By Ron VandenBoom
You know your a redneck if you enjoy bobbing for pigs feet while listening to an armpit serenade just before the cow chip throwing competition.
But then being a redneck is where its at or at least it will be on Saturday, Sept. 11, when the community of Rudyard comes together to participate in the First Annual Redneck Olympics.
The Olympics begins at 4 p.m. at the Bank Bar in Rudyard with a host of games and contests.
Leading off the festivities will be the ever popular armpit serenade contest and bobbing for pigs feet contest. This will be followed by a cow chip throwing contest and a four-person wheelbarrow obstacle coarse.
Jaye Dee Han, co-organizer of the Redneck Olympics and spokesperson for the event, said other events will include a tug-of-war-over-a-swimming-pool contest and another contest where contestants attempt to pass an ice cold beer to one another using only their necks.
The first 25 contestants will receive free redneck T-shirts.
Wrangler Jeans and Normans Ranchwear of Havre will provide prizes, including five pairs of jeans, to the winners of the Wrangler Jeans Contest.
A sporting little ditty where participants will have the top half of their bodies hidden while their bottom halves are judged to determine who looks the best in Wrangler Jeans.
No event would be complete without a king and queen and the title of Bubba and Bubbaette will be awarded to two lucky participants who most typify the look and spirit of a redneck.
Han said anyone wearing a redneck costume would be eligible to compete for the Bubba and Bubbaette title, but she admitted it may be difficult to tell who was wearing a costume and who wasnt.
An all-you-can-eat meal of Shirley Klines homemade chili will be available for $3 and music will be provided Saturday evening by Kirt Miller or sax Cadillac, as he is sometimes known.
Han said she got the idea for the Redneck Olympics while watching a report on a similar event held in the south and thought it might be a good idea to try something like it in Rudyard.
She said she remembered a time when Rudyard held an annual Post-Harvest Boogie and thought this also might be a good opportunity to revive the community celebration.
I hope it becomes an annual event, Han said.
