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Clarkson Rodeo Days, Inc. The Founding of the Clarkson Rodeo Days 
The Founding of the Clarkson Rodeo DaysThe Clarkson Horseman Association was founded in 1994 by a group of horse enthusiasts living in Clarkson and some of the surrounding area. The founding idea of the club was to provide a group that allowed membership of not only horse owners and breeders but also horse enthusiasts for the purpose of educating the community about horses. Since its founding the Clarkson Club has achieved many of its goals through sponsoring an annual series of open horse shows located at the Clarkson Horse Arena at Hafner Park; participating in many local area parades including the Brockport Mardi Gras and the Lilac Festival parades; and providing rides to the visually impaired and handicapped community at Camp Abilities held annually at the SUNY Brockport campus. Always open to new suggestions on how to achieve its goals, a club member, Bob DeMitry approached Pat Tooley, the Clarkson Horseman President with an idea to have the club host a rodeo. Pat Tooley, a rodeo enthusiast himself and huge fan of Brahma bull riding, was immediately excited about the idea. The club approached the Town of Clarkson Supervisor, Paul Kimball with the idea and he was very interested. It was decided to proceed in a joint effort similar to the Good Neighbor Open Horse Show that has been in place for at least 10 successful years. A sub group was formed and subsequent meetings were held with a Rodeo Stock Contractor. A weekend was selected, contract reviewed and the road to put on a sanctioned International/American Pro Rodeo Association event was begun. The sub groups have been extremely busy in reviewing contracts, obtaining sponsors, identifying what needs to be done to the grounds, grandstands, parking, and lighting, attracting vendors-including food and arranging other entertainment to make this event a welcome success to our community. The stock contractor for our event is The Rawhide Rodeo Company. Rawhide Rodeo Company produces rodeos and/or contracts livestock for various associations including the American Professional Rodeo Association (APRA), the International Pro Rodeo Association (IPRA), the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA), and the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) as well as several other groups. Rawhide Rodeo was established in 1987 and is headquartered in Leicester, New York. It produces shows in Ohio, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Canada. For the past 12 years, Rawhide Rodeo has had their livestock selected for the American Professional Rodeo Association’s Finals Rodeo and for the past 10 years sent livestock to the International Pro Rodeo Association Finals held in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is our hope that everyone who attends has an educational and fun experience and agrees that this real American sport -RODEO- is one that should be continued as an annual event in our community. Thank you for attending this performance and for your support of the sport of Rodeo. We hope to see you again next year. 
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