People behind the scenes make ML Roundup great
Sue Tebow photo The Moses Lake Roundup has 40 active members working behind the scenes to put on the annual rodeo, which is going into its 74th year. Here, members upgrade the arena at the Grant County Fairgrounds.
MOSES LAKE — Rodeo by committee: ain’t that the truth?
Behind every great event is a group of hard-working people behind the scenes making sure it goes off without a hitch. Rodeo is one of those events that takes a team effort to put on whether it’s the Daddy of ‘em All in Cheyenne or the Moses Lake Roundup here in the Columbia Basin.
The Moses Lake Roundup committee handles everything from sponsorship to arena upgrades and all facets in between for the rodeo heading into its 74th year now.
With an estimated 650 PRCA sanctioned rodeos going on around the country annually, the Moses Lake Roundup committee is constantly coming up with something new for rodeo fans in the Columbia Basin and the 74th annual Roundup will have a couple of new twists said committee member Larry Schwab, who is going into his 36th rodeo.
“We’ve added another special featured bull riding event to this year’s program. I say special featured event because there’s added money to the purse on Saturday night to attract more cowboys,” Schwab said. “It’s guaranteed there will be 12 bulls come out of the chutes on Saturday. If we only have six bull riders, then they’ll each get on two head. But we’re hoping with the added money we’ll attract more riders, because even if they are up on Thursday or Friday they can still come back and ride on Saturday.”
The 2017 edition gets underway Aug. 17-19 at the Grant County Fairgrounds with all the bells and whistles that professional rodeo has to offer. Another new twist to the 74th Moses Lake Roundup will be the addition of women’s breakaway roping. The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association was looking for a way to showcase its athletes and made what was once a college and junior rodeo event into a professionally sanctioned competition.
“Women wanted to continue roping after college, so this was the next logical step,” Schwab said. “The WPRA just approved breakaway roping (at the professional level) and is really promoting it. So we’re happy to add it to our program.”
The Moses Lake Roundup committee is making significant changes with the added program and the added money to ensure the rodeo, which is closing in on its 75th year, will continue moving forward in the future.
It’s that behind-the-scenes work that makes Moses Lake such an attraction on the rodeo circuit. There are currently 40 active committee members, which plans and organizes the rodeo and the activities that go into the program. On the business end, the committee does everything from solicit sponsorship to see that the cowboys and cowgirls get paid.
They have solicited the financial backing of five corporate sponsors, 10 event sponsors, 13 chute sponsors, 15 fence sponsors, social hour sponsors and a half a dozen other miscellaneous sponsors picking up the tab wherever needed.
“About half or 60 percent of our revenues come from sponsors. Our oldest sponsor is Dodge Trucks. I would say we have 50 sponsors that participate and it’s our job as a committee to keep that going,” Schwab said. “The PRCA has several corporate sponsors like Dodge, Wrangler and others on the national level that we can use in our promotion.”
The committee also handles the nightly program, including the opening ceremonies, flag presentation, royalty presentation, man of the year, and all aspects of making the Moses Lake Roundup one of the top professional presentations in the Pacific Northwest.
“Everybody has their job to do as active members. Plus, we have other volunteers,” Schwab said. “We call them ranch hands, which are people that want to be involved in the association, but not in the meetings or politics of it. They just want to come in and lend a hand with the work.”
They bring in world-class cowboys and cowgirls, big time specialty acts, along with rodeo royalty from around the country. It is the work behind the scenes that makes the Moses Lake Roundup one of the best rodeos in the Pacific Northwest and Columbia Basin rodeo fans have the committee to thank for making it a successful operation.
The 2017 officers include president Stan Cafferty, vice president Brett Carvo, secretary Dan Hansen and treasurer Tyler Brown. The directors are Amanda Miller, Rodney Rosin, Pat Stevens, Mike Cobb, Mike Harris, Stuart Platt and Chris Starzman.