Well, things have been hectic as I have not posted a personal entry in my blog since January! Lot’s of voice-over production work (including a TV spot that is running in 22 markets around the country), rodeo events, social media strategy, marketing, farming, and gardening have all been taking up lot’s of my time and have taken me away from the personal updates. So I figured with this installment I will bring you all up to speed for those of you wondering what we have been up to!
April found us working for the 9th straight year the SDSU Jackrabbit Stampede college rodeo. This rodeo is one of the best regular season college rodeos in the country and has won the best rodeo of the year in the great plains region many times. The Sutton family and the venue that it’s held in the Swiftel Center have lot’s to do with that. Six action packed performances and great crowds gave the fans in Brookings plenty to talk about. The next week we were back once again in Henderson at Dave & Kathy Biron’s High Island Arena for the High Island Rodeo, always great to see them and the crowds were very strong once again there too!
Mother Nature really had the farmer’s worried this year and my good friends at Kohlnhofer Farms in Goodhue were no exception. Last year they had their 2700 acres planted before I was done working my April events and I missed out on the planting season. This year the first day I put in wasn’t until May 4, with the weather I was only able to put in about 4-5 days then I was back to working events. They finally finished planting all 3000 acres that they are running this year on May 24 but, there are still many farmers in the central part of the state who have not been able to get in their wet fields to do any tillage at all.
The first stop that I had in May was in Pine City, MN for the 1st ever Bucking Bull Futurity competition ever held in Minnesota. This event was sanctioned by the Midwest Bucking Bull Association (MBBA) and the United Bucking Bull Association (UBBI). There were 4 classes, yearlings, two year olds, classic, and maturity bulls. The yearlings and two year olds are bucked with dummies for 4 seconds, the classic and maturity bulls were bucked with riders during the bull riding peformance held later that night. Even though the weather had little to be desired, a great turnout of bulls showed up for the competition and some very good bull riders were on hand for the Pine City Invitational. Matt Pojanowski (who already holds the arena record at Heidelberger Arena of 90 points from last years Pine City Championship Rodeo) ended up the champion bull rider, for the bull results visit the UBBI (http://www.unitedbuckingbulls.com/) & MBBA websites (http://www.shippyrodeobulls.com/mbbapurpose.html). We look forward to going back in September for the 5th Annual Pine City Championship Rodeo http://pinecityrodeo.com.
The next week we were back in central Minnesota for the 2nd Annual Sandstone Bulls & Barrels, the weather was a little unsettled but, we managed despite the sloppy conditions to give the fans some great bull riding and barrel racing action! Overall a great weekend and the special attraction on Saturday night was the group Sterns County 17, they headlined in the beer garden after the performance and were outstanding!
Our last stop this month was indeed a special one. Western Wishes is a great organization that helps kids that are facing obstacles in life a chance to realize a Western Wish that might otherwise never be obtained. They had a fundraising event called the Cowgirl Tuff / Western Wishes “Never Give Up” Charity Barrel Race. Lisa Bollin of Cowgirl Tuff Co along with her husband Kirk hosted this event at their home arena. What a great venue, and a superb crew! We started with a Grand Entry and VIP Introductions at 11:15 am – ran nearly 400 barrel runs in 5 classes and were done before dark. The Midwest Chapter of Western Wishes president Rex Kent had told me that they raised $9500 for Western Wishes through the barrel race and donations throughout the day! Please check out their website to learn how to get involved with this great organization! http://www.westernwishesmidwest.org/
That brings you up to speed with what’s been going on. Until next time, God Bless & Safe Travels!
Davie
