America’s most famous prison rodeo returns in 2025 at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola with a new warden who is very familiar with overseeing what’s known as the “Wildest Show in the South.”
Tickets are on sale now for the spring shows on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 19-20.
Darrel Vannoy returned as warden in November after spending the past three years as warden of Wilkinson County Correctional Facility in Woodville, Miss.
Vannoy began his corrections career at Angola in 1975 and served as warden there from 2015 until 2021, when he retired after contracting COVID-19 before recovering and resuming his career in Mississippi.
West Feliciana Parish President Kenny Havard told USA Today Network that The Wildest Show in the South will attract a flood of tourists to the parish and its largest city St. Francisville.
“It’s known worldwide,” Havard said. “We see people from all over the country, and even from Europe, who come to the rodeo. It’s a major draw.”
The rodeo action starts at 2 p.m. on each day featuring what the warden describes as “heart-stopping events” like Convict Poker, Wild Cow Milking, Bull Riding and the world famous Guts-n-Glory, where inmates try to pluck a chip from between the eyes of a raging bull.
All of the rodeo action is displayed in a 10,000-seat arena.
But fans are encouraged to come early to enjoy festivities that begin when the gates open at 8:30 a.m.
The prison campus is transformed into festival grounds on rodeo days, with live music from inmate bands, food and shopping for inmate-made arts and crafts like jewelry, leathercrafts, paintings, woodworking, lawn and garden furniture and toys.
There are also pony rides and carnival games for children.
America’s longest-running prison rodeo began in 1965. There was a two-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tickets are $20 and on sale online at www.angolarodeo.com. Tickets can also be bought by phone at from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at (225) 655-2030 or (225) 655-2607. Authenticity of tickets purchased anywhere else cannot be guaranteed. Rodeo proceeds assist with the funding of reentry programs that work to create fewer crime victims upon release of inmates.
More: Louisiana’s most notorious prison in Angola has a new warden who is a familiar face
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: America’s most famous prison rodeo returns to Angola in 2025 with new warden
