Rhoads To Entertain As Barrelman

Eastern Montana native Tate Rhoads is looking forward to serving as the barrelman for this year’s Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede on July 11-13.

Rhoads, who was born in Glendive and graduated from Custer High School, will be working the Stampede for the third time. He was a bullfighter in 2017 and a rodeo clown in 2020.

“A lot of my family from my dad’s side is from there,” Rhoads said of Wolf Point.

His father attended high school in Wolf Point and both his grandfather and greatgrandfather lived in the area.

“Wolf Point is pretty special,” Rhoads said.

Career highlights for Rhoads have included being a four-time Bullfighters Only World Finals qualifier, a reserve finals champion at the ABF World Finals in Las Vegas and a two-time Badlands Circuit Bullfighter of the Year. He worked the National Stock Shows in Colorado earlier this year, which featured 28 performances.

This is his sixth year of being a rodeo clown. “I think it’s kind of my calling,” Rhoads said. “I always was the class clown and liked being goofy. I figured out how to make a career doing it.”

Goals for him include being selected the PRCA Clown of the Year and the Coors’ Man in the Can of the year.

His main goal, however, is making sure the rodeo fans have a great time at the arena.

“I want them to come back the next night,” Rhoads said. “I want them to be able to escape and spend two and half hours forgetting what else is going on in their lives.”

Rhoads has a busy summer with stops in Augusta, Roundup and Browning prior to the Wolf Point Stampede.

“I love crowd participation, and that’s what makes my job fun,” he said.

At the Stampede, Rhoads is sponsored by Cape Air, Swap Shop, HUB Insurance, Fort Peck Community College, Bridges Construction and Honeyland.