PHILLIPSBURG — When the Phillipsburg Rodeo stampedes into town August 3-4-5, it’ll bring a treat for western fans!
Western showman Rider Kiesner will be on hand during every performance of the rodeo to enthrall crowds with his western-style art.
Kansas Biggest Rodeo-goers will see him trick rope, spin guns, and do some good old fashioned whip-crackin’! He’ll even bring his fire whips: two six foot whips, soaked in lighter fluid, that he lights during his show as he cracks them. “They throw a big flame,” he said. “They’re pretty cool.”
The 25-year-old cowboy knows how to entertain. He first learned how to trick rope from a Will Rogers trick roping kit his parents gave him when he was nine years old and the family lived in Colorado. “It was cold that winter and we moved all the furniture back (in the living room), and I trick roped in the house,” he remembers.
From there it only grew. He polished his showmanship and learned the art of gun spinning and bullwhip cracking to add to his repertoire.
And since then, he’s entertained at some of the biggest rodeos and wild west shows in the nation and across the world: the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas the last three years, Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days, Clovis, Calif., San Angelo, Texas, and Prescott, Ariz., and at the Cavalia, an equestrian and performing art show that toured last year in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
He’s also won numerous awards: four times as world champion trick roper, twice as world champion gun spinner, and the all-around western performer twice, at the world finals in Las Vegas and Tombstone, Ariz.
Kiesner loves to entertain. “It’s something I’ve always done,” he said. “To be able to make a living by performing is the best.”
Kiesner will perform with his western arts during each night of rodeo at the rodeo grounds north of town, August 3-5. The rodeo begins each night at 8 pm.
Tickets for the rodeo are on sale at Heritage Insurance in Phillipsburg and at the gate. They range in price from $12 to $18.
For more information, visit the rodeo’s website at KansasBiggestRodeo.com or its Facebook page (search for Kansas Biggest Rodeo.)
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Cutline: Trick roper, gun spinner and whip cracker Rider Kiesner will entertain during Kansas Biggest Rodeo in Phillipsburg. The young phenom is a great western entertainer. Photo by Bob Hosker.
Cutline: Rider Kiesner stands on his horse as the finale to one of his trick riding routines. The performer will be in Phillipsburg for the enjoyment of fans August 3-4-5. Photo by Bob Hosker.