Cal Farley's Boys Ranch Rodeo - Boys Ranch Events

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This year marks the 76th annual Boys Ranch Rodeo.

The COVID-19 pandemic prevents us from hosting guests in person for the 76th annual Boys Ranch Rodeo, but Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch knows how to turn trials into opportunities! Watch for information and your invitation to a special digital Boys Ranch Rodeo program, coming to television and the web late this summer!

More questions: Please call 800-687-3722.

Tickets

$10 general admission. Children 6 and younger free. Box seats available for additional charge. Includes +adventureFEST, lunch & rodeo. To purchase call, 800-687-3722, or stop by our Amarillo, Texas, office at 600 SW 11th Ave.

About

Our founder, Cal Farley, recognized one of the keys to turning around the lives of at-risk children was by providing a sense of adventure. Since 1944, the Boys Ranch Rodeo has offered a positive experience for children living at Boys Ranch to pursue this adventure. In recent years, adventureFEST was added to the rodeo weekend lineup, providing a family-centric festival with games, fun, food and souvenirs.

Today, hundreds of Boys Ranch residents welcome thousands of visitors and supporters to campus each Labor Day weekend, where they enjoy adventureFEST, a barbecue lunch and rodeo action. The Boys Ranch Rodeo features youth competing in events that range from the mild to traditional thrills such as bronc riding and pole bending.

Healthy Adventure

Adventure is an important part of life at Cal Farley’s. Along with safety, belonging, achievement, power and purpose, it’s one of the six basic needs that make up Cal Farley’s Model of Leadership & Service.

The annual Boys Ranch Rodeo +adventureFEST is one of the most visible expressions of adventure at Cal Farley’s. By encouraging reasonable, healthy risk-taking, innovation and laughter, our residents learn to identify the balance between work and play, and can better take in the excitement in their daily lives.

From activities like rock climbing and canoeing to annual rodeo favorites such as bronc riding and barrel racing, residents at Cal Farley’s learn how to direct their natural urge for adventure into exciting, healthy, productive challenges.

History

In the early 1940s, very few visitors braved the dusty roads and Canadian River quicksand between Amarillo and Boys Ranch. But the earliest Boys Ranch residents longed to share their achievements with the outside world. In 1944, our founder, Mr. Cal Farley, organized a small rodeo in the hopes that people would come see the transformative effect Boys Ranch was making in the children’s lives.

About one hundred people, many of whom were Mr. Farley’s acquaintances, attended that first rodeo, where the boys rode some donkeys and branded a few calves. Much like the organization’s own humble beginning with nine boys in an abandoned courthouse, the rodeo has experienced a lot of growth in the years since. Today, thousands of visitors attend an event that now includes the fun and games of adventureFEST, authentic Western barbecue and, of course, the traditional rodeo action that thrills our audience each year!