Saturday was a big day for the Silver Spurs Riding Club.
It’s fall rodeo, the annual Boots, Bulls and Barrels, had a sellout crowd to see cowboys and cowgirls try to tame some angry Spurs’ bulls and broncs and ride their horses as fast as they could around the barrel course.
Bronc Platt of Ocala was the only bullrider to get two scoring rides and won the event and $1,720. Fisher Creason had the highest first-round ride score and took second for $1,290. Caleb Zietler of Okeechobee was the saddle bronc winner, and Rylee Butler (15.12 seconds) and Taylor Norsworthy (15.22) of Arcadia finished 1-2 among the barrel racers.
Among the 7,500 or so watchful eyes was Sara Berlinsky, the newly-minted rodeo Big Boss.
Or is that Big Boss-Lady? The Silver Spurs has only had to ask that question two other times in its 81-year history. Berlinsky joins Patsy Hefner (1993) and Jo Thacker (2015-16) as the only female Big Bosses over the years.
Berlinsky was the Spurs’ Little Boss, and moved up to the title spot this summer, replacing outgoing boss Clifton Chapman.
“They make me laugh when the say, ‘Hey Big Boss!’” joked Berlinsky, who is the office manager of a roofing company in her “spare time.”
Berlinsky, whose family came from Georgia to lease and work some of the Partin family farm and ranch land, started working at the Silver Spurs Rodeo as a teenager, selling snocones at the old outdoor rodeo ring. At age 21 she became a full member, volunteering wherever needed or asked, and soon after became a board member. She’s been a part of it every since, through raising two children.
“Being on the board, you realize all the people needed to put on the rodeos and events we do,” she said. “It’s really awesome to see.”
Berlinsky is most visible each February heading up the special needs rodeo each Sunday of the spring rodeo, where children with special needs pair up with a cowboy or cowgirl and get to experience it in their own way.
“The Spurs does so much good in the community, and that’s what makes me happy and what a lot of people don’t know,” she said. “So I’ll be taking this seriously. Clifton left me big shoes to fill in preserving the rodeo and agriculture heritage of this community.”
Berlinsky said that, while the traditions of past generations do get farther into the past, the rodeo, mixed in with the annual fair and having Rodeo Day in the schools makes it “sell itself.”
“I’m very excited. I was a little nervous, but then we had a great Boots, Bulls and Barrels event with a sell out crowd, and it went off without a hitch.,” she said. “The team we have is a great, well-oiled machine.”
