Local & State Headlines

More than 300 participate in charity horse show

• The King Cotton Horse Show started in the 1930s, officials say.

J.D. Sumner

EDISON — A charity horse show known throughout the region for more than 40 years raised thousands for area charities, organizers said.

The King Cotton Horse Show has paraded ponies for 42 years, supporter Dan Hammock says, and has become a fixture for this small community.

More than 300 registrants came from around the region Saturday to participate in the show in what Hammock calls “some of the nicest horse show facilities around.”

Beginning with a parade, the festivities featured events involving everything from pleasure class horses to expensive show horses.

“People come out from all over,” Hammock said. “And the history behind it goes a long ways back.”

According to Hammock, the charity has its roots in the late 1930s, when Model-T’s would roll into town towing horse trailers.

“But then it got so big that they decided to move it into Albany where people could stay at motels and the like,” Hammock said. “Back then you couldn’t just drive 100 miles and make a turnaround trip with them Model-T’s.”

Hammock said in the early days the horse show would come into town and would be followed by a dance at the Continental Room, where participants socialized.

But in the war years the show fell by the wayside as area men headed overseas to fight, inadvertently bringing a moratorium to the festivities for years.

Hammock said that the show was revived in the 1950s and made into a full-on charity show with proceeds benefiting the local community by way of the Lion’s Club.

“It’s something big for our little town,” Hammock said. “And hopefully it will continue to grow next year.”

The show is typically held on the first or second week in May.

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