Rodeo attracts thousands to help support local fire dept.
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GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Thousands of cowboys and rodeo fans faced the hot temperatures Saturday and flocked to a small community in Gibson County. They gathered to watch some of the best bull riders in the Mid-South and help raise money for a local volunteer fire department. For those who made the long journey up to the community of Good Luck, they say it was a competition worth driving to. “We’ve come here for a rodeo,” bull rider Dustin Keen said. “I mean, what else is there to do!” For the past 19 years, stands have been filled with rodeo fans from all over. “You see the trailers coming in from everywhere,” Good Luck Fire Chief Travis Landrum said. “Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia — I mean every surrounding state.” From bull riding to calf roping, it’s a competition that brings families together to help support their local fire department. “It’s really turned into a great fundraiser for the fire department,” competitor Cliff Goodrich said. “The cowboys come out, and it’s just a great spot to bring your family and a good day with the horses in a rodeo environment.” The idea for the rodeo first came about to help build the Good Luck community’s first fire station. “We paid our building off within three years, and we’ve added to the building since,” Landrum said. “Just the people in this community, they help us any way they need to.” What started out as just a small backyard rodeo now attracts hundreds of professionals every year. “They’ll have all the events, more than they would at a normal rodeo,” high school competitor Anna Grace Brown said. “They have goat tying and the pole bending today.” But whether you’re young or old, amateur or professional, this rodeo is all about having fun and learning. “In high school we compete against the same girls, but out here we’re competing against college girls and older girls,” Sage Keener said. “It just gives us a lot more competition to better ourselves.” The Good Luck Fire Department said they raise thousands of dollars every year from this event, all of which goes back to helping them maintain their station and serve the community.
