AUGUST 16, 2022

The Cowtown Rodeo in South Jersey keeps warehouse developers at bay

E-commerce retailers have been buying up agricultural properties within a short distance from Philadelphia. But the Harris family has refused to sell the Salem County attraction

BY NOAH ZUCKER
PhillyVoice Staff


PETER ACKERMAN/ASBURY PARK PRESS

The Cowtown Rodeo in Pilesgrove, Salem County, is home to the longest-running weekly rodeo in the country. The South Jersey family that's run the rodeo since 1955 has rebuffed efforts from developers seeking to build warehouses on the property.

The Cowtown Rodeo in Pilesgrove, Salem County, has held a show almost every Saturday since 1955.

But if developers had their wish, the fifth-generation family business would be replaced by acres of the nondescript warehouses that have popped up in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in recent years.

Developers have propositioned the family with "astronomical" sums of money – much more than they could ever make through their business, Grant Harris, who ran the rodeo for decades before selling it to his daughter in 2018, told the New York Times. ... "Some of the offers were tempting," Harris said. But his daughter Katy Harris Griscom – the Cowtown's first female boss – isn't looking to sell.

The family was forced to pause its 67-year tradition for six weeks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it otherwise flourished amid the pandemic. Last summer, ticket sales were 50% higher than they've ever been.

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NOAH ZUCKER
PhillyVoice Staff

noah@phillyvoice.com

One of the Oldest Rodeos in America Is in New Jersey

The country’s longest-running weekly rodeo can be found in the Garden State. That’s not as strange as it sounds.



“It’s as ancient as ancient can be,” Tim Kent, a top regional bareback rider, said about rodeo competition. Gabby Jones/The New York Times

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By Tracey Tully Photographs by Gabby Jones
Aug. 16, 2022

PILESGROVE, N.J. — The low-lying clouds framing the horizon at sunset were beginning to tinge a cotton-candy pink when the rodeo announcer, Ty Miller, instructed all men to “remove cover.” ... He had just finished reciting a prayer. The national anthem — “the most beautiful song ever written,” he said — was next.

“My goodness,” John McKenney, 52, said to friends squeezed thigh to thigh on Cowtown Rodeo’s wooden, no-frills stands. “I don’t think we’re in New Jersey anymore.” ... But like Dorothy, he had never left.

Tucked along the rural western flank of a state better known for suburban sprawl, mobster lore and its tangle of highways, Cowtown has held rodeo competitions in Salem County, N.J., nearly every week since 1955, rain or shine. The only exceptions were six Saturdays at the start of the pandemic. ... No other rodeo in the United States has operated a weekly show for longer, according to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.



A bronc rider competing at the Cowtown Rodeo in 1979. Frank C. Dougherty/The New York Times

Cowtown and its longevity have long been local points of pride in New Jersey. But over the last two years, the beloved if incongruous entertainment oasis has enjoyed something of a pandemic moment as rodeos have surged in popularity nationwide.

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Tracey Tully covers New Jersey. She joined The Times in 2018 as a senior editor. She previously covered city and state government at The Daily News, the Albany Times Union and the Jersey Journal. @traceytully

Preetam
Miami
5h ago
Besides being a fascinating rodeo experience, their spicy Thai burger in the restaurant is one of the best burgers I have eaten in the US.
You can see more of my visit to the rodeo in 2012 at https://flic.kr/s/aHsjEcoyyo