Thursday, March 28, 2024

Better bull-ieve it: Bucking bulls to return for beach bonanza March 18

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Hold onto your ropes because one of Hood County’s most popular events is returning to Granbury City Beach Park on Saturday, March 18.

Bull Riding on the Beach — known locally as Bulls on the Beach — is an event produced by Chute 2 Productions and held annually as part of the Founder’s Day Celebration.

The Granbury City Beach Park is one of the most popular bull riding locations for Chute 2 Productions, according to Visit Granbury. Featuring professional bull riders and mutton bustin’ for kids in an arena full of sand, Bull Riding on the Beach provides spectators with a bull riding event that they have never seen before.

“We're trying to keep the show fresh and changed up year to year,” said Kelly Clark, event coordinator and owner of Chute 2 Productions. “I mean, the bull riding makes it different every year because it's gonna be different bull riders, different combination of bull and rider, but then just the filler acts around it (are great). It's kind of one of those deals of ‘What are they going to do next?’”

Bulls on the Beach — a name that was later changed to Bull Riding on the Beach due to an unintended trademark infringement — has been a Hood County staple since it first began in 2013.

For the past 10 years (excluding 2020 because of the COVID pandemic) Clark and his family — wife, Charlene, and joining later, son Ky — have hosted this event as one of several bull riding festivals that Chute 2 Productions puts on each year.

"It's a family show that we put on together,” he said. “It consists of bull riding, some comedy act, you know, the rodeo clown, and three shows. This is one of our biggest shows that we do. We've had as many as 82 bull riders enter the event.”

Clark, who is also a Hall of Fame bull rider, said this year's event will feature approximately 70 professional bull riders from all over the United States, including bullfighters Colton Strode and Joey Shoats.

“Joey is from Cleburne, and he’s known as The Big Show, and Colton, he’s top five on the planet in bullfighters,” he said.

Ava Goble, a soon-to-be 11-year-old girl who previously auditioned for America’s Got Talent, will be performing an opening song for the event, while Clark, himself, will star as the rodeo clown.

Additionally, as a special guest, gun twirler Garrett Underwood will also be performing at Bull Riding on the Beach.

"I was at the International Finals (Rodeo) in January, and I saw (Underwood) there and I was like, ‘That's pretty cool. You're coming to Granbury,’” Clark said, chuckling. “He twirls guns. I mean, he ends up catching them on fire and twirling them. It's worth seeing.”

The first bull riding event will kick off at noon on Saturday, March 18, and the evening bull riding event is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

A $25 entry fee is required for the kids’ mutton bustin’ event, set to start at 3 p.m. Signups will take place at the arena from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Kids 55 pounds or less are eligible to sign up and the number of entries will be capped at 50.

“Years ago, we noticed we didn’t want to put the little bitty kids out there in the calf scramble,” Clark said. “Not because of the calves running over the kids, but the other kids run over them, so the last several years we’ve had the Chick-fil-A cow, which is one of our sponsors. We get the Chick-fil-A cow, tie a ribbon on his tail, and he runs around out there, and little kids chase him. It's really cute.”

Tickets for Bull Riding on the Beach are $15 for adults and $5 for kids. One ticket equals one show and presale tickets will not be offered.

“Normally all three (events) sell out. It's been overwhelming,” Clark said. “One thing I really wanted to emphasize is because of it selling out, we would sell standing room only. Well, I'm bringing in a whole other set of bleachers this year to accommodate that because it's grown so much, so we'll have six sets of stadium bleachers there on the beach.”

Each bull riding event is held in a portable arena with 1,500-seat capacity aluminum bleachers and VIP seating.

“Our arena is kind of like Legos, I mean, it can snap together any kind of direction,” Clark said. “We literally build a stadium, so everybody is right on top of the action. You're gonna get some atmosphere on you. They're gonna throw dirt on you, and it's all right there, so it's very exciting.”

Even though Clark lives in Springtown, he still calls Granbury his “adopted second town.”

“We love Granbury. We've got very good relations with a lot of people here, including Visit Granbury,” he said. “Tammy Dooley, (director of Visit Granbury), four years ago, she came on the beach, met me, and the first thing she said to me is, ‘What can we do financially to keep you here?’ I said, ‘I don't know. Nobody's ever asked me that,’ and from that time forward, they have sponsored us wherever we go. The city of Granbury is so accommodating and has been awesome. They've been great for us. They really have.”

With his father, John Clark, being a former world champion bull rider and “All-Around Cowboy Hall of Fame Bull Rider,” Kelly Clark has successfully continued both his life and career in rodeo.

“We're in high demand,” Clark added. “(Bull Riding on the Beach) is a great family show and you will be entertained. The show is as choreographed as we can make it using live bulls, and we do a lot of crowd-interacting (activities). You're not just sitting back on your seat. You're up on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what we're going to do next.”

For more information, visit chute2productions.com online or email Clark at chute2productions@gmail.com.