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NATCHEZ — Approximately 30 kids from Mississippi and Louisiana participated in the inaugural Memorial Day Children’s Rodeo last Monday, Memorial Day itself, at Bill Mazique Road on Church Hill Road.

Rodeo organizer Clint Dixon said the turnout was more than what he expected and that the rodeo itself was a huge success.

“They came from Ferriday, Sicily Island, Port Gibson, Fayette, Natchez, Sibley, and I saw coule of them from Saragossa,” Dixon said. “You had grandparents and parents laughing. Older siblings trying to help the younger kids learn how to rope. It was fun.”

Dixon said the Memorial Day Children’s Rodeo will take place again next year, but at a different location. He said the event will be at a new arena on Foster Mound Road and added that he wants to make this an annual event.

There were two key highlights that Dixon noted took place during the rodeo — one of which involved a young boy and the other involved a member of the clergy.

“My biggest highlight was to see a three-year-old son, Johnny Gaines’ son, trying to rope a live goat. We hold the goat and then we turn it a loose. That little boy missed and he fell to his knees. He was crying because he missed. The goat ran on down the pin after he missed him.

“The second biggest highlight for me was I saw my former pastor at Christian Hope Baptist Church here in Natchez and his wife, John and Ethel Scott. He gave me a few words of encouragement to keep this rodeo going because he’s my former pastor and he’s a former cowboy himself.”