Opening night of the 111th Clovis Rodeo

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- The rodeo gates are open as cowboys and girls are back in Clovis.

"It's a Western deal. It's a party and a cowboy deal all at one time," cowboy Justin Simon said.

Opening night is all about the bulls.

"It's X-treme bulls, so those people that like to watch bulls only, this is the night for them," rodeo director, Chuck Rigsbee said.

Thursday through Sunday brings on the full list of rodeo events.

"There's calf roping, team roping, barrel racing, girls breakaway roping, which is a fairly new event," Rigsbee explained.

Just to name a few.

The rodeo expects to draw tens of thousands of people throughout the weekend, bringing an economic boost to the area.

"It's a very exciting, family-friendly environment, very patriotic, and I think they'll have a very good time between the concessions, our tri-tip sandwich," Rigsbee said.

Around 8,000 pounds of tri-tip will be sold this weekend.

With the smell of tri-tip in the air and a purse of half a million dollars, the rodeo attracts top athletes from all over.

"Those top cowboys that make it to the national finals every year, there's going to be a bunch of them here this week," Rigsbee said.

Justin Simon has been competing in rodeos all his life and is returning to Clovis for a second time, after a memorable first experience.

"It was electric. It was huge. They like rodeo out here for sure," Simon said.

He says the Clovis Rodeo is different from the rest.

"It's a little longer score and a different set-up. You got to be a cowboy to do the steer wrestling out here, so that's pretty cool," Simon explained.

Cowboy or not, the rodeo expects everyone to enjoy themselves.

The rodeo runs through Sunday.

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