Ohio State Fair 2018 - High School Rodeo

Written by Dani and Andrew Livelsberger

Photography by Andrew Livelsberger

Background:

The 2018 Ohio State Fair has recently concluded with another successful year.  The standard events and fair type activities were present.  This year, we had the opportunity to cover the High School Rodeo competition.

Impression:

Within the dimly lit Taft Coliseum of the state fairgrounds, the 2018 Ohio State Fair hosted high school rodeo competition events.

Boys and girls competed in different age groups.  All competitors came out at the beginning of the event for an opening ceremony.  This rider, representing the United States Army carried this flag for a few laps around the arena.

One of the first events was cattle roping.  In this event, the rider follows after a calf and must use their lasso to rope the calf around the neck.  Riders are going for the quickest times.

Below, steer wrestling requires the contestant to use nothing but their arms to get the steer laying flat on the ground.

One of the most popular events, the barrel race, where there are 3 barrels in the arena and the riders must ride a complete circle around all three and then race back to their starting position.

While we have seen rodeo events in the past, I've never seen one with participants so young.  They did a fantastic job in all the events.  If you ever get to see these youngsters in action, you will not be disappointed!