Howard Harris Sr. started the Cowtown Rodeo in 1929 with his son, Howard “Stoney” Harris Jr. and it became a staple rodeo in the east.
The Cowtown Rodeo called Woodstown, New Jersey and the Salem County Fair home until 1938, was put on pause during World World II and made a comeback in 1954 after Howard “Baldy” Harris, Stoney’s son returned after winning the 1954 National Intercollegiate All Around title.
With the Harris family putting in the work, they have established what is now the oldest weekly professional rodeo in the US. Every Saturday from May-September was the Cowtown Rodeo. They found themselves with national attention when they made it on to the television in 1958 and stayed there until the 1970’s. In the midst of it all, the Cowtown Rodeo outgrew it’s home and expanded to a 4,000 seat arena.
Howard Grant Harris, Baldy’s son, spent his entire life in a rodeo arena being only a week old when the first ever Cowtown Rodeo was held in 1955. He went on to become a PRCA Saddle Bronc Rider and a three-time Northeast Circuit Saddle Bronc Champion. In 1978, Harris, along with his wife Betsy, bought the Cowtown Rodeo.
Howard Grant Harris recently passed the Cowtown Rodeo to the fifth generation of Harris’ when his daughter, Katy and her husband, RJ Griscom, took over in 2020.
Cowtown Rodeo has produced rodeos all over the east coast and have raised most of their bucking stock, tracing their bloodlines back to the bucking stock of the Cowtown Rodeo in the 1970s.
Cowtown Rodeo has once again earned national recognition as they add their name to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.