MERBEIN Community Rodeo president Jeff Muller was moved on Saturday when a young bull rider donated his winning belt buckle to the family of one of the event’s late founders.
Mr Muller presented the memorial belt buckle from the late Bill and Noela Crosbie to 19-year-old Open Bull Ride winner Joe Down, saying it was the highlight of the day.
“Bill and Noela’s grand kids presented the belt buckle with me,” he said.
“Joe Down donated it back to them as a memento, which I thought was a great gesture from a 19-year-old.”
Mr Muller was pleased with the turnout for this year’s 13th annual event, despite having a slightly smaller crowd than their record-breaking turnout last year.
“We had a good crowd again, not as big as last year but still a good crowd,” he said.
“We probably had about 1500 people.”
Spectators and contestants had come from far and wide for the rodeo and Mr Muller said the affordable old-style rodeo was what kept people coming back.
“We do a reasonable priced rodeo where we just try to cover our costs,” he said.
“I had people from Queensland come down who are travelling around and just love country rodeos, more so than the ones which are a little bit more Americanised.”
With no time for a break, Mr Muller said the event’s organisers are already thinking about next year’s event.
“We will debrief next weekend and hold a barbecue for those who helped out,” he said.
“We will talk about what we can improve on from this year and what we can do to make it better.”
