SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - The United States of America will celebrate its 250th anniversary in just a few weeks on the Fourth of July, and the Santa Maria Elks Rodeo is getting an early jump on the festivities.
During its five-day run, the Elks are commemorating the big occasion with a number of red, white and blue themed tributes, including its traditional American flag parachute jump.
Once again, each of the five performances will begin with a giant American flag brought into the Event Center arena by parachutist Brian Naiman right before the singing of the National Anthem.
"It is a huge honor," said Naiman. "I'm honored to be able to do it, to be able to represent it, and present it to everyone. All the patriotism that goes with it and to just see what it means to people and the joy and the pride that it brings to them. I've walked out of some arenas and I've had veterans come up to me with tears in their eyes, thanking me for what I do and it has just touched me so deeply in my heart that I get to do that for people."
A native of Michigan, Naiman now resides in Woodland, near Sacramento and is co-owenr of Skydance Skydiving.
During his 15-year skydiving career, he's made over 5,000 jumps and performs regularly at rodeos and other events in the Western United States.
This marks the fourth straight year Naiman has performed at the Elks Rodeo, which he calls one of his favorite events to take part in.
"This is such a beautiful arena," said Naiman. "It's a beautiful town and a beautiful community, and just getting to be in the sky and look out of the plane, and see the ocean and see the ground, and see the rodeo stands, and all these people down here waiting for me to come in, it's just amazing and spectacular."
While the weather was less than ideal for Naiman's first jump of the week on Wednesday night, Mother Nature cooperated at the last moment and allowed him kick off this year's rodeo with a dramatic arrival in cloudy conditions.
"Last night, as we were taking off from the airport it was pretty overcast over there," said Naiman. "To be honest, we weren't sure if it was going to happen. So we took off and we were able to find some blue holes and get up over the clouds and find the arena. Fortunately, we were graced with a nice blue hole over the arena. We were able to come down. I had to kind of skirt around the edge of a cloud, but made my way right into the center of the arena here."
The Santa Maria Elks Rodeo and Parade will be held May 27-31 31 at the Elks Event Center, located just off of Santa Maria Way on the east side of Highway 101.
For more information about the rodeo, or to purchase tickets, visit elksrec.com.
The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.
Skydiver Helps Elks Rodeo Get An Early Jump on America’s 250th Anniversary Celebration News Channel 3-12.
Hence then, the article about skydiver helps elks rodeo get an early jump on america s 250th anniversary celebration was published today ( ) and is available on News channel ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Skydiver Helps Elks Rodeo Get An Early Jump on America’s 250th Anniversary Celebration )
Also on site :