BELLE FOURCHE—Turnout was exceptional for the annual Belle Fourche High School Rodeo Team spring Dinner and Auction fundraiser held at the Branding Iron Steakhouse on the evening of March 8.
The event is one of the largest fundraisers for the rodeo club, with most of the funds raised going directly to the high school rodeo team members to help them with expenses during the upcoming rodeo season. Advisor Kerbi Bowden explained, “The kids get it to help offset the cost to go to the rodeos, they can choose to use it for fuel, rodeo entries, camping spots, or stalls for their horses, however they want.”
Part of the money raised is also used to help sponsor or pay for other events. “We also donate back to some things too, like we sponsor one of the saddle racks at the high school state finals,” added Kenita Jensen, Advisor.
The lead up to the event and event planning is all student driven. They roll up their sleeves and get to work securing donations and selling tickets and everything in between. “They sell all the tickets, they get all the donations, and they do all the serving and cleaning up of all the tables,” explained Jensen. “They do everything but the cooking, pretty much!”
Rodeo team member Peyton Manke said “It’s a lot, but it raises a lot of good money for our team and it’s a good get together and way for us to socialize and be part of the community.”
The event cost $25.00 to get in the door and all attendees received a steak supper served by a member of the rodeo team. Around 300 tickets were sold this year.
In addition to the ticket price, there is a silent auction, a live auction and a labor auction. “So everybody on the team brings a silent auction item and a live auction item and then everybody gets sold and then you go and do community hours from people that buy you,” explained Brooke Garman, rodeo team member.
In her second year on the team, Garman has experience with the fundraiser. The year before she was part of the labor auction and enjoyed the work she had to do. “I just had to babysit—which I enjoyed a lot—they just needed me to come babysit when they left town,” she explained.
One of the popular auctions is buying the labor of a rodeo team member. “The kids do a labor auction where we will sell each kid for eight hours of labor—labor could be fencing, it might be branding or it could be painting for somebody,” said Jensen.
While the event is a lot of work, the team members think the work that is involved is definitely worth it. Garman said, “The money helped me a lot last year, because I really was starting to struggle with money—you know you’re trying to afford all the things for your horse—so it helps a lot.”
Curt Westland donated his time to be the auctioneer for the night and Zeann and Sue Golliher volunteered to secretary the auction and keep track of all the money.
The dinner and auction fundraiser couldn’t be successful without the support of the community and the rodeo team is very aware of that. “The community is very supportive, either donating, buying tickets or buying the auction items after the meal,” said Jensen.
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