Council donates to high school rodeo competition in city

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ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — Competitors from throughout Alabama, as well as Georgia and Florida, converged on the Baldwin County Fairgrounds in Robertsdale for the annual Alabama High School Rodeo Association high school and junior high competition Dec. 7-8.

At its meeting Dec. 2, the Robertsdale City Council agreed to give a $1,000 donation to help support the event.

The two-day, two-go event is sanctioned by the Alabama High School Rodeo Association and the Alabama Junior High Rodeo Association and is co-sponsored by Bo Campbell Rodeo Productions.

According to its website, ahsra.org, the Alabama High School Rodeo Association is a member of the National High School Rodeo Association headquartered in Denver. Membership is limited to students 19 years old or younger and enrolled in the ninth through 12th grades. The junior high division includes sixth through eighth grade competitors.

More than 100 competitors from throughout the state, along with competitors from Georgia and Florida, participate in high school rodeo competitions throughout the state.

The high school rodeo season begins in September and includes monthly events, culminating with the AHSRA State Finals Rodeo June 4-7 in Andalusia. The Alabama Junior High School Rodeo Assocaition finals will be May 1-3 in Rainsville. Rodeo events include cutting, bareback and saddle bronc riding, breakaway calf roping, pole bending, steer wrestling, goat tying, team roping, barrel racing and bull riding.

Contestants compete for points throughout the season with the top four-point earners in each event qualifying to represent Alabama at the National High School Finals Rodeo.

Students can join anytime throughout the season. There is no deadline for membership. Competitors at the high school level go on to compete in colleges throughout the country.

Robertsdale’s own Kyle Irwin, son of Robertsdale Council member Ruthie Campbell, was among those to compete and earned scholarships at Western Oklahoma College and Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

For more information visit ahsra.org or like the Alabama High School Rodeo pages on Facebook.

In other business Dec. 2, the council:

•Rescheduled its Jan. 20 meeting to Jan. 21 because of the Martin Luther King Day holiday.

•Approved a half-day for city employees on Dec. 31.

•Approved a deed request from the Nanafield Home Owners Association to the city for lift station, electrical apparatus and retention pond for property located off of County Road 52 between Robertsdale and Silverhill.

•Allowed for bids for a new truck for the city’s volunteer fire department.

•Allowed the Baldwin County Cattlemen’s Association to use the billboard to promote its festival on Feb. 29.