cowtown Rodeo". http://www.njsouth.com/index-cowtown.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 
4. ^ "New Jersey Rodeo Has Roped in Fans for 50 Years". NPR. September 6, 2007. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14209145. Retrieved 2007-08-21. "When you think of rodeo, you may think of Texas or Wyoming. But for decades, a New Jersey family has run a popular rodeo at a place called Cowtown. In fact, it's just a few miles from Exit 1 on the turnpike." 
5. ^ "Cowtown Rodeo". Philadelphia Inquirer. July 25, 1986. "Keith Tanguay has lived in New Jersey most of his life, but he had never even heard of the Cowtown Rodeo before last week, when a friend gave him tickets. "I'm 28 and I've never seen a rodeo," said Tanguay, of Bordentown. "I've seen a lot of Clint Eastwood movies and Bronco Billy rodeos. But I've never seen a real one." So Tanguay, his wife, Maryanne, and their children, Shannon and ..."