FOLEY, Ala. — Robertsdale public works crews drove away from OWA Parks & Resort with the overall grand championship on Friday, Sept. 25, after the inaugural Gulf Coast Heavy Equipment Roadeo turned bulldozers, excavators and skid steers into instruments of precision in front of coworkers, elected officials and the public.
The Roadeo, organized and produced by the City of Foley, brought together 14 teams representing cities, counties and utility agencies from across the Alabama Gulf Coast. Operators rotated through timed challenges built around the machines they use every day to maintain streets, move dirt, clear debris and keep public infrastructure running, with individual and team awards handed out in every equipment category.
For Foley Mayor Ralph Hellmich, the point of the day was recognition for workers who rarely get it.
“This features our municipal, county and utilities workers, all of the people who work out there every day among our citizens,” Hellmich said. “This is a way of featuring their talents and skills and for us to show our appreciation for what they do and for the public to come out and see what they can do.”
Grand champion and category winners
Robertsdale was the day’s most consistent performer, collecting two team titles on its way to being named the event’s overall grand champion. Here is how the individual and team awards were distributed across the four machine categories:
- Brothers Machinery Mini-Excavator: Austin Parker of Foley won the individual title; Foley won the team award.
- Parish Tractor Skid Steer: Zach Whitehead of Robertsdale won the individual title; Robertsdale won the team award.
- Thompson Tractor Bulldozer: Dillon Smith of the Baldwin County Highway Department won the individual title; the Baldwin County Highway Department won the team award.
- TEC Equipment Trackhoe: Ryan Fralik won the individual title; Robertsdale won the team award.
- Overall grand champion: Robertsdale
A bowling ball, a bucket and 30 seconds
The mini-excavator course showed how much finesse goes into operating equipment most people associate with brute force. Parker, representing the host city, won the category by using the machine’s bucket to guide a bowling ball through a series of orange traffic cones, finishing the course in less than 30 seconds. His performance helped Foley take the team award in the same category.
Parker said the competition was about more than trophies. For crews who spend their days on job sites and roadsides, the Roadeo was a rare chance to see counterparts from neighboring communities and compare notes.
“This is our bread and butter, doing this,” Parker said. “We love doing this and coming out here seeing all the folks from other municipalities. It’s a chance to meet people and spend some time with them and for everyone to have a good time.”
Other challenges put operators through their paces on skid steers — compact machines often used for grading, loading and moving material in tight spaces — as well as full-size bulldozers and excavators, also known as trackhoes. Each course was designed to test accuracy, control and the kind of technical judgment that crews rely on when working near utilities, traffic and homes.
Mayors take the wheel of a garbage truck
Crews were not the only ones tested. Hellmich and other public officials climbed into the cab for a garbage truck challenge that mirrored a routine many residents see from the curb each week without thinking twice about it.
Participants had to maneuver the truck into position beside two garbage cans, use the vehicle’s automated arm to lift and empty the containers, and then back the truck into a designated area. Hellmich said getting behind the controls gave him an even greater appreciation for the work public works employees do every day.
When the city first announced the Roadeo in August, organizers said mayors from several municipalities were scheduled to take part in a special competition, putting local leaders behind the controls of the same equipment their crews operate.
From a Graham Creek pilot to OWA
The Gulf Coast Heavy Equipment Roadeo grew out of a smaller event Foley hosted a year earlier. On Sept. 26, 2025, public works crews from Foley, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach competed in the first Baldwin County Municipal Equipment Rodeo at Foley’s Graham Creek Nature Preserve. That event featured challenges such as balancing a bowling ball with a skid steer, steering bulldozers through obstacle courses and using an excavator boom like an oversized golf club. Orange Beach finished first, Foley second and Gulf Shores third, and city officials said at the time that more communities were expected to join.
They did. For 2026 the event moved to OWA Parks & Resort, the entertainment and resort destination in Foley that also served as a sponsor, and was rebranded to reflect its broader regional reach. In its August announcement, the city said more than 20 cities and other agencies had registered by that point, with registration continuing through Aug. 21. Fourteen teams ultimately took the field on competition day.
The event was free and open to the public, with activities scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Why public works skills matter
Heavy equipment operators are among the least visible and most essential employees in local government. The same crews that compete for trophies at a Roadeo are the people who patch potholes, clear ditches and storm drains, haul debris after hurricanes, maintain rights of way and support utility repairs, often in heavy traffic or bad weather.
On the Gulf Coast, that work takes on added importance during hurricane season. After major storms, municipal and county crews are typically among the first on the roads, clearing fallen trees and debris so that emergency responders and utility workers can reach neighborhoods. When Foley hosted the 2025 event, city public works director Darrell Russell said the competition also strengthened the teamwork that municipalities rely on during emergencies.
Precision matters on routine days, too. An excavator operator digging near a buried water or gas line, or a skid steer operator working a few feet from a curb, sidewalk or parked car, has little margin for error. Events like the Roadeo turn those everyday skills into something the public can watch and appreciate.
Interest in the trade is growing locally as well. Earlier this month, Baldwin Preparatory Academy in Loxley was named one of four Alabama schools launching the Alabama Road Builders Association’s Next Gen Heavy Equipment Operator Program, part of a broader push to prepare young people for careers operating the kinds of machines showcased at OWA.
A team effort behind the scenes
Mike Chavers, supervisor of the Foley Street Department, said the Roadeo came together because many people pitched in, from City Hall to the host venue.
“Everyone helped make this a major success, the mayor and council, city administration, departments and OWA,” Chavers said. “It was a great day and a great event.”
Chavers was also a central figure in the 2025 pilot event at Graham Creek, when he said public works directors and crews from across the county had come together and were looking forward to making the competition “bigger and better” the following year.
Equipment dealers also played a visible role, with each machine category carrying a sponsor’s name: Brothers Machinery for the mini-excavator competition, Parish Tractor for the skid steer, Thompson Tractor for the bulldozer and TEC Equipment for the trackhoe.
Music, lunch and a local cause
Between heats, spectators enjoyed live music from the band Chitlin Switch. Food was sold on site, with proceeds from lunch sales benefiting Youth-Reach Gulf Coast, a local Christian rehabilitation ministry for young people. The 2025 equipment rodeo also directed its food proceeds to the same organization.
About the participating communities
Foley, one of the fastest-growing cities in Baldwin County, continues to expand its street and drainage work as new residents and businesses arrive in South Baldwin, including a road resurfacing program the City Council recently grew to more than six miles. The city’s public works and street crews maintain an expanding network of roads, drainage systems and public facilities.
Robertsdale, the grand champion, sits in central Baldwin County along the Alabama 59 corridor. Its public works department took home two team titles, one individual title and the overall crown at the event’s first edition.
The Baldwin County Highway Department, which swept the bulldozer category, maintains roads and bridges throughout the county’s unincorporated areas.
With 14 teams in its first year at OWA and a clear winner to chase, organizers now have a benchmark for the next Roadeo — and Robertsdale has a title to defend.