Why Exhibitors Love the American Royal Fall Livestock Show in Kansas City

Season 5: Episode 214

In this episode of North American Ag Spotlight, Chrissy Wozniak is joined by Matt Durian, Livestock Manager at the American Royal, and Mae Boedeker, Livestock and Rodeo Coordinator, to talk about the upcoming American Royal Fall Livestock Show. A Kansas City tradition since 1899, the American Royal has been inspiring and educating generations through its nationally recognized livestock shows, rodeos, equine events, and the world’s largest barbecue competition.

The Fall Livestock Show, set for October 10–26, 2025, is one of the premier livestock events in the country, bringing exhibitors together from across the United States and beyond. Matt and Mae share what makes this show stand out, from its exhibitor-friendly approach to its rich history spanning over 126 years. This year, attendees can look forward to the return of the Boer goat show, expanded divisions, and even the excitement of the World Hereford Conference being held in conjunction with the American Royal.

Matt and Mae also reflect on what excites them most about the show, from Junior Market Week to the unforgettable Royalty Drive under the bright lights of Hale Arena. They discuss the importance of connecting the public with agriculture, the life lessons youth gain from showing livestock, and the friendships and bonds that exhibitors build along the way.

For families traveling to Kansas City, Matt highlights the city’s famous barbecue and local attractions, while Mae shares her favorite coffee spots to keep exhibitors and visitors fueled during show week. With the registration deadline coming up on September 10, and late entries accepted until September 15, they encourage exhibitors to enter early at americanroyal.com.

The American Royal’s mission goes beyond competition, with proceeds supporting scholarships and educational initiatives. Matt and Mae encourage both individuals and businesses to get involved through sponsorships, donations, or volunteering to ensure the continued success of this historic event.

Don’t miss this conversation about why the American Royal Fall Livestock Show is so deeply cherished by exhibitors and the agriculture community.


Learn more at https://americanroyal.com/
#livestock #farming #agriculture

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Transcript

00:00:08:23 - 00:00:37:20
Chrissy Wozniak
Hi, and welcome to the North American Ag spotlight. I'm Chrissy Wozniak. My guests today are from the American royal, which has been a Kansas City tradition since 1899, offering nearly half a million youth and adults from around the world the opportunity to participate in high quality events and experiences. These include nationally competitive livestock shows, the world's largest barbecue competition, regional and national equine shows, youth and professional rodeos, and educational outreach for elementary and secondary students.

00:00:37:22 - 00:01:04:03
Chrissy Wozniak
The American Royal Fall Livestock Show is one of the most prestigious in the country, drawing exhibitors from across the nation and beyond. This year's show will take place October 10th to 26th, and the registration deadline is fast approaching from Kansas City, Missouri. I'd like to welcome back to our spotlight, Matt Derian, livestock manager at the American Royal, and May Bo Decker, livestock and rodeo coordinator.

00:01:04:07 - 00:01:07:15
Chrissy Wozniak
Welcome, Mat Mae, and thank you so much for joining me today.

00:01:07:17 - 00:01:18:16
Matt Durian
Thank you for having us, Chrissy. It's always fun getting to sit down and chat with you. A couple times a year. We always enjoy these these talks and getting to be on the podcast with you.

00:01:18:18 - 00:01:44:21
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Awesome. And this is an extra special year because for the first time, I'm actually going to be able to make it to the show. So I am very excited. Not only just, you know, for the livestock and the and the show itself, but also for the barbecue competition because I love barbecue. So I'm really excited. To start off, can you each introduce yourselves and, and how you first became involved with the American royal?

00:01:44:23 - 00:02:06:09
Matt Durian
Yeah. So my name is Matt Duran. I'm, our livestock event manager here at the Royal. Been with the royal for just over three years now. I grew up showing livestock all across the state of California. Finished college during 2020, so not a lot of things were happening out west. So I applied for a job here.

00:02:06:11 - 00:02:37:00
Matt Durian
Accepted the position. And that's kind of been the story ever since I. I've fallen in love with the American royal and and our mission and vision and what we're trying to do. And like you said so. Well in our in, in the introduction of, you know, trying to, influence food and agriculture and make an impact with the folks that are not only in the industry but the ones that are outside and, and don't have a direct day to day, part with AGG and what we can do to educate them about what we do and why we do it.

00:02:37:02 - 00:02:56:21
Mae Boedeker
Yeah. And I'm Recker, I'm the livestock and rodeo coordinator here at the American Royal. I just hit one month of working here. I graduated in May from Oklahoma State University and kind of got my start and AG, in FFA in high school. My older brother introduced me to showing livestock, and that's kind of what led me to major in animal science.

00:02:56:21 - 00:03:18:06
Mae Boedeker
I was here in the fall, last fall, October, working for the market week as an intern. Really loved being just a part of getting to get the kids involved, and learn about agriculture and see what they're passionate about. And so I decided to come back, and so far it's been fun and I'm excited and looking forward to this year's love section.

00:03:18:08 - 00:03:27:09
Chrissy Wozniak
That's awesome. And then the Fall Livestock Show. It has such a rich history. What makes it stand out as one of the premier livestock events in the country?

00:03:27:11 - 00:03:53:21
Matt Durian
Yeah, like you said, it is a longstanding tradition here in Kansas City. It's been going on for 126 years. So last year we did celebrate our 125th anniversary. I think what really sets us apart and, and one thing that we strive every single day to do is to really be exhibitor friendly. You know, a lot of our, rules and guidelines that we have to have in place, we try to make them make sense to our exhibitors.

00:03:53:23 - 00:04:19:01
Matt Durian
When they come on site, you know, greeting them at the gate. Working with them throughout every step of the process. And then, you know, ultimately just trying to put on a great show for them that run smoothly, that they can come, have a good time, exhibit their livestock, get back on the road, and, and look forward to 365 days later and and doing it year in and year out.

00:04:19:03 - 00:04:37:02
Chrissy Wozniak
Amazing. And I know the show really cherishes the heritage, but it also evolves over the years. So what new features? Or improvements? Or, you know, just evolution of the show altogether. Can exhibitors and attendees expect for 2025?

00:04:37:04 - 00:04:54:02
Matt Durian
Yeah, I mean, the show is always growing. That's always a good thing. Things that are new this year. We're, you know, we've added a more goat show. We used to have one of our, back in five, ten years ago. Something that kind of just fell off our radar here at the American Royal, but we've been working with the boar.

00:04:54:02 - 00:05:22:05
Matt Durian
Goat Association, on bringing that back, and and we're always looking for growing breeds and adding different divisions in our show. And just keeping the show progressive and moving forward. You know, it's something we always strive if we can, if associations and breeds want to add and or different species, we're always interested in willing and and just something to kind of keep moving the American American royal forward in the right direction.

00:05:22:07 - 00:05:36:05
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. And then this question I'll posed to both of you, each of you can take a turn. What are you most excited about for this year's fall Livestock show? Are there any specific competitions, moments, or traditions that you're looking forward to the most?

00:05:36:07 - 00:05:55:11
Mae Boedeker
I really like Junior Market Week. I feel like I thrive in a high paced environment, and it's just so fun to get to see those kids kind of work really hard that we can see all their hard work pay off, and just the smiles on their faces and the comradery of just the community. It's it's a fun environment to be in and get to be a part of.

00:05:55:11 - 00:05:59:09
Mae Boedeker
And so I'm excited for that and just see how the show will progress and.

00:05:59:11 - 00:06:23:09
Matt Durian
And and on that same note, I mean, that junior market week, we end with what we call our royalty drive, where we have all four of the major species showing at the same time in Hale arena. Under the bright lights and the American flags. And, that's one of those events that if that doesn't get your blood pumping, you kind of need to you'll see a doctor get something checked out because it's it's pretty fun and cool.

00:06:23:11 - 00:06:51:19
Matt Durian
Another thing that I'm really excited for is, our friends over at the American Hereford Association are actually hosting their World Hereford Conference this fall. So part of that will run in conjunction with our livestock show. So in talking with them, some of the different, you know, countries that'll be attending and some of the different things that are going to get to do, being able to be kind of our the host site for that and work with them is going to be really exciting.

00:06:51:21 - 00:07:10:21
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, that's very exciting. And and, you know, you said before you mentioned about the kids smiles and that is such a such a huge part of it. I'm a former for each mom. My daughter, has graduated at a four year age. But that is really just seeing the the pride in those kids and their hard work pay off is just, just incredible.

00:07:10:23 - 00:07:22:06
Chrissy Wozniak
And the show is not really just for competition, it's for education. So how does the fall show help connect the public to agriculture and livestock production?

00:07:22:08 - 00:07:33:01
Mae Boedeker
I was just going to say it gets, and just let and see just kind of an inside view of, just the livestock world, all these kids hard work and just what it looks like to raise livestock.

00:07:33:03 - 00:07:53:08
Matt Durian
And yeah, I've always said, you know, all these exhibitors, they they really care, and they're passionate about their animals. You know, like you said, as a performer for mom, and, you know, we all grew up showing and and now we get to be on the other side of things, but, you know, you take care of your animals most of the time before you take care of yourself.

00:07:53:10 - 00:08:25:02
Matt Durian
You'll feed them before you have breakfast or, you know, their chores will take priority over yourself. And and so when folks come down to the American royal that aren't directly involved in agriculture, you know, we always encourage them, like go talk to exhibitors. They're they're so passionate about it. And they they want to tell you about, you know, if it's the breeding cattle and the breeders, they want to tell you about what they have in the, you know, in their show string, or if it's during junior market week, you know, you can go talk to a nine year old and they'll tell you every single thing that they've done with that, that pig and,

00:08:25:04 - 00:08:38:20
Matt Durian
all the steps and raising them and taking care of them. And, and so just it's really great to have that interaction between the with the general public and our exhibitors who just care and love so much for these animals.

00:08:38:22 - 00:08:47:03
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, amazing. And then from each of your perspective, what advice would you give exhibitors that are preparing now for the show?

00:08:47:05 - 00:09:06:03
Mae Boedeker
That's a good question. And I feel like come, come ready, get a full night's rest. Be ready to just take on the week head on. Yeah. Make sure to just have everything you need DNA package, intern, all that kind of stuff and get ready for any passes. All that stuff.

00:09:06:05 - 00:09:32:02
Matt Durian
I think she said, oh, well, come ready. I mean, yeah, it's a very, I always call it a sprint, not a marathon. You know, you move in, show a couple days later, move out. So there always is, you know, low sleep nights and everyone's kind of running on empty. But make sure to enjoy the moment to and enjoy the show and and the time you get with your friends and family and other exhibitors.

00:09:32:04 - 00:09:51:08
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Good advice. It's easy to get lost in the in the busyness of it and the and the stress of the show. Right. Another benefit that I learned when I was a kid showing mostly horses for myself, were the friendships and connections that were built at shows like this and, and those, those friendships often last a lifetime.

00:09:51:13 - 00:09:58:00
Chrissy Wozniak
So how how have you guys seen those relationships impact participants year after year?

00:09:58:02 - 00:10:23:18
Matt Durian
It's it's very fun to watch. You know, we always call them camps, essentially. It's folks that travel together from show to show. And and when they get here, they may be from Oklahoma and California, Oregon and Texas, and they're all over the country. But when they come to the American royal or any other show livestock show, it's like they're seeing old friends and, and getting back together.

00:10:23:18 - 00:10:40:22
Matt Durian
And they like to be small with each other because, you know, they'll do crockpot meals in the barn and, and they'll go to dinner at night. And it's just so fun watching, you know, year after year, you can kind of start to learn of know who's this crew and who's in this camp and, and watching them, you know, bond.

00:10:40:23 - 00:10:51:22
Matt Durian
And, y you go, you know, from last year to this year and they stay together and, and you get to watch the kids grow up, which is really fun and exciting.

00:10:51:24 - 00:11:02:19
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, that's that is very cool. And for families and exhibitors traveling to Kansas City, what are some local attractions or experiences that they really need to check out while they're in town?

00:11:02:21 - 00:11:25:06
Matt Durian
Yeah. So for fear of ostracizing any one group, I mean, Kansas City is the barbecue capital of the world. I know our friends down in Texas may not agree with that, but, you know, there are some phenomenal places to try, and that's always one thing I encourage, folks to do. There's some really great restaurants all around Kansas City.

00:11:25:08 - 00:11:51:18
Matt Durian
If you have the time to, to get out and travel, you know, always go in and check it out. My favorite, as you know, going to Arrowhead and seeing, you know, the different stadiums across the country, you have time to do that. You know, get out and explore and and see Kansas City, especially if it's, you know, your first time like really getting to to see where, you know, we're kind of the epicenter of the country and you know, pretty much equal distance from East Coast and West Coast and north and south.

00:11:51:18 - 00:11:57:22
Matt Durian
And so getting to see why Kansas City has such a rich, history in agriculture.

00:11:57:24 - 00:12:10:21
Mae Boedeker
I'm also a big fan of the coffee shops, and everyone will need their caffeine during the show weeks. And so there's lots of good coffee shops downtown or even around here, by the ground. So definitely check those out. It is.

00:12:11:01 - 00:12:16:04
Chrissy Wozniak
Oh, I will definitely. I am definitely a coffee person. So what do you recommend there for coffee?

00:12:16:06 - 00:12:32:12
Mae Boedeker
That is a good question. Recently I've been into Messenger Coffee, which is downtown, but I actually got some recommendations about some place called Java in the West Bottoms Java coffee. I don't really know something like that, but I've heard it's really good, so maybe check them out.

00:12:32:14 - 00:12:46:03
Chrissy Wozniak
I will for sure. That's awesome. So I know the registration deadline is coming up. Can you give us those details and where can exhibitors go to enter the show? And what do they need to know to get registered online?

00:12:46:05 - 00:13:05:24
Matt Durian
Yeah. So, September 10th is our early entry deadline. We do take up until the 15th with a late fee. You know, we really encourage everyone to to get them done as early as they can. But as always, you know, most of our information and up to date things you don't find on any of our social media channels of.

00:13:06:01 - 00:13:27:02
Matt Durian
We also have a Facebook page directly towards our livestock exhibitors. As well as just the American Royals website. There is a follow livestock show and and kind of promoting ahead. But our spring livestock show is all of our rules and regulations will be on there. And that's where you can go to get entered and signed up.

00:13:27:04 - 00:13:42:18
Chrissy Wozniak
Wonderful. That's great. And then what about how can our listeners, whether they're businesses or individuals? You know, I know there's a lot of companies that love to support this type of thing. Are there sponsorship or even volunteer opportunities available?

00:13:42:20 - 00:14:05:13
Matt Durian
Yeah. I mean, we're always, always looking for new volunteers and folks that are one to come give us some of their time. I think that's probably the most valuable resource that we can ever have. It's just their time and willingness to help out. And then our we do have a sponsorship team and a partnership team that, is always looking for people interested in supporting, from a financial aspect.

00:14:05:13 - 00:14:26:17
Matt Durian
And, you know, more of the American role is a nonprofit and so everything we do is just to give back to scholarships and, and other educational activities. So any bit of support, whether that's financial time or, you know, being down here and actually getting your hands dirty is, as always, welcomed and appreciated.

00:14:26:19 - 00:14:37:06
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Awesome. So last question for each of you. What drives your passion for the livestock industry and for serving the American role?

00:14:37:08 - 00:15:02:20
Mae Boedeker
I think growing up, not really knowing or being like much in the world and then kind of getting into it, I just love getting to educate the youth and getting the word out about aquaculture. I think it's necessary that, the coming generations continue to know more about it. And so that definitely drives my passion to be here today and just continue to get kids involved and learn, discipline and learn what hard work looks like.

00:15:02:20 - 00:15:07:10
Mae Boedeker
And also so they can find their passion in agriculture.

00:15:07:12 - 00:15:09:20
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, I, I. Okay. Go ahead.

00:15:09:24 - 00:15:12:05
Matt Durian
Yeah. Please go for it.

00:15:12:07 - 00:15:33:24
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah I just I couldn't agree more. I also came from a non farming family and an uncle who had a farm. So I, I agree I devoted my entire life to agriculture. I just love hearing about youth deciding to get into agriculture because it's just such a rewarding field for such a rewarding industry because, you know, we're it's pretty important.

00:15:33:24 - 00:15:36:17
Chrissy Wozniak
Everybody's got to eat right? Yeah.

00:15:36:19 - 00:15:55:01
Matt Durian
Yeah. Well, and that was what I was just going to say is it's it's watching the, the new exhibitors for me. You know, we get hundreds of phone calls a week and, and to be honest, my favorite thing is when an exhibitor, a mom or dad will tell me, well, we've never been to the American royal before, but this is our first year.

00:15:55:03 - 00:16:12:14
Matt Durian
It's just that passion that people have. And and when they, you know, call with questions and they think they might be silly, but, you know, we're happy to help them out. And and it's the folks that, you know, it's our first year or their 10th year, their, you know, 25th year of coming to the American royal. It's it's a long standing history and tradition.

00:16:12:15 - 00:16:22:08
Matt Durian
We always talk about that really kind of helps get me going in the morning. And, and when I come down and do it day in and day out.

00:16:22:10 - 00:16:35:22
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's awesome. Love it. Thank you guys so much for joining me. Good to see you again, Matt and May. I can't wait to see you all when we, are all in, in Kansas City next month.

00:16:35:24 - 00:16:37:07
Mae Boedeker
Yeah. Look forward to.

00:16:37:09 - 00:16:43:19
Matt Durian
And, well, we'll be excited for you to be here. And and not only for the livestock show, but also for the World Series of Barbecue.

00:16:43:21 - 00:17:04:17
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. And thanks to all who are watching or listening. If you want to learn more or to register for the fall Livestock show, the links are provided in the show notes and don't forget to subscribe to North American AG spotlight on YouTube, Rumble, telegram, Spotify, Apple, Amazon. Listen notes really wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you shared it and have a great day!