Covington County Alabama Rattlesnake Rodeo Festival

Few small towns anywhere in Alabama are known across the state for a single weekend, yet Opp manages it with an event built around one of the least cuddly creatures in the southern woods. The gathering this title points to is the Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo, a spring weekend in the Covington County town of Opp that mixes live snake handling with concerts, pageants, racing and fairground food, and is regularly described as one of Alabama’s best-known festivals.

One point of naming deserves to be settled at the outset. The event’s own billing is simply “Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo”; no source for the gathering adds the word Festival to its name. The longer title above is a catalogue label for the same weekend, not a different occasion, and everything here concerns the rodeo the Opp Jaycees stage under that shorter name.

What follows gathers the documented record: who founded it, how its billing has changed, where it happens, what a visitor encounters, and what is known about its next editions. Where the surviving sources disagree, the disagreement is left standing rather than smoothed over, because the layers themselves are part of the event’s story.

About the Festival

The Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo is organised by the Opp Jaycees, the local junior chamber chapter, whose name remains attached to the event in its own materials. The rodeo’s founder was J.P. Jones, who, in the words carried on the event website, “first organized the event as a fun-filled, family-friendly weekend with snake shows, arts and crafts, and good food.” That founding formula still describes the modern weekend surprisingly well.

Opp sits in the southern half of Covington County, close to the Florida line, and it is worth being precise about its civic standing: Opp is not the county seat. Andalusia, to the northwest, holds that role, and the rodeo’s fame is entirely Opp’s own rather than a product of courthouse-town status. A handler tradition says the original idea travelled from a rattlesnake roundup held in neighbouring Geneva County, making the rodeo an import that Opp adopted, reshaped and eventually made famous.

For a useful comparison, see the Covington County Alabama Opp Festival for another county festival.

The weekend’s character is a deliberate blend. The snakes are the headline, but the grounds also carry the apparatus of a classic southern festival: stage entertainment, judged pageantry, craft stalls and food vendors, plus a stock-car race that borrows the rodeo’s branding. Families who might never attend a herpetology lecture will happily spend a Saturday watching handlers work, and that accessibility is the core of the design.

A regional television report on the event’s history in March 2025 describes a figure named Robert connected with the rodeo, and its surviving layers spell his surname two ways, “Booth” in one place and “Boothe” in another. That conflict is recorded here exactly as it stands, because neither spelling can be confirmed from the available material.

Quick Facts

Item	Detail
Event name as billed	Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo
Host town	Opp, Covington County, Alabama
County seat	Andalusia; Opp is not the seat
Organiser	Opp Jaycees
Founder	J.P. Jones
Documented grounds	Channel Lee Stadium, Opp
Organisation address as published	301 Jeffcoat Avenue, Opp, AL 36467
Most recent dated billing	66th Annual, April 2–4, 2027
Admission price	None published in the sources checked

History

The rodeo’s earliest setting was considerably more modest than a stadium. A long-form magazine account records that the first rodeo was held inside a restaurant, with the gathering only later settling at Channel Lee Stadium in Opp. That trajectory, from dining room novelty to stadium weekend, frames everything the Jaycees built afterwards.

Because the organisers bill each edition with an ordinal, those billings form the firmest spine of the rodeo’s history, reproduced here exactly as billed. The 55th annual rodeo ran on April 11–12, 2015, headlined by Gary Allan and Newsboys, with more than 20,000 people expected in Opp that year. A March 2018 layer bills a 58th Annual edition, although that reference survives only through a weak aggregator and is fenced accordingly. The 60th annual was billed for March 28–29, 2020. A news report published on March 22, 2025 treats that year’s edition as the 64th, and the event’s own page bills the 66th Annual for April 2–4, 2027.

Those numbers must not be converted into a founding year. Ordinal billings in festival materials are frequently inconsistent, skipped or restarted, and no source checked for this article states the year the rodeo began. The most that may responsibly be said about its age is the regional news report’s formulation: the rodeo has “a history dating back more than 60 years.” Anything more precise would be arithmetic dressed up as evidence.

Even the rodeo’s calendar place is less fixed than a single rule would suggest. A 2009 description puts the event on the “first full weekend in April,” yet the editions billed for 2018, 2020 and 2026 all sit in late March. Both descriptions stand here unmerged; in practice the weekend has moved around the turn of April.

One older document adds texture to the Jaycees era. A programme printed for the rodeo’s 25th Anniversary records the Opp Jaycees as producers of that edition and thanks the Opp Chamber of Commerce, the City of Opp and the Covington County Commission for their help. That billing belongs to its own edition alone; it evidences civic backing at that moment, not an anchor for calculating a founding date.

What to Expect

The snake programming is the rodeo’s signature. Handlers present live snakes in shows that mix spectacle with education, and live educational snake shows are specifically billed among the attractions of the 66th edition. Alongside them sit snake races, in which the reptiles’ progress across a course becomes a spectator contest, giving the weekend its rodeo flavour without a single horse or bull.

Music runs through the weekend as a second pillar. Concerts have occupied headline slots across the documented editions, with the 2015 bill topped by country singer Gary Allan and the Christian rock band Newsboys. Buck-dancing contests add a percussive, old-time southern competition, rewarding dancers whose footwork keeps rhythm in the flatfoot tradition.

Beauty pageants form another longstanding strand, bringing contestants and families into the grounds for titles tied to the rodeo weekend. Arts and crafts stalls and food vendors fill the spaces between scheduled events, so the grounds function as a fair even when no performance is under way.

Motorsport extends the programme beyond the stadium. The Rattlin’ 100 car race at South Alabama Speedway borrows its name from the rodeo’s branding and gives racing fans a companion event in the same festival period. Together, the programme explains the founder’s original pitch: a family weekend where snakes share the bill with nearly every other pleasure a small-town festival offers.

Planning Your Visit

Begin by separating the two Opp locations that the record keeps distinct. Channel Lee Stadium is the documented grounds, the rodeo’s settled home in the magazine account. Separately, the rodeo’s own page listing publishes an address of 301 Jeffcoat Avenue, Opp, AL 36467, which belongs to the event organisation. Those facts should never be fused into a claim that the stadium stands at that address; one is the venue, the other is where the organisers can be reached.

Next, treat dates with the caution the sources demand. The 66th Annual is billed by the event’s own page for April 2–4, 2027, the firmest forward date available. A festival-guide listing shows March 26–28, 2026 carrying an asterisk that marks the date unconfirmed, so the implied 65th edition’s slot should be regarded as provisional until the Jaycees publish it. Travellers should verify the weekend against the organisers’ own announcements, not third-party calendars.

Budgeting requires similar honesty. No admission price was published in any source checked, so visitors should not assume the weekend is free, nor budget around a ticket figure invented by a listing site. Ordinary fairground spending money for food and crafts is the only financial guidance the record supports.

Practical preparation is straightforward. Spring weather in south Alabama can swing warm by midday, so light clothing, sun protection and water suit the outdoor stadium setting.

A Rodeo Day From Gates to Grand Finale

A first-time visitor could shape Saturday around the programme’s natural rhythm. The morning belongs to the grounds themselves: walk the craft rows before the crowds thicken and get a feel for the stadium layout while the day is still cool.

Late morning is the moment for the snake programme. Take in a full educational show rather than drifting past a handling demonstration, because the handlers’ commentary is where the weekend’s real substance lives. Children who arrive nervous about snakes usually leave arguing about which species was largest.

The middle of the day suits the contests. Buck dancing and the pageant schedule give the afternoon a slower, seated pace, and the snake races reward anyone who wants the rodeo’s competitive side in its most lighthearted form. Lunch from the grounds keeps the day unbroken.

Evening belongs to the music. Headline concerts have anchored the Saturday night billing in documented editions, so saving energy for the stage is worthwhile. Anyone who also wants the Rattlin’ 100 should treat the race as a separate excursion rather than something squeezed between stadium events.

Rodeo Weekend or County Fair

Comparing the rodeo with an ordinary county fair clarifies what makes it distinctive. A fair is organised around agriculture: livestock judging, produce exhibits and a midway licensed in for the week. The Opp weekend keeps the midway pleasures but replaces the agricultural core with a wildlife spectacle, so its centre of gravity is a performance rather than an exhibition.

The organisational model differs as well. County fairs typically run through fair boards and extension networks, while the rodeo is the Jaycees’ production, shaped by one civic club’s continuity. That single-organiser structure helps explain the event’s stable identity across six decades of billings, and its draw is wider too: the 2015 edition alone expected more than 20,000 attendees in a town far smaller than that figure.

Rodeo Weekend Checklist

• Confirm the exact weekend against the Opp Jaycees’ own announcements before booking travel.
• Keep Channel Lee Stadium and the 301 Jeffcoat Avenue organisation address as separate facts.
• Bring sun protection and water for the stadium.
• Plan food and craft spending in cash-friendly amounts, since no admission price is published.
• Seat children where they can hear the handlers’ commentary during the educational shows.
• Treat any March dates found on third-party calendars as unconfirmed until the organisers publish them.

Beyond the Rodeo Grounds

A rodeo trip can stretch into a wider Covington County visit. Andalusia, the county seat northwest of Opp, offers the courthouse-town counterpart to the festival weekend. Seeing both towns in one trip underlines the point made earlier: the rodeo’s fame belongs to Opp itself, not to a seat of government.

The Geneva County connection also deserves a place in a thoughtful itinerary. Handler tradition credits a rattlesnake roundup in that neighbouring county with inspiring the Opp event, so the rodeo’s roots run across the county line even though its home is firmly Opp. The surrounding countryside of farms, pine woods and small communities rewards visitors with extra time.

Why the Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo Endures

Longevity is the rodeo’s most striking credential. A billing sequence reaching a 66th Annual in 2027, backed by a news description of more than sixty years of history, places it among Alabama’s most durable small-town festivals. It has survived by keeping the founder’s formula intact: snakes for spectacle, music for the evening, pageants and contests for local participation, and food for everyone.

The rodeo also performs a quieter service. Its educational shows present rattlesnakes as wildlife to be understood and respected rather than merely feared, and generations of south Alabama children have had their first serious encounter with native reptiles on those stadium grounds. Conservation messaging delivered through entertainment tends to outlast lectures.

Civic structure matters too. Because one organisation, the Opp Jaycees, produces the weekend, the rodeo carries an institutional memory that purely commercial festivals often lack. The 25th Anniversary programme’s thanks to the chamber, the city and the county commission show a club working inside a web of local support, and that web is a large part of why the event returns each spring.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the event never call itself a festival?

Because its own chosen name is the Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo, full stop. The Jaycees’ materials, the event website language quoted in news reports and the edition billings all use that shorter form, so the longer catalogue title used for this article should be read as a filing label for the same weekend rather than an alternative official name.

Which spelling of the rodeo figure’s surname is correct?

The record does not settle the question. A regional news report about the rodeo’s history names a figure called Robert, and its surviving layers render the surname as “Booth” in one place and “Boothe” in another. Until a stronger source resolves it, both spellings circulate and neither can be confirmed.

Is there a confirmed date for the 65th edition?

Not from the organiser in the sources checked. A festival-guide listing places March 26–28, 2026 on the calendar but marks that date with an asterisk meaning unconfirmed, and the edition implied between the billed 64th of 2025 and the billed 66th of 2027 has no organiser-published slot. The firmly billed forward date is the 66th Annual, April 2–4, 2027.

What does the Rattlin’ 100 add to the weekend?

It gives the festival a motorsport arm. The Rattlin’ 100 is a car race held at South Alabama Speedway under a name borrowed from the rodeo’s rattlesnake identity, and it lets racing fans join the festival period without spending the whole weekend inside the stadium.

What to Expect From the Next Covington County Alabama Rattlesnake Rodeo Festival

How often is Covington County Alabama Rattlesnake Rodeo Festival held?

The billings describe an annual spring rhythm, with numbered editions appearing year after year from the 55th in 2015 through the 66th billed for 2027. The precise weekend has shifted between late March and early April across those layers, so the pattern is a yearly return in the early spring window.

When is the next Covington County Alabama Rattlesnake Rodeo Festival?

The event’s own page bills the 66th Annual Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo for April 2–4, 2027, the firmest upcoming date in the record. An earlier slot shown on a festival guide for March 26–28, 2026 is explicitly marked unconfirmed, so travellers should anchor plans to the organisers’ own billing rather than that provisional listing.

Will the dates change?

They have moved before, which is the honest basis for an answer. One older description fixes the rodeo to the first full weekend in April, while the 2018, 2020 and 2026 layers all point to late March instead. Anyone travelling specifically for the weekend should confirm the final dates through the Jaycees’ own channels before booking.

Closing

The Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo has carried a small Covington County town to statewide recognition on an unlikely idea: that snakes, handled skilfully and explained patiently, could anchor a family festival. Six decades of billings later, the formula still holds, and Opp still gathers each spring to prove it.