Wrangling,
roping rule day in Burdick
Staff writer
After nearly a century without a rodeo in Burdick, two brothers decided to stage one Monday at the town’s baseball diamond.
Cole and Kyle Methvin organized the rodeo as part of Burdick Labor Day festivities.
Twelve teams of cowboys competed to see who could take the title. The youngest cowboy was in fourth grade.
They competed in steer mugging, trailer loading, and branding. Each was a timed event.
One black angus steer put up a lively fight against cowboys trying to brand him. It took one cowboy to hold the steer’s shoulders down and another to lie across him so a third cowboy could run to the steer and brand it.
Ranch rodeos used to be conducted in a pasture north of Burdick.
“We wanted to re-spark that old tradition,” Cole Methvin said. “We filled up our teams pretty quickly.”
Famous cowboy Bill Pickett used to perform at Burdick. Pickett’s first rodeo was in 1888. In 1905, he joined the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show. He pioneered bulldogging, now known as steer wrestling.
Competing teams were Mashed O Ranch, Methvin Ranch, Sheetz Ranch Horses, Marion County Top Hands, Let’s Go Brandon, 3C Ranch, Hajek Cattle, Bar 13 Ranch, Division Ranch, Rocking S Ranch, WL Ranch, and Bar L Ranch.
Burdick’s 50th Labor Day celebration also included a run and walk at 8 a.m., a parade at 2 p.m., a World War II presentation, music by Justus and Flint Hills Community Band, homemade ice cream, a bounce house and slide, a mini-train, turtle races, lunch, a pie auction, a pedal power pull, a parade, and a corn hole competition.