Rodeo rolls into Athens

It’s rodeo time in Athens: the University of Georgia’s Block and Bridle Club hosts the Great Southland Stampede Rodeo that gets underway tonight and continues into the weekend at UGA’s Livestock Instructional Arena. That’s on South Milledge Avenue in Athens.

From the Block and Bridle Club website…

It all began in the spring of 1970, when members of the UGA Livestock Judging Team were searching for a fundraiser. About 10 students signed a note, putting their trucks and washing machines up as collateral, all to finance a rodeo. Needless to say, they didn't lose their washing machines! In 1974, the rodeo was held under the arched ceiling of the UGA Coliseum and became sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). Each April for 29 years, the basketball courts were removed for one week and replaced with 10 inches of dirt. That weekend, the UGA Coliseum, filled to capacity, played host to a different kind of sport, a rodeo that was once deemed the "Largest Rodeo East of the Mississippi".

In 2004, the Great Southland Stampede Rodeo moved from the Coliseum to Heritage Park in Oconee County. The passionate students of the UGA Block and Bridle Club continued the tradition of the rodeo and fought endlessly to bring the rodeo back to its proper place, the University of Georgia campus. Since 2008, the rodeo has been held at the Livestock Instructional Arena on South Milledge Avenue. Over the course of the three-day event, crowds have reached over 5,000. In 2011, in order to draw an even larger crowd and increase the contestant pool, our GSSR Committee decided to change from PRCA to the International Professional Rodeo Association. From 2014 to 2017, the Great Southland Stampede was recognized as one of the Top 5 Indoor Rodeos of the Year, being voted #1 by IPRA cardholders in 2015 and 2016. Though this year's rodeo will be sanctioned by the National Cowboy Pro Rodeo Association (NCPRA), it looks forward to a year filled with just as much success!

This year fans, both old and new, will roll back into Athens on April 12th, April 13th, and April 14th for all the thrills, spills, and chills of rodeo action. The Great Southland Stampede Rodeo is one of the largest rodeos in Georgia and it is run solely by students. The skills that these students acquire during the course of the rodeo weekend are valuable and beyond any lesson learned in a classroom. In addition to the three nights of rodeo, the Block and Bridle Club invites over 1,000 elementary school students for their own Special Events Rodeo. As a whole, each committee member views this as the most rewarding part of the weekend.

The Block and Bridle Club strives to provide the greatest rodeo around! We could not achieve this with out the support and guidance of our stock contractor (Bar W Rodeo Company), clown (Jake Willcox), Roger and Ashley Mooney, and countless other friends of the GSSR.

We hope that you and your family will join us for a tradition that is 44 years in the making!