DODGE CITY, Kan. – A couple of decades ago, Justin Rumford was engrossed in the tourism that is part of this western Kansas community.

Tens of thousands of visitors arrive in Dodge City to relive history, the television series “Gunsmoke” and take a peek at what life was like for the early settlers and cowboys who tamed the Old West. That’s why Boot Hill Museum is around and why its spot next to downtown is the perfect setting.

“I was ‘Dirty Bill’ on the stage coach at the Boot Hill Museum,” Rumford said of his character, the man who drove the vehicle for tourists. “We’d go three or four blocks around there, then I’d park the stage. They’d all go over and eat at Applebee’s, then go to the night show with Miss Kitty.

“I had a good time at the Boot Hill Museum.”

He will recognize a bit of his own past as the featured entertainer at the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo, set for 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 30-Sunday, Aug. 3, at Roundup Arena; Dodge City Xtreme Bulls is set for 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, July 29. A 10-time PRCA Clown of the Year, Rumford provides a brilliant rodeo history with his showmanship, and he is eager to return to Ford County.

“I’ve been there twice, once in 2014, and then I came back in 2020,” he said, noting that the latter took place during the COVID pandemic. “That was a little rough, because there weren’t a lot of people there. I’m pretty excited about coming back with a full crowd.”

He should be. Roundup Rodeo is home to excited crowds filled with energized spectators eager to see the athletic action in the arena and to giggle at Rumford’s antics. He’s a natural fit to the biggest event annual in the state.

Raised in Abbyville in central Kansas in the Rumford Rodeo family, he’s been around the game all his life. The family also owned the team of horses used during the summertime rides at the museum, which is how he had the opportunity to be the tourists’ guide.

“I’m going to take my kids back to the museum and tell them how cool I used to be,” Rumford said with a laugh.

He’s a comedian and has been one for most of the last four decades. Even when he was riding broncs or driving trucks or wrestling steers or flanking bucking animals or rescuing cowboys as a pickup man, Rumford was sharing his insights and personality with others. It was an easy transition 15 years ago when he opted to become a rodeo clown.

Whether he’s at a rodeo in west Texas or eastern Oregon, though, he’s proud of his roots. Now living in Ponca City, Oklahoma, with wife Ashley and their triplets, Bandy, Livi and Lola, he makes sure everyone knows where he came from. He’ll likely be wearing a Jayhawks T-shirt or a Chiefs jersey while bragging about his home state. That makes his return to Roundup even more exciting.

“When you look at rodeo history in Kansas and how big it is, it’s in Dodge City,” said Rumford, a standout athlete at Fairfield High School. “Even though the days of the Wild West are over, they’re not over in Dodge City. It is the Wild West. When you tell somebody from back East about Dodge City, they think of cowboys, horses and rodeos.

“That’s our heritage, and it’s something to market: ‘Come to Dodge City and see the cowboys.’ ”

And the rodeo clowns.