'Man' of the Year

MOSES LAKE — Sometimes the behind-the-scenes is more important than the The Show itself.

There’s plenty to do to prepare and it seems like the Moses Lake Roundup works 364 days to make a three-day event fly. The committee will pay tribute to one of its own this year at the 75th Annual Moses Lake Roundup, selecting a woman for just the second time in its illustrious history as the Moses Lake Roundup Man of the Year.

For every cowboy that climbs on a buckin’ horse or every cowgirl that runs a barrels pattern, there’s a hundred volunteers working hard behind the scenes and the Moses Lake Roundup committee will recognized office manager TrishAnne Beckner with the Woman of the Year honor this year when they celebrate 75 years of rodeo in Moses Lake Aug. 15-18.

“It’s a big honor for me to be just the second woman to be named for the honor in 75 years,” she said. “I’ve been doing it so long that the committee becomes almost an extension of a family.

Moses Lake is no slouch in the rodeo world. I think it’s the end result that makes it all worth it. So I‘m very honored and blessed to have been selected.”

Not since Lorna Skeen has the committee named a woman, but Beckner and rodeo secretary Edie Longfellow, who’s going into her 51st year, have played major roles in the rodeo every year.

“They make a great team and we’re lucky to have them,” committee secretary Dan Hansen said. “They work together great. We had several nominees for the Man of the Year, and we wanted to recognize TrishAnne for all the work that she does. She’s a very important part of what we do.”

Moses Lake Roundup won Small Rodeo of the Year in 2011, and after increasing purse money, won Large Rodeo of the Year in 2013, so it is in fact, “No slouch in the rodeo world,” as Beckner pointed out. The preparation is year-round, so there’s so much more than three days in August that Pacific Northwest rodeo fans see.

“We don’t have any founders left, but there’s still a lot of sons that have carried on. So it makes Moses Lake is a very traditional-type rodeo,” said Beckner, who is also the community director on the Columbia River Circuit board. “There are a lot of things people don’t see, like the committee works 365 days to put on a week show. The Moses Lake Roundup puts a lot back into the community and I don’t think people realize that.”

“We raise money for the Cancer Foundation. We keep our cancer money local with the Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation and not send it off to the national foundation.”

They also help fund neighborhood sporting events, high school rodeo with scholarships, the Man Up Program, to name a few.

Every year she swears this is going to be her last year, but it’s the love of the game that keeps her going. Beckner has been a PRCA cowboy’s wife for 29 years. Her ex is Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame bull rider Wade Leslie of George. She’s been involved with the Roundup for a couple of decades. Her duties with the Columbia River Circuit board are as numerous as her work with the Moses Lake Roundup. She is the liaison between committees in the Pacific Northwest in each state. She does behind-the-scenes work with each state’s committee, helping them formulate community projects, problem solving, helping part-time contestants deal with full-time jobs and weekend rodeos. The list goes on and her work seems endless, but in some ways she wouldn’t have it any other way.

If she’s not the Moses Lake Roundup Man of the Year, she might be a little closer to Superwoman. Whatever the title, she will be the center of attention for all the hard work she puts in to make the Moses Lake Roundup one of the premier events along the Northwest rodeo trail.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer with the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com.