Mutton Bustin’ Fun at the Fair

By STEPHANIE BUNKER

The Progress

The Mutton Bustin tradition continued last week at the Clark County Fair. Kids climbed aboard the woolly sheep, hoping to hold on long enough to win the daily championship.

There are a lot of nerves involved as kids mount the sheep in the chute. As soon as the gate opens, those sheep leap out and charge down to the end of the arena with a child holding on for dear life. Some kids fall off right away and some hold on longer. Every contestant wears a helmet and vest to avoid injuries.

A total of 123 kids gave it a go over the course of the 5-day fair. To do this there were several rounds of Mutton Bustin Rodeos each day.

The last round of each day was a Championship round where the top 5 scoring kids from the earlier qualifying rounds came back to ride one more time for the big prize. The winner of the Championship won a great belt buckle.

Riding the sheep wasn’t the only way that kids were showcase in this event. Every round began with the National Anthem sung by various local artists. Brittani Dalley organized each of the young singers.
“(Performing the national anthem) gives kids experience and the opportunity to get over their fears and show their talents,” Brittani said.

Jaeda Muiana sang for 4 different rounds of Mutton Bustin’. She currently takes voice lessons. Dalley said that Jaeda’s mom was looking for opportunities for her daughter to sing in front of people.

Mutton Bustin’ Event Coordinator Randall Dalley noticed that the bleachers would have plenty of people in them but when the National Anthem was sung, people from all around the area were drawn to the show and all the empty spaces in between the bleachers would be packed with people standing to watch.

This was Randall’s first year taking on the program.
“The first couple days we had a few hiccups,” he said. “But by Friday and Saturday we got things running smooth and we have had some great shows.”

The sheep had a difficult first few days too, trying to navigate where to go. Once they figured out that jumping the fence was not a good idea, that part went smoother.
“We had sheep jumping the fence to get back into the shoots,,” Randall said. “We had one even clear it.”

Dalley said that most of the kids that get on the sheep are pretty scared at first. But it is a good experience for nearly all of them.
“This is a big confidence builder for the kids,” he said. “It teaches them to do hard things and that it’s going to be ok.”
He added that some kids are still scared when they get off, but most think it was fun.

Kyrin came from Las Vegas to ride a sheep. His dad said that they saw a mutton bustin event somewhere else and remembered that there was one held here at the Clark County Fair. So they signed Kyrin up to try it.

After taking the wild ride, Kyrin wasn’t sure he would want to do it again. “It ran fast, and it almost stepped on me,” he said

Dalley emphasized that if parents want to get their kid signed up for the Mutton Bustin next year the sign up will start in January. They can be found on the Clark County Fair website ccfair.com at that time.