No bull; backhoes welcome

Calling all heroic heavy equipment operators including backhoe bosses, excellent excavators and stellar skid loader lovers to sign up for the first-ever No Bull Equipment Rodeo.

The event is set for Saturday, Sept. 12 at — where else would it be? — the Coarsegold Rodeo Grounds.

You’re reading this right. The No Bull Equipment Rodeo is a one-of-a-kind community event where skilled operators compete in precision challenges using heavy equipment like skid steers, excavators and backhoes.

“It’s not about speed alone — it’s about control, accuracy and skill,” said Jennifer Rogers, the driving force behind the unique event.

It was envisioned and created in partnership with H&H Works, the father and son demolition and excavation team of Keith Horton and Matthew Horton, Rogers’ husband and one of her sons, respectively.

“The No Bull Equipment Rodeo brings together local operators, businesses and families for a day that blends competition, entertainment and community,” she explained.

Beyond the main event of the equipment rodeo Rogers and company have planned some of the area’s favorite food vendors, local merchants, a Kids Zone staffed and organized by MY Club and a welcoming atmosphere that makes it just as fun to watch as it will be to compete.

The exclusively John Deere equipment at the rodeo will be loaned by Pape’ Machinery in Fowler and H&H. Each competitor will be spotlighted and a custom belt buckle — the sort of which you’d see at a regular rodeo — is up for grabs along with serious bragging rights.

In keeping with the theme, rodeo clowns will entertain and a professional traditional rodeo announcer will narrate the competition.

“Everybody loves this idea and we’re all excited about it! Participants can include people who’ve just been playing around in construction even if they have their own piece of equipment on their property and people who’ve been operating heavy equipment for 30 years.”

Operators are invited to participate in separate divisions of Open and Novice based on experience. Events are set to include Excavator Tire Tennis, Excavator Hole in One, Backhoe Basketball, Backhoe Manipulation and Skid Loader Obstacle Course.

Competitors may enter individual events or apply for the all access competition package. Entry for the first event is $50 and additional events are $35 each.

“It’s a fun way to prove you’re king or queen of the mountain and can run that piece of equipment as well as anybody else.”

Pre-purchased tickets to attend are recommended and the cost for spectators is set at $20 for tickets purchased in advance.

Kids enter the family friendly event for $5 and those under three get in free.

“This includes a whole day of festival fun: you get to watch the competition, dine at the food trucks, enjoy a beer garden and see a live band at night.”

The Fresno band Jaded will perform live with rock, pop and Top 40 from the 1960s to now.

The equipment rodeo supports a great cause, too.

The Perspectives Project

Rogers’ nonprofit Perspectives Project is an organization which focuses largely on uplifting youth navigating adversity including those who are justice involved and communities facing significant challenges or systemic barriers.

“It’s rooted in a simple understanding that we’re living in the feeling of our thinking moment to moment and when that’s seen for the first time something is realized through insight, bringing a natural shift in perspective,” Rogers shared.

The Perspectives Project also serves survivors of violence and exploitation and those who’ve experienced discrimination or marginalization — along with educators, leaders and agencies that support them. Rogers has engaged in transformational work for some 30 years.

“The program is about paradigm shifting. When you see how you’re built, how thought and experience works, you have something you didn’t have before. It offers greater resilience, more calm, more peace and greater possibility. It’s amazing.”

The idea for the equipment rodeo came about because Rogers was focused on organizing a fundraiser for the Perspectives Project.

“I wanted to create something the whole community could get behind and I was looking for something fun we could do here where kids and adults could get involved — something that could grow with time and draw people from all over.”

Heavy equipment is close to Rogers’ heart, literally.

She’s been married to Keith Horton for more than three decades — they’ve lived in Bass Lake for 20 years — and Horton has been in excavation since he was 12 years old. He learned by working for his dad at Horton Excavating.

“We thought, ‘what if we take the fun of a little heavy equipment competition and mix it with a festival that everybody could enjoy?’ Keith knows the work and he has the precision and skill to create these games that are going to show off the operators.”

Rogers said a job site doesn’t allow operators to have a chance to play or show off their skills.

“And these are the people who literally built the foundations of our entire community. Buildings go up and people forget someone was out there laying foundations and utilities. We’re hoping this honors the hardworking people that built our communities as well. And everyone we tell about it, their eyes light up.”

Support and sponsorship for the No Bull Equipment Rodeo has been great, Rogers said.

It’s presented by The Perspectives Project, H&H Works, Pape’ Machinery, Yosemite Foothills, Coarsegold Rodeo, Harris Equipment Company, Pioneer Equipment and McCaffrey Homes and sponsored by a growing list of local companies.

For more information, tickets and registration visit https:// www.no-bullrodeo.com/ and social media sites.

Learn more about the Perspectives Project at www.theperspectivesproject.org/