Stories sprinkled in as rodeo dirt flies

FORT MADISON - Thursday at the Tri-State rodeo did not disappoint, as it was Connection Bank’s Family Night and Tough Enough to Wear Pink night with the rising country star Ty Myers headlining the Great River Health stage.
As expected, the hills of Rodeo Park were stuffed with cars, and the rodeo area was swarming with people of all ages. Footprints decorating the muddy grounds, the smell of beer and corn dogs, and the blur of tassels flowing in one’s periphery all remain timeless among the several decades this rodeo has seen.
For most locals who attend the Tri-State Rodeo, it’s a home base for shared love and ‘long time no sees'. Sarah Kohl and her daughter, Mesa, who both worked the programming and buttons booth for many years say the rodeo is a great place to catch up with family and friends.
“My family camps out here every year because, for over 50 years, we’ve watered all the horses here,” said Anna Hemann, a lifelong rodeo-goer and volunteer at the Tri-State Rodeo, whose uncle Jeff Gordon helped found the Kids Rodeo more than 30 years ago.

The night continued with saddle and bareback bronc riding, calf-roping, women’s barrel racing, and bull riding.
After the sports were finished, it was time for the Ty Myers concert. People gathered, pressed up against the gates to the rodeo arena field in order to race to the front of the stage once the gates opened. After much anticipation, the gates were opened, and pandemonium took place as highschoolers, and college-aged people booked it to the front. That’s when the band took their spots on stage before Myers came up, hyping up the audience by riffing between the drums, piano, and guitar.
The crowd was cheering in anticipation as Myers came up from behind the stage and up the stairs. From then on, he worked his magic on the crowd, playing up close with the front row of jumping teenagers, even strumming his guitar from behind his head, which is his signature move as seen from viral TikTok concert videos of him at his other shows. From country bluesy ballads with his voice and acoustic guitar to the crowd pleaser anthemic rock-heavy songs, he and his band definitely delivered the perfect rodeo set. While Myers was able to single handedly charm the crowd, he respectably gave his band members an introduction and a solo riff.
By the end of the night, there was a pleasant buzz in the air radiating off the laughs of the rodeo attendees that was crafted from the hospitality of the workers, the entertainment from each cowgirl and cowboy who performed, and of course the very talented Ty Myers.