Photo by Samantha Davis Shawn “Boom Boom” Thompson entertains the crowd at this year’s Lyon County PRCA Rodeo Thursday night. This is Thompson’s first time visiting Marshall, and is a full-time professional rodeo clown.

MARSHALL — After a brief delay and shelter order, severe storms passing through Marshall didn’t halt the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Rodeo Thursday night at the Lyon County Fair. The rodeo took to the arena following the rain, still filling the grandstand with eager fans.

The Lyon County Fair has hosted PRCA rodeos the last 25 years, featuring bareback riding, saddle broncs, tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing and bull riding.

Of the dozens of professional cowboys that took to the arena to compete was also professional rodeo clown Shawn “Boom Boom” Thompson to entertain the crowd and fill the area with laughs, in his first-ever visit to Marshall and the Lyon County Fair. 

“I’m excited to come see a new place and visit new people, and see the new traditions that rodeo brings,” Thompson said. “(It’s an) exciting new place to go. I love the state of Minnesota. It’s one of my favorite states to rodeo in actually.” 

Thompson comes from Sidney, Iowa, in the southwest part of the state, but travels everywhere across the country to host rodeos. 

“I like to stay in the Midwest, but I’ll go everywhere and anywhere. I’ve been as far east as Maine, and I’ve been as far west as working into New Mexico and Nevada,” Thompson said. “The only state I haven’t been in yet has been, believe it or not, California.” 

When prompted by the opportunity to visit Marshall and check another town off his list, Thompson was intrigued quickly with the idea of getting to meet a new community. 

“I am looking forward to seeing all the new people of Marshall,” Thompson said, who noted he’s been around the state of Minnesota but never to Marshall. “It is really cool to come to someplace for the first time.” 

As a professional rodeo clown that gets to work alongside some of the most-known in the business, Thompson made it into a full-time career two years ago. 

“I’ve been doing it for 35 years now, and (been) everywhere. I have been very fortunate to work some (really large crowds), and some really small crowds, and both have filled my bucket. I’ve had a great time,” Thompson said. “Two years ago, I went full time. (I) taught high school and junior high industrial arts, woods classes, for 18 years, and then I also was a head football coach here in my hometown of Sidney there for a while. I gave it up two years ago to pursue this full time.” 

“I have had the time of my life. I’ve enjoyed it so much,” Thompson added. “I get to actually slow down, and see parts of the country I really just never have dreamed I’d get to see.” 

Thompson first got into the rodeo world in high school and started in bull riding, and soon after navigated to the comedic side of the industry. 

“I was your typical class clown in high school,” Thompson said. “I had a teacher, she asked her seniors what we wanted to do when we graduated. I told her that, jokingly about what’s (the funniest) thing I could say here as a teenager, I said, ‘Well, I’d like to be a rodeo clown.'”

That same night after school, Thompson said he got a phone call from his teacher’s sister that happened to be a secretary for a rodeo company and asked if he was interested in attending a rodeo school in Wahoo, Nebraska. 

“It (rodeo school) was only like three days … I started fighting bulls there at that school. Then, there was a guy there that lived just up the road from me,” Thompson said. “He was just starting his own rodeo company. He’s like, ‘Hey, will you come work at my (event) again every Wednesday?’ “And I’m like, ‘Sure.'” 

Thompson continued to fight bulls in rodeo for six years after that before realizing his passion was in a different part of rodeo. 

“I liked a little bit more of the comedy things,” Thompson said. “(I was) fighting bulls and doing comedy both for a while, and then rolled over finally into just doing the comedy side of things … I’m an old school, traditional rodeo clown that likes to do the skits and have fun, yet I like to keep it modernized.” 

There will be another chance to see the second night of the PRCA Rodeo and Thompson again tonight at the Lyon County Fair. 

“It’s the PRCA … It is the best athletes in rodeo today, versus the best stock in rodeo today,” Thompson said. “A show that’s going to be full octane, and full-throttle fun … It’ll be fun, it’ll be thrilling with a little bit of comedy thrown in there. It’ll fill everybody’s bucket, and it’ll be a good show.” 

Today’s rodeo will begin at 7 p.m. at the fairground’s arena, with a kid’s boot scramble to take place as well. 

“I just love the fact that I get to not only entertain someone who might be 96, but someone that’s 6 as well. It’s just getting to entertain a spectrum of people of different, different ages, to different nationalities,” Thompson said. “Getting to do things like this (is) just unreal. Just to put a smile on somebody’s face and make them laugh, and forget their troubles for a couple hours a night.”