'Wildest' rodeo still has family as top goal

Ask those closest to Cape's Wildest Rodeo and the same word keeps popping up.

"Lots of families," Jason Stroup said.

"It's a family thing," Jason's wife, Carrie, said.

And from coordinator Greg Sparkman: "It's very family oriented."

Cape's Family Rodeo?

Nah. It just wouldn't be the same.

The two-day event, a benefit for the Shriner's Hospital for Children, begins its third year with a performance at 7 p.m. today and continues with a 7 p.m. show Saturday at Arena Park in Cape Girardeau.

The Stroups, husband-and-wife competitors from Gordonville, are among about 80 riders expected to compete today for points and earnings on the Missouri Rodeo Cowboys Association and American Cowboys Rodeo Association circuits. It's a familiar weekend schedule for a pair who met because of horses -- she was a rider and he provided the horseshoes for her horse.

"Once we started dating, we started competing together and going to events," Carrie said. "I'm not much of a sideline cheerleader. I'd rather be out there in the middle of things."

This season's MRCA schedule has taken the Stroups across the state and led Jason to a spot in the state finals in Sedalia in August, where he was third in one go-round in team roping, his only event. He'll partner with Kadin Boardman of Jackson and Tim Glasgow of Anna, Ill., on two different teams this weekend.

Carrie will compete in barrel racing.

Both days' events start with mutton-busting -- a sheep-riding event for children age 8 and under -- and conclude with a dance each night and a clown contest Saturday. In-between are mechanical bulls, calf scrambles and other events designed with families in mind.

"We want to send everybody home with a smile," Sparkman said, " and we've incorporated a lot of events into our goal of doing that."

jhall@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 174