Rodeo Week Continues in Clovis with Charity Roping

Participants round up a calf during the 8th annual Jeremy Pickens Jr. Foundation Charity Roping event on Tuesday, April 25. (Photo by Ron Sundquist)

The Clovis Rodeo festivities continued Tuesday, April 25 at the rodeo grounds with the 8th Annual James Pickens Jr. Foundation Charity Roping.

Some of you may know Pickens from his time spent as an actor for ABC playing the role of Dr. Richard Webber on the hit TV series Grey’s Anatomy. When he’s not recording new episodes, Pickens spends his time as a philanthropist.

“We started this event to draw attention to a couple of the charities that we’ve been supporting for probably the last 10 years that’s focused on children and children concerns, especially at-risk youth,” Pickens said. “I have love for the western lifestyle, I team rope recreationally and it’s been a big passion of mine so I wanted to combine the two and these guys have been more than gracious in helping us do that.”

Jeremy Pickens Jr. (left) poses with future cowboys and cowgirls. (Photo by Ron Sundquist)

The event offered a Pro-Am and an open roping competition. It also featured a Kids Dummy Roping event to wrap up the day. Proceeds from the event benefit the Clovis Rodeo Foundation and the James Pickens Jr. Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to enhance the lives of the underserved and revitalize local communities.

“My partners are Neil Williams and Scott Perez, they’ve been truly invaluable, they are the ones that got me pushed in the right direction,” Pickens said. “The Clovis Rodeo committee has been so gracious to us and we’re actually going to commit part of our proceeds from this event to their fund, they have a nonprofit as well so we wanted to partner with them.”

The PRCA Gold Tour Rodeo begins Friday night, with the opening rounds of competition, plus a performance from Eli Young Band. The action will continue throughout the weekend and concluded on Sunday with the final round of competition.

 

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