2026 Grand Marshals
Ray and Kelly Jacklin

Ray and Kelly Jacklin will be honored as this year’s Grand Marshals of the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo. Ray served 23 years on the rodeo committee. The couple has built a life centered on family, work and horses.

  

When the gate swings open, and the dust begins to rise at the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo, few in the arena will have earned that moment quite like Ray and Kelly Jacklin.

 

The longtime rodeo supporters have been named Grand Marshals for the 2026 Lehi Round-Up Rodeo, honoring decades of hands-on work, quiet dedication and a deep-rooted love of the Western way of life.

 

For 23 years, Ray Jacklin served on the rodeo committee, putting in the kind of work most people never see. While others watched from the stands, Ray was in the arena one night a week throughout the summer preparing the ground for whatever came next.

 

Before modern arena footing, that meant climbing onto a tractor, breaking up hard-packed dirt, harrowing it smooth and making it safe for riders and livestock alike.

“There was always something going on,” Ray said.

 

And there was. The rodeo grounds stayed busy with 4-H events, barrel racing, pony shows and high school rodeo. Keeping the arena in shape was a constant job and one Ray largely handled himself.

 

Many nights, his children were right there with him, learning to run equipment and work the land. Those lessons paid off. One daughter later won an FFA tractor-driving competition thanks to some of the experience she gained at the rodeo grounds.

 

Today, it takes a team to do what Ray once managed on his own.

 

Beyond the arena, Ray was involved in shaping the rodeo grounds as they stand today. During his time on the committee, he participated in the installation and replacement of restrooms, the gradual upgrade from wooden to metal bleachers, improvements to lighting, the replacement of fencing along 500 West and expansion of the announcer’s stand. Each project came together step by step, often as funding allowed, but always with the future in mind.

 

Some of Ray’s favorite memories come from working alongside Lecile Harris, the longtime rodeo clown known for keeping crowds laughing. On one visit, Harris arrived with a broken trailer jack. Ray tracked down a replacement and welded it on before he left town.

 

“There are some advantages to coming to Lehi,” Harris joked before leaving town.

 

Ray’s service to the community extended well beyond the rodeo grounds. He served as a Scout leader for 25 years and was Lehi’s first Order of the Arrow advisor, mentoring generations of young men in leadership, service and outdoor skills.

 

Ray’s connection to hard work and the land began early. Born in 1944 in American Fork and raised on a farm in Lindon, he grew up playing ball in the roads, football in the fields, swimming in the Murdock Canal and earning his way, like picking fruit to afford a rodeo ticket.

 

Kelly Jacklin brings her own lifelong connection to horses. Born in Fillmore and raised in Hinckley before moving to Midvale, she grew up riding and returned to the sport in 1997 with a focus on Arabian horses. Since then, she has competed at the national level three times, including in show hack, where horses are judged on movement, manners and responsiveness.

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Ray and Kelly met in South Jordan and married on March 24, 1990. Together, they built a life centered on family, work and horses.

 

Even today, Ray hasn’t slowed much. At 82, he still operates Custom Farm and Repair, fixing barns, fences and equipment, and remains the area’s only custom hay baler—putting up more than 10,000 bales last year alone.

 

Through it all, the couple has stayed close to the rodeo lifestyle that first brought them together. They continue to spend time riding and showing their horses, protecting that time in the saddle.

They share eight children and 27 grandchildren.

 

Looking back, Ray keeps his years of service in perspective.

 

“It was good for the town to have the rodeo grounds,” he said. “A lot of people used it.”

 

This summer, as the rodeo returns once again, the Jacklins will ride into the arena they helped build, shape and care for over a lifetime.