DAYTON CHAMPIONSHIP RODEO

A lifetime of rodeo led the Dayton Rodeo Celebration Committee to select Rob Lauer as the 2023 Grand Marshall.    

Lauer’s has been rodeoing since he was a child, falling in love with the sport when he was only five years old.  His parents—Mary and Donald Lauer—were very active in the Dayton Rodeo and, in this case, the apple didn’t fall far from the rodeo arena.

The Lauer family (Mary, Donald, Rob, and brothers Gene and Keith) lived on a farm on Highway 169 in Clay Township.

Lauer had more success than many small town cowboys.  He even rode bulls in the National High School Rodeo Finals in Hot Springs South Dakota in 1960.  After mastering bull riding, he moved on to steer wrestling.    

Lauer graduated from Callender High School in 1962.  He began work with the Webster County Road Department as a heavy equipment operator in 1966 and held that job for an impressive 57 years.

Rob married wife Joan in 1968 and the couple made a home on the family farm north of Lehigh.  Son Patrick was born in 1969.  In 1981, they moved to their current home in Lehigh and Rob’s parents moved to the farm. As an adult, Lauer was a member of the Dayton Rodeo Celebration Committee for over 25 years.

Lauer in a country boy at heart.  Even his hobbies involved farms and rodeos.  “I enjoy working on my farm. I also enjoy going to farm machinery and household auctions. I watch rodeos on Cowboy Channel and RFD when I have time,” he said.

He concluded by noting it was “an honor “ to be named Grand Marshall.