Cowboy tradition comes 'full circle'Man returns to roots at Frontier Town, passes passion on to son
By Deborah Gates • Staff Writer • January 23, 2011
Performing a ritual that he can do in his sleep or through a howling western rainstorm, Shane Karson of Berlin adjusts his 10-year-old paint horse Angel's saddle pad Saturday prior to some warm-up riding for Lone Star Rodeo's United Nations Tour 2011 at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center. (Milt Savage photo)
BERLIN -- When the Lone Star Rodeo pulled out after two weekend shows at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center, it left behind Shane Karson.
He's a Berlin cowboy and a permanent fixture at Frontier Town, the replica 1860s Western town in the seasonal theme park and campground near Ocean City.
Karson and his wife, Susie, and nearly 3-year-old son, Clay, entertain crowds at the rodeo and Frontier Town with trick and Roman riding and bull whip demonstrations.
During the offseason, the Karsons live at Frontier Town, where Shane is caretaker, a job he landed this winter that offers a chance to settle down.
It's a job his father held back in the late 1950s."My dad was hired by the people there; 1959 was his first year and their first year," he said. "Now, I'm doing the same thing he did. I take care of the horses and ponies that stay year-round."I lived at Frontier Town in the early 1960s; now I've got my 3-year-old boy living here. We've come full circle," Shane Karson said.
Karson attended school in Delaware's Caesar Rodney School District when his parents settled outside Camden after years raising horses and on the rodeo circuit."My parents were in the business and got me started," he said. "I learned to rope and that stuff. My parents worked at Frontier Town in New York. I got involved in rodeo performances, then started traveling around doing trick riding and Roman ridingread more at:http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20110123/NEWS01/101230306/1002/Cowboy-tradition-comes--full-circle-
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