Rodeo fans appreciate the Montague County community of Bowie, named in honor of Alamo defender Jim Bowie, for its lively year-round schedule of rodeo events. The community’s Pelham Park hosts the Bowie Rodeo Arena where the line-up includes “Deep in the Heart of Texas”, a ranch rodeo fundraiser sponsored by the Montague County Child Welfare Board and featuring riding, roping, branding, and a Kids Pedal Tractor Pull. Another crowd-pleaser features Pokey the Clown in the Junior Ranch Rodeo, designed for children ages 4 to 16. Pokey shows participants how to compete in the stick horse barrel race and how to milk a wild cow! (Pokey’s demonstration is on simulated livestock only.) Perhaps the biggest event of the year occurs over the three-day Jim Bowie Days Festival and Rodeo. The event features a youth rodeo as well as a UPRA championship rodeo where cowboys and cowgirls compete in bull and bronc riding, something called “mutton bustin”, roping, and barrel racing. The rodeos are just a few of the highlights of this annual festival, a county-wide event that draws large crowds with its parade, turtle racing, a Rodeo Queen contest, and vendors.