Professional bull rider Renalto Crouse Professional bull rider Renalto Crouse hangs on as Undertaker tries to throw him off during bull riding at the Cumberland County Fair Sunday evening. A standing-room-only crowd lined the arena for the second annual event at the fair. (Photo Nathan Tsukroff)

According to Cumberland Fair President Michael Timmons, this is the second year the fair has featured bull riding and rodeo events. Three years ago, Timmons came up with the idea of hosting rodeo events at the fair. He was visiting the Saratoga Raceway in Saratoga Springs.

"I was talking with a man from Lake George about my fair in Maine and the fact that I had looked on the internet and found there were two major positives in the sports world�NASCAR was number one and the other that was showing very positive gains was bull riding," recalls Timmons. The man suggested calling David Tracy, owner of T-Bar-T Rodeo in Lake George, New York. Timmons presented the idea to the fair board of directors and then went to New York himself to check out T-Bar-T Rodeo.

The directors decided to feature the rodeo at the fair in 2006, and it was extremely popular. On the opening night of the 2006 fair, they had polled 150 who attended the bull riding event, and all of them said they hoped the fair would feature the rodeo again in 2007.

"We decided to have them back because the stands were so full last year," Timmons says. Seating in the arena has been doubled since last year, and this year it still wasn't enough to accommodate the large crowd on opening night.

Overall attendance on opening day was at an all-time high. According to Timmons, ticket receipts for September 23 were $98,024. That's higher than 2006, when ticket receipts for opening night were approximately $50,000. "It gives us a great beginning to the event," comments Timmons. "I think the thing that was most impressive was the positive atmosphere here. The weather was wonderful and we had a pretty good program."

Rodeo events will be featured on Friday, September 28 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, September 29 at 3 p.m. The rodeo consists of about eight events, including clowns, bull riding, bareback riding and calf roping. Children from the audience are included in the events as well. For more information, visit www.cumberlandfair.com and www.tbartrodeocompany.com.