BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – The Raleigh County Convention Center is gearing up for an exciting weekend. The Ranco Cattle Company is returning for their 12th year at the convention center for a bull riding competition.
They’ve been hard at work over the past week getting the convention center ready, and turning it into a professional arena for the sport.
“We started yesterday and brought in about 500 tons of dirt,” said Anthony Raines, owner of the Ranco Cattle Company. “Today we’ll be setting up the steel, which is the bucket shoots, the backpins for the bulls and the arena panels. Tomorrow we’ll be putting the finishing touches on the area and getting ready for the first show.”
The bull riding competition has been proven to be very popular in Beckley over the past few years, often being completely sold out. And this year is looking no different.
Locals are very excited to see the competition return, especially after it went on a brief hiatus last year due to COVID-19.
“I think everybody’s just ready to get back to living their life. COVID is here to stay and we just gotta try to get back to living our lives and doing normal things again.”
The event will feature 28 riders from all over the country, and they’ll be competing for $10,000. This weekend’s show is also sanctioned by the Southern Extreme Bull Riding Competition.
Riders will compete for points at this competition, and the best will make it to the national finals next weekend in Nashville Tennessee.
