NORTH AUGUSTA – It’s already the back end of a spectacular day, but Ken Treadway is just getting started.

His work at the head of the Ken Treadway Rodeo Co. takes him all across the country and today he just so happens to have parked the company’s caravan in North Augusta outside of the Hippodrome for the annual USCA benefit rodeo. The sun has been delightful all day as the breeze provides a gentle caress to the Saturday afternoon. It might have been a nice afternoon for a nap – if there were time.

Instead, Treadway checks on his prized rodeo stock and makes sure everything is ready for showtime.

Even though his company has long been one of the top rodeo stock contractors in the world – having twice been named the International Professional Rodeo Association Stock Contractor of the Year – Ken Treadway sets out to make sure the fans get their money’s worth at each and every one of his shows and that’s exactly what he aims to see happen again tonight.  

Success, according to the Treadway business model, depends upon taking care of others first.

“All that does (winning awards) is make you work harder,” he says. “We want to put out a good product because if we don’t do that then the people will stop coming.”

Treadway’s wife, Pam, a world-reknowned horsewoman in her own right, adds that doing things the right way is the only way to do business.

“We feel obligated to entertain,” she says. “That’s why we’re here, to put on a good show for the rodeo fans. And at the end of the day that’s why all of us are here, for the fans because without them there is no rodeo. We do our very best to make sure that we put on the best show possible at each rodeo we do because rodeo fans today, with all the television exposure, are very educated. They know when they’ve been to a good rodeo and when they haven’t.”

That commitment to excellence will be why thousands of rodeo fans will pack the Lazy J Arena this weekend for the Treadway’s next stop on the professional rodeo circuit.

It’s a crucial time of the year for the IPRA competitors as well, making for some intense competition as riders give their best to earn points toward the IPRA finals later in the year. The real winners end up being the fans – just the way the Treadways and Sandy Oaks Pro Rodeo promoters Sandy and Wesley Quarles like it.

“We want to be with the best,” Sandy Quarles said. ‘It’s just as simple as that. We enjoy doing business with Ken and Pam and we know they’re going to bring a quality rodeo when they come to Edgefield. We’ll have a lot of things going on for the kids such as riding trails and Haunted hay rides and just things for the whole family because that’s what this event is all about, bringing quality family entertainment to the people here in Edgefield County.”