N Lazy J Arena busy with improvements

Lodge pole posts and wooden fencing don’t last forever.

That’s a fact that Jerry and Mary Anne Jones, owners of St. Regis’ N Lazy J Arena have come to understand while dismantling their worn down sorting pens. These timber structures were put in place in the early 2000s before the Jones’ ever knew how much the arena’s team sorting competitions would grow.

“We had a cow come out that corner,” Mary Anne said pointing to a dilapidated section of the sorting pen.

“If we would’ve known better, we would have put metal ones in when we started this 15 years ago,” Mary Anne bristled.

Nearly every spring the wooden fencing that creates the arena walls, sorting pens, and cattle pens has been repaired or replaced. But as the Jones’ look forward, they knew it was time for much needed updates to ensure the longevity of the arena’s main event: team sorting.

Team sorting consists of two riders on horseback and 10 numbered cows that get sorted through a gate. One rider sorts, while the other acts as a goalkeeper, and they work together as the announcer calls out numbers.

The arena’s old sorting pen configuration has held hundreds of riding teams and cattle over the past two decades during its annual events over Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends.

Mary Anne estimates that their sorting events have seen close to 400 teams registered. These teams come from many hours away, including Kalispell, Spokane, Helena, and the Bitterroot Valley.

“We already have a team signed up that coming all the way from Arizona,” Jerry noted.

But to see that number increase the Jones’ agreed that they would need to install a new sorting pen with two divided sections, this would allow two teams to prepare to compete at the same time.

“While one group is about to start, the next team gets ready,” Mary Anne explained. If you want to accommodate more teams to compete you have to have the facility to do so. She added, “This will cut the wait time down a lot”.

This large undertaking started in 2019 when a team member from the Axmen in Missoula came out and took an aerial drone photograph of the arena’s layout. This helped the Jones’ visualize what the new changes would like such as the addition of steel corral panels manufactured by Hi-Hog.

Jerry noted that the panels alone cost nearly $25,000. He detailed, “This is just phase one, all together we will be investing close to $80,000 in improvements.”

Not only are the enhancements for the riders and families that come, but also for the future of the arena.

Mary Anne exclaimed, “It’s go big or go home, this will mean more business in the long run.”

In the team sorting networks across the western states, these riders become a community of family and friends. Many participants get into sorting at a young age, and then compete later on as husband and wife teams.

The Jones’ have witnessed sorters as young as four and riders that continue on into their 80s.

That’s a driving force behind the work of developing the arena grounds ensuring for years to come that this space will host riders of all ages. Once Jerry and Mary Anne are no longer able to operate the N Lazy J Arena their son Troy plans to take over the reigns.

Mary Anne stated, “It’s really an investment in the community, the money we put into improving the arena benefits the town” she said, “you get all these riders coming in and using the gas stations, and restaurants, all these businesses see an impact from it”.

Jerry and Mary Anne plan to complete the tear down process in next few weeks and begin installing posts for the panels.

Ideally this step in the renovations will be done by May, leaving time to prepare for their July sorting event.

Next year work will continue with the removal of the older wooden assemblies and the addition of metal cattle pens and installing more horse stalls.