NRA Rodeo Held on a Stormy Night

The 2022 Malta NRA Rodeo featured a little adversity by way of a bleacher-clearing thunderstorm last Saturday, July 9, at the Trafton Park Rodeo Arena.

At the time, the event was mostly finished with only four bull-riders left in the event.

"It probably took us a half an hour after the rain had started to finish the Bull Riding, but we did get it done," Jerey McEwen of the Trafton Park Arena Committee said. "We ain't going to quit. We were soaked and drowned rats but we got it done."

According to McEwen, that event ran very smoothly prior to the storm. There were hundreds in the stands for two hours. Then the wind hit gusts of 68 mph along with a storm featuring plenty of rain and lightning.

"There were 13 people that stayed in the stands when the wind was blowing," McEwen said. "Then it started raining a little bit. They were still sitting there."

McEwen said that announcer Robert Toavs was still talking to those that stayed longer than others until he realized that they left.

"There was about 10 of us left over there," McEwen said. "Four of them were bull riders. Two judges, one guy flanking, two bullfighters, and two guys on the gate."

Despite the adversity, McEwen said that at the end of it all, he found himself dancing in the rain puddles after the event was finished.

"It was just a relief," McEwen said. "All of the hype and hubbub to get to the point of doing the rodeo, and then when it's done, you just relax."

McEwen even took ownership of the rain.

"It ain't the first rodeo that has been rained on and it won't be the last," McEwen said. "I'm just glad that I planned that deal to make it rain that much."

The Trafton Park Arena Committee's next rodeo event will be the Craig Mangis Roughstock Rodeo, scheduled to take place in August.