Don’t Miss the Freedom Rodeo: An American Cultural Landmark

Wear your fanciest bolo tie and your leather cowboy boots this weekend; it’s that time of year again, time for a rodeo event adventure. Whether you’re sitting in the stadium or on a bull, rodeo makes for a great summertime adventure. People love seeing risk and danger, that’s what makes adventure exciting, and it doesn’t get much more exciting than the crazy events they have at a rodeo. Specifically this weekend, it’s the Freedom Rodeo held in the proud town of Freedom, Oklahoma.

The rodeo starts tonight at 8, Thursday the 14th of August, and goes till Saturday the 16th. It’s the 77th anniversary of the annual event, ongoing since 1938. For some, 7 is a lucky number, and two of them is all the better. If you’re competing, you’re going to need all the luck you can get. There will be steer wrestling, barrel racing, and of course bull riding to name a few of the exciting competitions young bucks will be doing their best to win.

Rodeo is an American tradition that speaks to the heart of this great country’s style. Everybody around the world loves watching reckless people throwing themselves into dangerous situations. It’s the specific way your culture does this that defines style. In America, it’s rodeo. We put the parts of our culture we find the most entertaining into events like this. Accompanying the rodeo is a raffle and bank robbery reenactment because America loves gambling and outlaws, and we’re proud of it. There’s also nightly dancing because dancing is awesome and if you think Americans are too cool to dance then you’ve clearly never seen Footloose with Kevin Bacon (the man is as American as you get).

Some of the traditions have changed over the years for the event (you used to have to be under 21 with no prior rodeo experience to compete), but one thing will always remain the same: That it takes serious guts to get in that ring (and maybe a little bit of stupid too). Those who make it out on top of the adventure are idolized for the heroes they are.