By Ted Harbin

Photo Courtesy of the Lynette Harbin

While working as a journalist covering the 2001 Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo, I met the love of my life.

I just didn’t realize it for four years.

By May 2005, our relationship had grown, and I made my way back to the Oklahoma Panhandle on another assignment. Covering the event for ProRodeo Sports News was more of a guise than anything; the biggest reason was to spend time with this woman.

My life was changing for the better, and I knew it. It was my last gig covering the event as a traditional newspaperman. Two months later, the idea for this business came into existence. I was invited to be part of Guymon’s committee, and a group of us began planning for 2006 events on behalf of the rodeo.

During the inaugural Dinner, Dance & Draw Down, a fundraiser produced by the volunteers, I enlisted the help of friends, most of which were hers, to help me pop the question. I wanted it to be spectacular, because she deserved to be swept off her feet in a sea of cowboy hats. In front of 200 people, I dropped to one knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with me.

When we moved from the Oklahoma Panhandle, I continued to tell the Pioneer Days Rodeo stories and promote the event. That turned into my first paid gig, marketing an event that was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame a few years later.

A business was born, but growth was slow. I reached out to rodeos across the Midwest, but there weren’t many takers to my unique brand of marketing and media relations. With the support of my wife and the Pioneer Days Rodeo committee, TwisTed Rodeo has grown into an award-winning business that delivers the stories rodeo fans desire.

This week, my wife and I will be back in the Oklahoma Panhandle – where the seed of an idea began to grow and a lifetime of support helped it flourish. It’s where the name of my business came to light, thanks to our ingenious friend, announcer and entertainer, Ken Stonecipher.

Sure, it’s a job, but it’s also a reunion with dozens of friends who treat us like family. It’s a chance to reconnect with the rodeo committee that provided the fuel to TwisTed Rodeo’s engine while also allowing me to tell the stories about more than 1,000 cowboys and cowgirls looking for a chance to be part of Guymon’s glorious history.