angola rodeo

Well worth the ride up, even if you dont watch the rodeo its worth going to see the crafts the inmates make. The furniture they make is very nice and well worth the cost.Word of advice bring extra money and a truck or trailer maybe both. As for the rodeo itself, well worth a trip to see it. Incredible experience to see, my favorite event is inmate poker. Also note they do the rodeos every weekend in october and 1 weekend in april.

Omg for us folk from the UK this was a must. We even changed our travel plans to attend. A quick warning the traffic to get in is slow however it took us three hours to get bk on the main highway. The. Rodeo itself is amazing no matter what u read to be able to walk round and meet and talk to prisoners is strange. The crafts are of a really high standard and the food is very unusual stuff from deep fried coke to deep fried pork chop. The rodeo is in a 10,000 seater stadium try to pick seats in the middle as your out of the sun and get a great view. We were on the front row but had to move. The rodeo is brutal be warned and there is lots of different events and acts that makeup the spetical but the it was amazing even the wagon riding buffalo to the dog riding monkeys!! A brilliant day.

The Angola Prison Rodeo is an annual event located on the grounds of the Louisiana State Penitentiary commonly known as “The Farm.” The event is held every Sunday during October and once in April. The prison is located about an hour’s drive from Baton Rouge, with the rodeo grounds inside the main gate but away from the other portions of the prison. Tickets to the rodeo are reasonable at only $15 (plus $2 surcharge for on-line orders) each. I would recommend ordering them on-line prior to the event as early as possible, as they draw more visitors each year and quickly sell out. It is possible to buy tickets the day of on –site but you would be pressing your luck. The rodeo itself starts at 2:00pm. Gates open at 9:00 in the morning.The rodeo is comprised of many different events to include the familiar bull riding to the entertaining convict poker. All of the participants are convicts except for the female barrel racers. The women competing in the event are part of the professional tour and the Angola event is one of their sanctioned events on the circuit. Since all of the other participants are convicts with no rodeo experience (or with horse for that matter) you will be entertained throughout. Convict poker is when they place four participants in chairs around a table as if they are playing poker. A bull is released and the last one remaining in a seated position at the table wins. Of the two rounds during the event I was at, only one person stood his ground for any length of time. Not that I could blame the others!They use the nationally recognized rules found at all sanctioned rodeos with some modifications. While a qualifying ride on a bull is considered eight seconds for all rodeos, at this particular one it is reduced to six seconds. This is only fair as the convicts who volunteer to ride a bull have never done so before and had no previous practice. They brought in a professional announcer who did a good job explaining the action and what to expect. While I have seen a lot of the different events, this was the first time that this many were executed all at once. Plan on the event taking around two hours from start to finish.Outside of the rodeo is the arts and craft show. There are many stalls that sell homemade items made by the convicts themselves. You can find everything from rocking chairs, grills to jewelry. The arts and craft show is open prior to the rode and closes about an hour or so after the conclusion of the rodeo itself at 5:00pm. For those who do not want to go to the rodeo but want to see the arts and crafts, you can purchase a ticket that allows you access to that part of the grounds. Your rodeo ticket also gets you into all areas. There is also food and drinks available at a reasonable price. You will interact with prisoners who run the stalls; however they do not handle any of the transactions or money. You will bring a slip of paper given to you by the prisoner to a cash booth to purchase it. You then give back the slip to the prisoner who will give you the purchased item. Make sure to have the receipt handy when leaving as a guard will check it.Parking for the rodeo is in front of the complex in the various fields. The weather report had called for rain which could have made it quite interesting for those without four wheeled drive. Fortunately the rain stayed away until the next day. Plan on getting to the rodeo at least two hours early as there is only one road in and out of the prison grounds. It took about 30 minutes or so to park once inside the grounds. Also do not plan on being in a hurry after the rodeo as you will have almost 8,000 people leaving at once. Spend time at the arts & crafts show and let some of the crowds dissipate. It is like being on the freeway in Los Angeles during rush hour. There are two routes you can take to leave, the same way you came in or a more circular route along prison roads that takes you back to the main gate. I would recommend the latter, as it might be longer in distance, is a lot more scenic and you get to see more of the prison itself. Regardless of when and how you leave, expect to take your time. Even when you eventually depart the prison itself it is still a one-way highway until you get to the main highway leading back to Baton Rouge. I would highly recommend going to the Angola Prison Rodeo. It is an enjoyable time for all ages.

Absolutely unique event - rodeo in active prison! Tickets should be purchased on-line in far advance. I recommend arrive the site at last two hours before beginning (2:00 pm) - there is market of handmade staff, souvenirs, food and etc. You will need add half an hour to GPS routing for parking. I decrease value from 5 to 4 because of prohibition of cameras. I don't understand that and I hate it!