One of Langston University’s own students organized the first trail ride and rodeo in the city of Langston in many years. London Brookins, a graduating senior business management and marketing major from Los Angeles, California, says his inspiration for the trail ride came from the Oklahoma culture that he has been around since his freshman year.
“I wanted to do something that is… unique and…something already established, but something to where I’ve never experienced… and the first thing that came to my mind was a trail ride,” he said.
The event itself was planned in less than a month, requiring permits, vendors and equipment staff in a short period of time. Brookins did face some speed bumps along the way, including getting clarity from the city of Langston because the lake is owned by the university, “so trying to communicate with them and show them my vision and what [I was] trying to do, was kind of more of a back-and-forth situation.”
Despite that though, he has grown a great relationship with the city of Langston and the police department from the various events that he has thrown this semester, so it didn’t take long for them to give him the go for the trail ride.
“As soon as I talked to the right people and got the right approvals, it just pretty much fell into my hands from there,” Brookins said.
Brookins aims to revive the cultural spirit at Langston University after hearing about how different the community on campus was before COVID.
“Everything around us is pretty much a stretch of 30-minute drive, so we didn’t really have access to anything close to us to … release our stress from school and everything else we got going,” he said. “I’m just trying to establish and put the foundation back into Langston to where people want [to] come here and actually be a part of the community.”
Although it was his idea, Brookins partnered with a nonprofit organization, The Oklahoma Cowboys, to help his vision come to life. They are known in Oklahoma in multiple ways, from the rodeos that they throw to the youth camps they organize.
“So they actually reached out to me, once I made a post about it, and we got on Zoom, and actually broken down to how we want to make this happen,” Brookins said. They have recognition and a reputation in Oklahoma with over 150,000 followers on Instagram, while Brookins has an audience of Langston students and community members with over 14,000 followers on his Instagram page, @langstondrip. The initial expectation for attendees was 500 to 600 people, but when all the tickets were collected there were over 3,100 people at the April 13 event.
The biggest highlight for Brookins was the trail ride itself. “The energy and the positivity that people brought to the event was unmatched… No drama, no arguments, no fights, no nothing… the actual experience of watching people enjoying themselves and not really caring about anything in the world, but being there for the moment and capturing it.”
The event was highly successful with positive feedback and plans for an annual tradition. Brookins says future improvements will include securing a private property and hiring more security. You can follow London Brookins on his main Instagram page @l_kingo and the page he created @langstondrip.
Rebecca Gambor
Rebecca Gambor is a junior broadcast journalism major
