Preston Broxson, one of rodeo’s most outstanding funnymen, will be making his first trip to entertain the fans at the 81st annual Gerry Rodeo Aug. 5-8. Submitted photo

GERRY — College graduate … school teacher … bull fighter … and now one of America’s outstanding rodeo clowns who travels 60,000 miles a year entertaining rodeo fans at more than 100 rodeos.

That’s the unusual resume of rodeo clown and barrel man Preston Broxson, who is headed to the 81st annual Gerry Fire Department’s PRCA rodeo for four performances, Wednesday through Saturday, Aug. 5-8.

Broxson, who grew up and lives in Louisiana, teaches high school agriculture in grades 9-12 while entertaining rodeo fans on weekends and summer vacation from his teaching job. He has an undergraduate degree from Sam Houston College in Texas and his Master’s from Louisiana University.

His interest in rodeo came from a friend who was involved in producing rodeos and needed someone to load and sort cattle. Since Broxson had grown up on a free-range cattle ranch where he was used to working with tough animals, he began helping this friend. Very foolishly, he says, he got the idea to become a bull fighter whose job is to protect cowboys during the bull riding event. This resulted in a number of bumps and bruises, and he would go back to school where he says his students were always anxious to hear about his weekend experiences.

As he and his friends traveled on those weekends, they began to tell him how funny he was as he kept them laughing. He watched other rodeo clowns and decided he could do a better job than some of them. So, he launched his clown act with his first performance for a third-grade group of students. Today he is in demand at rodeos across the country, and he enjoys being a “clown” so much that he plans to go full-time when he retires from teaching in four years. He has been nominated four times by CRA as Contract Act of the Year and given that title in 2022 by the LPRA.

He says his humor is family friendly, and he “puts everything he has into entertaining the fans.” The highlight of his night is his self-built hot rod ambulance which is very light in weight but has a V-8 engine in it.

Broxson says he is looking forward to coming to Gerry because most of his performances have been out West, and he and his wife Pam are looking forward to seeing Western New York, especially Niagara Falls. He added that one of the big benefits of his clowning is being able to visit places they could never afford on a teacher’s salary. Last year they visited 19 states.

This rodeo is the only fund-raising event for the Gerry Volunteer Fire Department and is the longest consecutive running rodeo east of the Mississippi. It features all eight of the traditional rodeo events each performance -saddle and bareback riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, team roping, bull riding, and the cowgirls’ barrel racing and breakaway roping with more than 250 pro cowboys and cowgirls from more than 30 states competing for $50,000 in prize money. The famous barbecue dinners are served beginning at 5 each evening The lighted midway featuring food and souvenirs is open before and after each performance.

Presale tickets and additional information are available by phone (716) 985-4847 or at the rodeo website www.gerryrodeo.org. Note that because of overcrowding for some nights, tickets will be date specific and shows will go on rain or shine.