What: Double M Rodeo
When: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through Aug. 30
Where: 678 Route 67, Ballston Spa
How much: $15 for adults and $5 for kids ages 5-12
More info: doublemwestern.com or 885-9543
July and August are not just about horses in Saratoga County. Step through the gates at the Double M Rodeo in Ballston Spa on any Friday or Saturday evening in July and August and you will feel like you stepped into the Wild West. Complete with angry bulls and rodeo clowns, the Double M is a piece of the West nestled in the woods of Ballston Spa.
Cindy Martin, who owns the rodeo with her husband, said it’s common to see 1,200 people each weekend sitting in the stands hollering for their favorite competitors.
“It’s good, clean fun, family oriented and a relaxed atmosphere,” she said. “It’s like a park out back so people come and hang out, little kids are running around and parents are watching.”
The competitors come from as far away as Oklahoma to compete at the Double M.
The rodeo also has its share of local competitors.
“We have doctors and lawyers, professionals that work for New York state, corporate owners all kinds of professionals,” Martin said. “This is their extracurricular activity. In fact my son’s pediatrician is a barrel racer.”
The rodeo is host to a number of events, including barrel racing, bull riding, bareback riding and steer roping. The competitors are not paid performers. They compete for prize money.
Martin said the events can get very competitive even between family members.
“Right now I have a grandfather and his granddaughter that rope together and a grandmother and granddaughter competing against each other in barrel racing,” she said. “At the end of the night, you could go home and have two sisters battling it out as to who is going to win money because they compete in the same event.”
Martin said the bull riding event is by far a favorite with the crowd. Often you will see onlookers in suspense as the rider is jerked around while holding on for what he hopes to be eight seconds.
For the Martin Family, rodeo is just a way of life.
Martin’s mother-in-law and father-in-law, Kathy and Ron Martin, brought the show to the Double M in 1987 after organizing rodeos in the 1970s at Lake Luzerne’s Painted Pony Ranch.
Martin and her husband, Wayne, took over the rodeo and accompanying western store 18 years ago. The rodeo tradition is continuing through the generations with Martin’s two children now a part of the show.
“We all have our own part in it. My husband is the pick-up man during the rodeo,” Martin said. “That’s when two bucking horses come through, he is the guy who comes in and saves the guy on the back of the bucking horse.”
Martin’s 14-year-old daughter, Jessica, carries the American flag horseback during the opening of the show and competes in the youth barrel racing competitions. Clayton, Martin’s 8-year-old son, does a trick act with whips.
“It’s a big 6-foot bull whip that he swings over his head and snaps it, which is hard to do for most,” she said.
Martin said rodeo is basically a part of their family heritage it’s what they love and what they do.
“We’ve been doing it for so long that it’s old nature. For us, we don’t think much about it. It’s all in our heads and we just do it,” she said.
The Double M is located at 678 Route 67 in Ballston Spa. Catch a rodeo any Friday or Saturday evening through Aug. 30, at 8 p.m. General Admission is $15 for adults and $5 for kids ages 5-12. For an additional fee, go early and enjoy a barbecue by North Country Barbeque in Rotterdam at 6 p.m. Parking is free. For more information, visit doublemwestern.com or call 885-9543.