BELLE FOURCHE—The 2025 Belle Jackpot series got off to a slow start after the first two scheduled jackpots had to be postponed for poor weather conditions. But finally on June 4, mother nature cooperated and brought a nice evening to hold the first jackpot of the summer.
An organization designed to bring youth rodeo to the local area, Belle Jackpot Association offers goat tying, goat tail untying, barrel racing, pole bending, tie down roping, breakaway roping, dummy roping and team roping to help kids hone their rodeo skills. Those from ages 0 to 18 are welcome to participate. Three events offer an open division for those over 18 that may wish to compete. They are open goat tying, breakaway, and tie down roping.
The events are designed to give high school and junior high rodeo athletes a place to practice with good competition, but kids of all ages turn out to participate. “We have a pretty good group of 7 to 10 year olds, and a lot of the 0 to 6 are all kind of getting started and getting going. This is a great place to get started. We usually have five jackpots and so it’s really fun to watch them progress over the summer,” said Lana Dacar, Board Vice President.
The first jackpot of the season had a large turnout with 149 contestants entered to compete. All entries are taken online and close the morning of the event. “We just have grown so much with so many kids and the focus is for the kids,” explained Dacar. “We hope the kids can learn and grow and improve and have a safe place that they can do that.”
The Belle Jackpot Association is a volunteer-based organization that relies on parent and community member elbow grease to make it work. Decisions are made by the board and board members are the same as last year: Faye Pelster, Angela Reder, Nicole Weishaar, Lana Dacar, and Becky Bishop. They all work together and divide tasks to accomplish what needs to be done for each jackpot. Volunteers help with taking entries, announcing for each arena, posting the draw, supplying the stock, opening gates, preparing the ground, setting poles and barrels, holding goats, running the roping chute, timers, bookkeepers, prize payout and much more.
At the end of the year, an award ceremony is held. Sponsors allow the Association to give very nice prizes for the top six in each division and each event. “As we all know, the kids get a prize, and they’re excited to come back next year and work harder and that’s the whole point—for these kids to have a place to be able to get better, because there’s obviously, with the Junior High and high school—there’s a lot of big things ahead for them! We want them to learn to be competitive and do it in an environment that we feel is pretty safe and positive for them,” explained Dacar.
The next regularly scheduled jackpot dates are June 11 and July 9 with the two postponed days needing to be rescheduled. Start time is 4:00 p.m. for ground events and 5:00 for arena events. Follow Belle Jackpot Association on Facebook for updates.
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