Inside Nashville's first Music City Rodeo as cowboys and concerts take over downtown

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Friends Kayti Hall and Jade Parker represented the two types of fans piling into Bridgestone Arena for Nashville's inaugural Music City Rodeo: the one who grew up in the competitive sport and the one along for the ride.
"My cousin's a pro bull rider," Parker said. "My other cousin has her pro card in barrel racing. I did barrel racing and flag racing when I was a kid."
Parker, 23, moved to Nashville from Kansas City. She saw the Music City Rodeo advertised on TikTok and bought two tickets.
"I love the rodeo," she said, explaining that she basically grew up in a hoof-printed arena. The bull buckin', cowboy stompin', horse lassoin' and mutton bustin' events course through her veins.
"I'm used to the rodeo being outside," she said, "but honestly, Nashville made the most of it. They did a good job."
Parker's friend Hall laughs. "I just came for Reba," she said of the May 29 concert headliner. It wasn't Hall's first rodeo, but it felt like it. Twenty years ago, the nail technician went to one in South Carolina.
"I don't remember anything about it," she admitted and then pointed to Parker. "She's been explaining everything to me. I definitely missed my calling as a ... what was the the 8-year-old girl hanging upside down event called?"
"Trick rider," Parker answered.
"Yes, a trick rider," Hall said. "Maybe I'll quit my job and become a trick rider."
The rodeo is scheduled for May 29-31. Doors open each night at 5:30 p.m. An hour later, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) events begin. Those include bareback riding, steer wrestling, bull riding, saddle bronc riding, team roping, tie-down roping, barrel racing and mutton busting, where children aged 3-8 wear a helmet and hold on to sheep bucking across the dirt palace.
"It's fun," Maverick Czech said after his first-ever event. When asked how he thought it went, the 5-year-old in a brown cowboy hat and red Wrangler long-sleeve kept the reply simple: "I fell off."
Maverick held a golden sheep participation trophy and his back number "5" as he walked next to his mother, Melissa Czech, outside the arena.
"It was a very exciting lead-up," Melissa said. "We watched a lot of videos and talked to a lot of friends who gave some good tips on what to do."
Maverick gripped the golden trophy and admitted the event wasn't hard. He hopes to be a rodeo-competing cowboy when he's older.
Win Mardis won his bulldogging round, an event where competitors leap from a horse to wrestle a steer to the ground. The Natchez, Mississippi, athlete finished the task in 5.4 seconds.
"I went out there and made a pretty good run," Mardis said. "You get on the horse and you ride, ride, ride until you slide off, grab [the steer] and twist his neck. It's wild horses chasing wild animals, you just never know what's going to happen."
If the adrenaline pumping bull riding isn't enough entertainment, ticket holders cap off the night with a 90-minute concert. McEntire headlined May 29. Jelly Roll was set to be the May 30 entertainer, and Tim McGraw will close out the three-day event on May 31.
Before taking the stage, the country icon dressed in turquoise and black was honored with a horse belt buckle and back number in memory of her father, Clark McEntire. She teared up at the gesture telling rodeo president Patrick Humes and co-founder Bryan Kaplan: "My whole life has been music and rodeo."
Before jumping into a punchline, "Thank God I got into the music business."
Edited to update headlines.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Inside opening night of inaugural Music City Rodeo at Bridgestone Arena