Rascal Rodeo
Rascal Rodeo produces rodeo events for people with mental and/
or physical disabilies of all ages throughout the Pacic Northwest.
We show them that they are loved, cared for, accepted and can do
things many say they couldn’t. We focus on abilies rather than
disability. We’ve served people from two years old to sixty-eight
years old with down syndrome, ausm, cerebral palsy, schizophrenia,
deaf, blind and many others. To make everyone feel as welcomed
as possible, our events are always free to the special needs
communies. Rascal Rodeo was created to give people the
opportunity to be cowboys and cowgirls, but we’ve discovered it’s
much more than that: It’s discovering their unknown abilies
I started Rascal Rodeo when I was twenty-seven years old, lived
at my parents’ house, didn’t own a vehicle, had been laid o four
jobs in three years and the only thing to my name was 40,000 dollars
in student loan debt. It was my high school senior project in 2001
with four parcipants and twenty volunteers. I didn’t do another
rodeo unl 2010 and since then we have been growing rapidly.
We are the only 501c3 organizaon that travels around pung
on these types of events in the U.S. The success stories that have
come from Rascal Rodeo are nothing short of miraculous
The posive results happen because of the collaboraon of everyone
involved; from sponsors, rodeo hosts, volunteers to the cowboys
and cowgirls. Hearing a parent say they hadn’t seen their child
smile in months unl that day at a rodeo, seeing people invest
me, money and resources into what I was told was “an unrealisc”
idea, and the massive amounts of hugs and smiles from the
parcipants make the work worth it. We’ve had two parcipants
say their rst words aer aending our rodeos: One was “horse”
and the other “cowboy.” Aer their life-changing experience at
Rascal Rodeo, volunteers that have never worked with special
needs people change their profession to serve those with
physical or developmentally delayed communies.
Rascal Rodeo has been pung on rodeos for nine years. We are
working on a strategic plan to expand. While doing the paperwork
to become a legal non-prot organizaon, I had visions of a
huge organizaon. We are now at the point of guring out how
to make it to all of the communies, across over a dozen states,
who have reuested us and how to reach each special needs person
to give the opportunity to thrive and discover their abilies.
One thing is for certain, it will take a lot more money. We served
800 special needs people with the help of 800 volunteers in
2018 with around 80,000 dollars. We are coming up on our 5th
Annual Honky Tonk Hoedown in Pasco, WA. This is our largest
fundraiser, with 300 people in aendance, which brings in
roughly 40,000 dollars. There is a live and silent aucon, prizes
and dinner. It’s a fun, well-organized event and we are always
looking for aucon items, sponsors and aendees to help make
it beer each year.
By Ann-Erica Whitemarsh, Founder of Rascal Rodeo
102 Rodeo LIFE