ProRodeo Sports News -- May 24, 2024

MOUNT PLEASANT, TEXAS

RODEO SPOTLIGHT

when he was named committee chairman. Rester – now in his 15th year in the role – worked as an investment broker when he stepped back into the rodeo world, but it was a dream come true for the former bullfighter and rodeo clown. “We didn’t go on vacation or have a lot of money (growing up),” Rester said. “But my dad bought box seat tickets to the Mount Pleasant Rodeo back when it started in the 1960s. We went all four nights…and I fell in love with the sport.” The event continued as an independent rodeo and slowly began to pick up traction in the community. City and county leaders pledged their support, sponsors hopped on board, passionate community members joined the committee and more fans began to buy in. But a road trip taken by Rester in 2021 upped the ante. “I was in Cheyenne in 2021 sitting there (at Frontier Days) watching those performances and listening to everything,” Rester said. “We’ve run a really good rodeo here before. But I just said, ‘we’re ready. We need to go pro and be part of the PRCA.’” Mount Pleasant hosted its first ProRodeo in May of 2022 and is set to host its third sanctioned event this month. Rester said the feeling of seeing the dream of hosting a professional event become a reality was hard to put into words, given the struggles and difficulty the MPRA endured to reach that level. “Seeing that (PRCA) logo come to Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and seeing those judges with those vests on, it became real,” Rester said. “It wasn’t a point of pride where I reared my shoulders back and thumped my own chest. I was thanking the Lord for the blessing, and I still feel that way.” After Frontier Days, Rester drove to check out rodeo grounds in Belle Fourche, S.D., Deadwood, S.D., Cody, Wyo. and Miles City, Mont. He took the opportunity to walk inside the venues, stand on the dirt and dream up ways to take his hometown rodeo to the next level. “The great tradition of those rodeos provided a vision for me to create that here at a place in the south,” Rester said. “We have a good outdoor Texas rodeo in the home of Preifert, right on I-30. We know we’re well positioned because we’re one hour from Oklahoma, one hour from Arkansas and one hour from Louisiana.” This offseason the MPRA approved the additions of nine suites above the bucking chutes, a new announcer’s stand, improved electricity, a new video board and a gold buckle club that features elevated premium seating. Rester said all of the construction is on schedule to be completed ahead of the start of what they call spur week, featuring the Priefert Ranch Open event and the Mount Pleasant Rodeo. “We wanted to build something that would become one of those destinations that cowboys, cowgirls and fans want to travel to and experience,” Rester said. “That’s our dream and our vision. We’re just working hard to build on that, and we’ve all bought into it.” Rester made sure to credit his board of directors, volunteers, local government and businesses in town for working together to make the Mount Pleasant Rodeo a top-tier event. “I could not be where we are without them,” Rester said. “It is not my deal alone, by any means. There are so many good people who are heading up everything from vendors to the arena directors, rodeo relations, sponsorships, marketing and signage. We couldn’t not have gotten to this place without all of them.”

Rodeo’s journey from near collapse to the PRCA First Class BY ALEX DODD T he Mount Pleasant Rodeo celebrates its 60th anniversary from May 28 through June 1 at its newly renovated grounds in Northeast Texas, but the event nearly rode off into the sunset 15 years ago. During the Great Recession in September 2008, the Mount Pleasant Rodeo Association posted a notice in the local newspaper that it planned to disband and return its 501(c)(4) number to the IRS. Thankfully Bo Rester picked up the paper that morning, saw the notice and attended the MPRA’s would-be final meeting on the second Tuesday of that month. “My son was playing peewee football, and I was coaching. As soon as practice was over, I said, ‘get in the car,’” Rester told the ProRodeo Sports News . “He was standing out there with me in the middle of the grass with 10 or 12 other people by the concession stand at a place that I fell in love with the sport. “I’m out there with him and he’s in a pair of football pants, a T-shirt and cleats. And I said, ‘I care. Don’t do it. Don’t send that number back.’” The committee members listened to Rester and offered to show him the ropes the following spring. Ultimately, the MRPA passed the reins to him in the fall of 2009, Click Thompson photo Team roping winners Paul Eaves, left, and Erich Rogers compete during the Mount Pleasant (Texas) Rodeo in June 2023. Mount Pleasant hosts its 60th annual rodeo from May 28 through June 1.

“Seeing that (PRCA) logo come to Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and seeing those judges with those vests on, it became real. It wasn’t a point of pride where I reared my shoulders back and thumped my own chest. I was thanking the Lord for the blessing, and I still feel that way.” – BO RESTER

Click Thompson photo Luke Thrash holds on to Generations Pro Rodeo’s Kickin’ Kate during the Mount Pleasant Rodeo in June 2023. He won the bareback title with an 84.5-point ride.

ProRodeo Sports News 5/24/2024

ProRodeo Sports News 5/24/2024

ProRodeo.com

ProRodeo.com

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