‘Wonderful’ and ‘rewarding’: Rodeo of Miracles helps bring joy to local special needs community

Published 8:15 am Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Dalton resident Wendy Conner, a longtime fan of local rodeos who volunteers with the Miracle League of Whitfield County, said she always had a “dream” to bring a specialized rodeo experience to participants with special needs and disabilities.

“That has always been so dear to me,” she said. “My whole family has been a part of the rodeo life in some form or fashion and it brings us such joy. It brings families together. The rodeo community is all about faith, family and our country, and sometimes you don’t get that in all sports. So, to be able to let kids and participants be a part of something that they may not ordinarily get to do, that is an experience that I wanted to give them.”

In 2024, Conner was able to achieve that dream by organizing the Rodeo of Miracles at Chatsworth’s Murray County Saddle Club, which allows participants with special needs to take part in rodeo activities while receiving a free meal with family members.

The second annual Rodeo of Miracles was on April 26 and featured more than 112 participants and more than 200 volunteers and helpers, said Conner.

When organizing the event, Conner said she partnered with Travis Presley, who owns the local Outlaw Rodeo Co. which hosts events throughout the year.

“He said if that’s what I wanted to do, he’d put on a rodeo that Friday and Saturday night, we’ll rent the Murray County Saddle Club and we’ll do the Rodeo of Miracles on Saturday afternoon,” Conner said. “We always give the kids a blue ribbon at the end and it gets them in the (Outlaw) rodeo that night for free.”

Conner said through volunteer help and assistance from other organizations and sponsors such as RockN’5L Rodeo Co., Builtwell Bank, Dalton Machinery, Max Built Trailers and Discount Western Wear, participants were able to “ride horses and compete in several different events that they would typically do in a rodeo, just altered to meet the special needs community.”

That included barrel racing, where participants rode horses while walking around a barrel, and a mechanical bull.

“We had team roping with a dummy bull, where they roped the horns and feet, so they would get that experience as well,” Conner said. “We also did goat tying with little plastic goats and breakaway roping, where they roped a dummy cow and learned to pull the slack. At each rodeo, we have a professional cowboy or cowgirl that’s at each station that helps guide them along because for every contestant that we have, we have to have two people that help them.”

Conner said participants were of all ages and received free hats, bandanas and T-shirts along with a meal.

“Last year and this year, we also had a live person come and sing and play music during the entire rodeo,” Conner said. “This year it was Ely Ruiz, a local musician from Chatsworth.”

New this year was the addition of a petting zoo, Conner said.

“Beauty Addictions (a health and beauty shop in Dalton) sponsored a petting zoo, which turned out to be huge,” she said. “We talked about having one last year but we couldn’t get it done in time. We had goats, chickens, rabbits, ducks, a pig, a baby donkey and a calf for participants to pet.”

Conner said the rodeo is a great opportunity for participants with special needs and disabilities to be active and engaged while learning new skills.

“And we don’t stop at any particular age,” she said. “We had them there from toddlers to as old as 50 years old all across Whitfield and Murray counties. The Miracle League in Whitfield County actually cancels their baseball games at Miracle Field that day and all of them come over to the rodeo.”

She said she has had “more than enough” volunteers both years.

“The good Lord has never let me down,” she said. “The first year, we had about 105 to 110 (participants) and double the amount of volunteers.”

Conner said she hopes to continue to build up the event each year.

“We do everything that goes on in a typical rodeo, including the rodeo clowns,” she said. “My children actually are the clowns, named Bubbles and Suds, and we put on a little show for the participants just like a rodeo does to kick things off. This year we went over and above with our show. We had a lot of people from the community step up and be volunteers to help put that show on and be a part of it. And it turned out really well.”

This year’s “rodeo clown” show featured Builtwell Bank President Mitch Sanford, commercial lender Rusty Ridley, Beauty Addictions owner Heather McEntire Young and community member Kimberly Kocher dressing up in “sumo suits that looked like ballerinas” and having a dance contest,” said Conner.

“It was a lot of fun and the kids loved every minute of it,” she said.

Young, who has volunteered at the rodeo both years, said it is “really exciting” to be able to help entertain the participants.

“Wendy has done so well with the event,” Young said. “She had an idea for years and years, and was actually able to bring it to life. It’s just wonderful and really rewarding.”

Young said she was glad to help bring the petting zoo to this year’s rodeo.

“During year one, I was like ‘You know what we need? We need a petting zoo,'” she said. “Because some of these participants may never get to even take part in something like this otherwise. (Conner) ran with it and it was a great success.”

Conner said she looks forward to bringing the rodeo back for local participants next year.

“It’s just been awesome to see how many people will come out and help,” she said. “They want to be a part of it. It’s just a beautiful thing to see. It brings the community together.”