Hitch up the wagon and saddle up the horses. Put on your best hat, boots and jeans. It’s time for the 78th annual Mangum Mounties Rodeo in Mangum and this one is going to be a great one.

Any event takes time to plan and as soon as one rodeo is in the books the Mounties immediately begin planning for the next year.

The rodeo used to be an annual event in most towns across the plains, but over the years, one by one they have fallen by the wayside.

But the Mangum Mounties continue to do their best to put on the best show each year for the hundreds of rodeo fans in the area.

There are some changes in this years event and they will enhance the excitement and prove to be an added draw to the oldest rodeo in the state of Oklahoma.

Each night the youngsters will get things going with the cowboys set to ride at 8:00.

In addition to the rodeo Saturday is filled with events for the entire family from the old fashioned chuck wagon breakfast, to quilts shows, barbecue and the annual parade. A full schedule of events can be found on page 5 of this week’s edition of the paper.

There is so much going on, one article can’t describe all of the events.

Make your plans today to come to the rodeo Friday and Saturday night and the Wild West Days all day Saturday.

Things will kick off at 8:00 a.m. with an old fashioned churckwagon breakfast with the Arts and Crafts Show and quilt show to begin at 9:00 on the square. The fiddlin' contest will start at 10 with the barbecue set to begin at noon. At 3:00 the rodeo parade will come through downtown Mangum with the days events concluding with the rodeo that evening. The youth rodeo will start at 7 with the main rodeo to being at 8:00 p.m.