The Mid-Western Rodeo in Manawa is a staple in a lot of people’s Fourth of July weekend plans every year, but there’s so much more to the sport than what meets the eye. It’s more than bulls, broncs, barrels, and an entertaining time. There are a ton of people behind the scenes, whether it’s the cowboys and cowgirls or the entertainers and the contractors who bring the livestock in. Each and every one of them has a story and has a life beyond what’s seen in the arena each night. For the trick riders and rodeo clowns, things are no different.
We caught up with Justin and his wife Dusti Dickerson who both trick ride and who actually met while trick riding, as well as professional rodeo clown Dusty Myers. All three have a rodeo background, for example, Dusti’s family produced rodeos in Illinois and her role was carrying the American flag and barrel racing when she was younger. That side of rodeo along with her gymnastics background made for a great trick rider in the making. She had her first taste of the sport when her parents brought her to a dinner theater in Branson, MO, and that’s where it all began. “I was like, that is for me,” Dusti said.
As for Justin Dickerson, his family was involved in rodeo a bit and he grew up around horses his whole life because his dad was a farrier. When it came to trick riding, he explains that he basically got into it by accident. “I got cast into a show and then got to meet other performers and started trick riding.” Justin joked that even after riding together for a little over 15 years, their date nights still consist of trick riding while other couples are going on normal date nights. “Circumstances put us working together and from there we grew a work relationship and then a friendship and then she fell in love with me.”
Dusty Myers on the other hand has partially taken after his dad in the rodeo industry by becoming a rodeo clown. “I grew up around rodeo. My dad rode bulls and bareback horses, and my dad clowned a little bit,” he explained. “At the age of 13, I started fighting bulls. I didn’t know that you didn’t have to fight bulls to be a clown. I wish they would’ve told me that.” He said a lot of today’s rodeo clowns like to be called “rodeo entertainers,” but not him. “I’m a rodeo clown, I’m still old school. I wear the makeup, and the big baggy clothes, and the funny-looking hats…I love it, we all do. This is a childhood dream come true,” Myers said.
One of the driving forces keeping them on the road even if they aren’t able to be home a lot or see their families much is the rodeo family they’ve created. Justin said that it really starts being more about the relationships they’ve built within that community over the years. He talked about how he’ll look at Dusti or Myers schedules and instantly will be thinking about who he’ll be able to see there, who’ll be at the event that he hasn’t seen in a while between contractors, athletes, and everyone else involved in the event. “That’s what makes it interesting for us now, is that we get to kind of make a living by going and visiting people we really care about. It’s rare nowadays to have a job like that,” he said.
Myers has known both Dusti and Justin for about 20 years. Justin grew up down the road from Myers, but they didn’t meet until they got involved in rodeo. “Now we’ve all become family and friends. I’ve worked with her (Dusti) and her family for years. I’ve worked with them, I’ve worked for them,” Myers said. He explained that they’ve become a family not only because they’ve known each other for so long, but there are very few performers anymore. “This is a hard lifestyle because we’re gone away from our families.” For example, Justin goes on the road when he can, but he also has a full-time job. While Myers credits his wife for balancing the full-time job and him being gone on the road for long periods of time. “We don’t see each other that much. When I get home I’ll see her for one day and I turn around and go back on the road again.”
Speaking of family, Dusti talked about Three Hills Rodeo, which has put on the Mid-Western Rodeo in Manawa for some time now. She and her son have been on the road with them for the last few weeks. “You’re just not going to hardly meet a crew better than this,” she said. “They treat all of us like we’re one of the kids and they do a phenomenal job and they don’t get nearly the credit they always deserve.”
For these three, their career is to entertain and distract people from whatever’s happening in their lives outside of the rodeo. “America’s lost their laughter. Everybody’s so uptight now and everybody’s worried about offending somebody,” Myers said. That’s why he loves the fact that their job is to go out each night for about two hours and entertain people, get their mind off of everyday life for a while. Dusti mentioned how she remembers being a kid in the stands and hopes there are more like her, her husband, and Dusty Myers out there that want to do what they do. “We don’t want it to go away, we want to help the generations. The people we get to meet and these kids that hopefully, we get to inspire by doing what we love, ya know, to me, that makes it all worth it,” she said.
Dusti stated how the pandemic really threw them for a loop and changed their perspective on rodeo. She said that this year’s rodeos have been her favorite so far because you can see a difference in the crowds, in the riders, in everyone working to put on each rodeo. “There’s a new appreciation for every rodeo we’re going to. Sometimes it’s like God gave us all a good reality check last year, like hey, appreciate this really cool life we get to live,” Dusti said. Myers mentioned how he thinks last year was the best thing that had happened to rodeo. “I honestly think it was the best thing that happened to rodeo because if you go to any rodeo now, the crowds this year have been outstanding. People are happy to be going, the contestants are happy to be going.” He explained that for them, comparing last year to this year is a world of difference and they truly appreciate everything this time around.
Lastly, they wanted to thank the town of Manawa, the committee that stuck with the event this year, and all of their hard work even when things earlier in the year were still a little uncertain. You can check out the full interview with Justin and Dusti Dickerson along with rodeo clown, Dusty Myers on our podcast page where the crew busts alleged claims by activist groups about how rodeo animals are mistreated.
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