Last year, the crowd at the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo watched in awe as Troy "The Wild Child" Lerwill performed a motorcycle stunt that involved him jumping over a 60-foot ramp going more than 50 mph.
Lerwill won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Comedy Act of the Year in 2003 and 2004, which is the biggest achievement a clown can earn.
Seeing it in person last year while covering the rodeo, the stunt was truly jaw-dropping. I don't throw that term around a lot, either.
Could I do that? I couldn't even with a skateboard over a little wooden ramp on the sidewalk.
Although Lerwill won't be back this year, nor will Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey, who rides a dog around like a horse and appears on Taco John's commercials, the local rodeo committee still has come up with a strong entertainment core for this year's rodeo.
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This year, Dale Woodard will be the rodeo clown and barrelman. Woodard has been at the Stampede before and was chosen as the National Finals Rodeo Barrelman in 1992 and won the rodeo clown specialty act for the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo in 1994. Woodard, who hails from Canon City, Colo., works circuit final rodeos for the Sierra, Columbia River, Prairie and Mountain circuits.
Rodeo committee chairman Lance Carson said Woodard's act isn't as "high energy" as Lerwill's.
"Dale does some animal tricks and he's very family-oriented," Carson said. "Troy Lerwill is in such high demand that it's hard to get him on the list ever year. I know he had a good time in Mitchell last year. He goes to a lot of rodeos and sometimes it just matters where he is in the world at the time. He might swing this way again. They line up seven or eight rodeos in an area and that's what usually works well for them."
As for Whiplash, Carson said the famous primate signed a lucrative contract with another rodeo circuit and might not be freed up to make it back to Mitchell again.
"It was a very lucrative deal for him," Carson said. "If he does ever get freed up, I'm sure he'll definitely come back. He's been here several times."
The rodeo committee typically has next year's entertainment lineup already booked at this time, which they do for next year already.
"You have to get these things down early, otherwise you'll have a tough time getting the top-notch acts," Carson admitted.
Rorey Lemmel returns as this year's rodeo announcer. Lemmel lives in Rapid City and has announced the Stampede as long as I've lived in Mitchell and does a solid job of livening up the crowd.
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Mitchell's own Jerry Norton returns as one of the bullfighters at this year's rodeo along with Chris Aman from Rapid City. Norton won the World Bullfighting Championship in 1998.
The best part of the night is always the bullfighting at the end. However, before that, don't miss the bareback riding. Seeing those guys getting tossed around by a bucking horse makes you cringe sometimes.
But really, the best part of the rodeo is the personalities of the cowboys themselves. When you talk to them for an interview, you couldn't meet a nicer group of guys. Most of the time they're "tickled to death" with receiving the recognition.
That's something you can't say a lot about other professional athletes.
