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Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Fishing rodeo will return to Gulfport in 2010

Event will be held on Island View casino property

GULFPORT — The Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo will return to Gulfport next year, city officials announced Tuesday.

“The rodeo is home,” Mayor George Schloegel said, with the audience breaking into applause before he could finish the sentence. “This is a historic moment for our city. The Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo is responsible for some very fond memories for so many people in Gulfport and across the Coast, and we are all very happy to have the rodeo home.”

The rodeo is scheduled for July 2010 on Island View Casino’s beachfront property and parking garage, city, rodeo and casino officials said Tuesday afternoon at a press conference. The rodeo likely will move back to Jones Park once a new facility is built similar to the former Rice Pavilion.

Once the announcement was made, they popped bottles of champagne and gave fishing rodeo caps to those who attended.

But some city leaders said after the press conference they were surprised by the announcement and had questions about funding for the rodeo.

Council President Ricky Dombrowski said council members found out about the return of the rodeo shortly before Tuesday afternoon’s meeting at 2:30 p.m.

“It took us totally by surprise,” he said. “The first thing I thought about is how it is going to be funded. There’s nothing in the city’s budget for this.”

Dombrowski said he didn’t have time to talk to Schloegel about the budget details before Tuesday’s announcement.

The fishing rodeo was started 61 years ago by the Jaycees and American Legion Post 119 in Gulfport and was held the first week in July. For the first 57 years, the rodeo was held in Jones Park. After Hurricane Katrina heavily damaged the park, the rodeo was held at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in 2006 and 2007.

For the past two years, Biloxi has hosted the rodeo on its waterfront.

“We sat down with Mayor A.J. Holloway and discussed the move and thanked him for all he had done for us the past two years,” said Rodeo President Michael Casano. “He was a gentleman as always, truly a class act and a pleasure to work with.”

Casano said the move back to Gulfport wouldn’t have been possible without the cooperation of the city, the casino and the Mississippi State Port Authority.

The rodeo features salt- and freshwater competitions and draws about 5,000 participants.