Published: June 23, 2009 05:04 pm      

Clermont Rodeo salutes breast cancer survivors

CLERMONT — It’s not often you can get a tough cowboy to wear pink.

But they all did — cowboys, cowgirls, rodeo hands, visitors, even the emcee of the evening donned pink shirts in order to bring awareness to breast cancer and raise money for the local breast cancer foundation at the 59th annual Clermont Rodeo.

“Tonight has been phenomenal, and look at all the pink,” said rodeo organizer Ron Penn, of the June 20 event.

A portion of the proceeds from the Tough Enough To Wear Pink night will go to benefit local breast cancer research, Penn said. Pink T-shirts were on sale during the event, breast cancer survivors were asked to stand and be recognized, and even the ticket booth and rodeo gates were painted bright pink.

“So many people are affected by (breast cancer),” Penn said. “So many people know someone who’s affected by it.”

One girl even painted her arms and legs neon pink to honor the survivors, including her mother, a five-year breast cancer survivor.

“I’m glad to see that people are coming out and (supporting the cause),” said Kimberly Devitt of Crawfordsville. “All you can do is pray.”

Her friend, Natalie Kiger, also of Crawfordsville, came along to support Devitt.

“It’s a hard thing to go through,” she said.

Debbie Medeiros of Bridgeport was manning the T-shirt sales booth. She said she’s been through her fair share of dealing with breast cancer.

“I’ve been through breast cancer twice,” Medeiros said. “It hits a spot (to see everyone support breast cancer survivors). When I mention it to people, they say someone in their family has been involved with it. Breast cancer hits so many people, so many have friends or family (that have been affected).”

The rodeo is the second oldest rodeo east of the Mississippi River and is a large part of the Clermont community.

“There’s not hardly a business in town that doesn’t have a poster up,” Penn said. “It’s a big thing for a little area. So many things have come and gone in 59 years, and to keep it going is just tremendous. We’re also going to have a big homecoming next year for the 60th year.”

The rodeo was hosted at Lions Club Park, and included a Lions Club fish fry, and a free bluegrass music concert both evenings.

Though Penn said they had to deal with some severe weather Friday night, they did get the rodeo in that night and were pleased with nice weather on Saturday.

“Mother Nature threw us for a loop last night, but we got the rodeo in, finally,” emcee Arlyn Imel said.

Penn said his favorite part of the rodeo each year is watching the children enjoy themselves. He was selling junior-sized lassos throughout the evening.

“It’s just unbelievable,” he said. “We have so many kids that don’t get around farm animals here, so we’ll have a petting zoo, pony rides, they just really have a ball. It’s rain or shine and we had a bunch of muddy kids last year, but the parents understood. We had a boot race and they were splashing through the mud in the arena. But the memories stay. That’s the best part of it.”

The rodeo is produced by Rafter H. Rodeo Co. and is IPRA and CSRA sanctioned.

For more information, visit the website at www.clermontrodeo.com or call Penn at 403-1320.

charlee.beasor@flyergroup.com