One of the biggest events of the UTM year is coming up this weekend as the 38th Annual Spring College Rodeo, presented by Dodge, kicks off.

The rodeo festivities start on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. with the annual Crawfish Supper held by the Rodeo Booster Club at the American Legion in Martin. Tickets are $10 per person or $25 per family.

The timed and rough stock events start at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Ned Ray McWherter Agricultural Complex.

The timed events include tie-down roping, steer wrestling and team roping and for the men and barrel racing, breakaway roping and goat tying for the women.

The rough stock events are made up by the bareback, saddle-bronc and bull riding which are only competed in by the men.

Tickets to Thursday night’s performance, which is sponsored by 84 Lumber Company, are free to the first 500 UTM students and $5 at the door for everyone else.

At the performance, spectators can register for a chance to win a new Dodge truck and a chance to toss a horseshoe for a new MTD riding lawnmower.

Friday night’s Martin Paving Company performance, starting at 7:30, will feature all timed and rough stock events as well and registration for the chance to win the truck will continue.

If no winner of the lawnmower was named on Thursday, a second drawing and toss will occur.

The Weakley County 4-H Mounted Drill Team will perform before the performance.

Saturday’s events get started early with the Junior Mr. and Miss Rodeo pageant at 9 a.m. in the tents in front of the football building. Kid’s Cowboy Time takes place from 10 a.m to 11 a.m. with free barbecue plates and blue grass music to follow.

The Edward Jones Investment Celebrity Action sponsored by Harald Melson starts at 12:30 p.m. and includes such items up for auction as items from NASCAR drivers, actors and actresses, and tack, feed and other Western items up for grabs. All proceeds go to the UTM Rodeo Scholarship Fund.

The Vanderbilt Sports Medicine Championship Finals will start at 7:30 and the top 10 Ozark Region NIRA contestants from the previous nights’ performances will compete in each of the events. The drawing for the chance to win the truck will be held Saturday along with a chance to win a new saddle or cash money.

Going into their home rodeo, the UTM men’s rodeo team is currently leading the Ozark Region by 817.5 points and is third in the country with 4402.5 points.

The women’s rodeo team is sitting at sixth in the region with 660 points.

The UTM rodeo team is currently the only collegiate rodeo program in Tenn., coming to UTM in 1968 and joining the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association in 1973.

The men’s team then advanced to the College National Finals Rodeo the next year. They’ve been back 31 consecutive times and seven men have won individual CNFR titles in UTM history. In the region, which UTM joined in 1976, the Skyhawk cowboys have won the region 25 of the past 31 years and have yet to finish anywhere but first in the 37 year history of the school’s home rodeo.

The women’s team have won the Ozark Region twice, in 1996 and 2004, and qualified for the CNFR nine of the past 13 years.

Tickets for Friday and Saturday’s performances are $8 ($7 in advance) for adults, $6 ($5 in advance) for children ages five and up and UTM students with their UTM ID.

A weekend pass is available for $15, purchased in advance only. Tickets are available in Martin in the UC, Wood Communications Wireless Source and the Weakley Farmers Co-op. Doors open for each night’s performance at 6 p.m.