When Wasatch County rodeo committee member Candyce Meriweather first organized a rodeo activity for individuals with special needs 17 years ago, she wasn’t sure how it would turn out.
She had 45 contestants, including a 4-year-old girl from Wyoming named Lizette.
“She would never leave her mom’s side,” Meriweather remembered. “I had an officer, a sheriff. He was about 6-2.” He came over and started talking to Lizette.”
Lizette was on the ground, and her mother was not very optimistic that she would participate.
“The mom’s going, ‘She’s not going to get up,’” Meriweather said. “Within about 15 minutes, we looked across the arena and he is holding this little girl’s hand, and they are walking around, and the mom is sitting there crying.”
That’s when Meriweather decided she was in it for the long haul.
Friday morning almost two decades later, similar scenes of excitement and enthusiasm were abundant at the event complex in Wasatch County as this year’s rodeo for individuals with special needs, now called the Mountain Valley Roundup, brought in about 42 contestants.
All of them won as members of the local high school rodeo team, football team, rodeo royalty and law enforcement escorted them to activities ranging from face painting to riding a carpet pulled around the arena by a small four-by-four.
Before she planned the first rodeo for people with special needs, Meriweather said she was approached by the committee about the potential event to give them ideas about how it could work, and it wasn’t long before they put her in charge.
That early event has now grown into a tight-knit community.
“Not knowing what I was doing, I just started thinking what could these wonderful contestants do to be a part of a rodeo,” she said. “All of these contestants you see today, 99% of them have been coming for 17 years. We’re like one big family. We know each other’s names. We keep in contact throughout the year.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Meriweather said there were 120 contestants.
“I’m trying to build it back up,” she said. “You should have seen this arena.”
Even with the reduced number, participants didn’t seem to mind and filled the space with their smiles and excitement.
“I think it’s very important because community involvement is huge,” Meriweather said. “There are some people that never get the chance do or be a part of something like this, so us being able to reach out to them, have our sponsors donate prizes so they can take something home with them, it is the most amazing thing. I can’t imagine not being able to give back.”
As Friday morning’s rodeo began, Wayne Brooks — the professional rodeo announcer who’s also serving as the voice of the Mountain Valley Stampede rodeos in Heber City through Saturday night — shared Meriweather’s enthusiasm for the event.
“You folks in Heber City are spoiled. Let me just tell you that because you are surrounded by some of the greatest people in the world,” he said. “This doesn’t happen everywhere we go. I wished it did, but it doesn’t. … I wouldn’t miss this event for the world because of the great people that surround it.”
Hannah Homer, a participant who said she comes every year, beamed as she took a wild ride on a barrel bull rocked back and forth by football players. She loved the roundup and said that was her favorite part.
“I like it so much,” she said. “I got things to do like riding a bull and go on the magic carpet ride.”
