Rodeo events benefit local cancer patient

The Sanders County Fairgrounds were alive with activity this past Saturday for the ranch rodeo and fun play day events.

The event was the brainchild of several individuals, including Terry McAllister and Julie Thurston, with numerous volunteers behind the scenes, to help raise money for cancer patient Wendy Carr. Many parts of Western Montana were represented at the day’s festivities.

Under the threat of rain, Saturday’s activities started with the play day events for all age groups at the 4-H arena. Each rider was expected to test their skills with six different challenges.

Twenty-one contestants were graded on how quickly they could accomplish each task.

The tasks were barrels, poles, arena race, keyhole, speed barrels and trail class. The grand champions were adult Nancy Lawson, 18-plus age group Paula Garrison, 13-17 age group Arial Sprecher, and 12 and under age group Lainey Erwin.

A silent auction to help raise money took place throughout the day and included 29 items ranging from an electrical generator to artwork and power tools.

The afternoon events started with clear skies and local ranchers taking part in the ranch rodeo. The challenges for the six ranch crews consisted of sorting and penning steers, stray cows gathering and picking out only one numbered cow, roping and simulated branding of a cow, picking out a specific cow and doctoring it, and trailer loading cows.

The master of ceremonies was Bo Carpenter who supplied the audio equipment with his wife Cindy, who was tabulating the event results. Terry Stephens opened the event with her singing of the National Anthem.

There were six ranches taking part in the day’s events, Whiskey Trail Ranch out of Hot Springs, K&M Custom Fabrication out of Ronan, Triple G Ranch out of Ronan, Garrison Ranch out of Thompson Falls, Kryra’s The Boss out of Mission Valley and Wilson Ranch out of Trout Creek.

The contestants were up against a herd of numbered steers that didn’t want to be there and wanted nothing to do with being rounded up. Roping a single cow within a group of cows is no easy task.

The events were timed and points for each category were added up based on how quickly the tasks were completed.

Cody Garrison, from the Garrison Ranch, brought a little excitement to the crowd while wrestling a roped steer when his horse started dragging him, along with the steer, around the arena.

The overall winner of the ranch rodeo was the Triple G Ranch in first place with K&M Custom Fabrication in second place and Whiskey Trail Ranch in third place.

The first-place prize of $300 was donated back to the funds helping Carr.

Farm olympics was next on the day’s schedule, which includes activities for both adults and kids. 4-H youth president Mikiah Cook was a tremendous help in keeping the events going which included, hay bale throwing, bag racing, barrel racing and tire racing. There were five teams with each being awarded points for fastest times for each event.

First place winners were Colton and Taylor Lee, a brother duo called team Dos Bros. Runners up was team Lee's which was Madison and Larry Lee, a father and daughter duo. First place received a prize of $20.

The ranch rodeo ended with a barbecue dinner and dancing during the evening.