Rodeo fundraiser draws crowd

Saturday was a busy day at the Sanders County Fairgrounds, where hundreds of people from in and outside the county gathered in support of a Plains woman battling cancer.

Behind the leadership of Juli Thurston, Tammy McAllister, Linda Cook and Shannon Chojnacky, the Ranch Rodeo and Fun Play Day Event was a successful benefit for Wendy Carr, a staff member at the Sanders County Extension Office in Thompson Falls. The event included a rodeo competition, horse riding contests, an Olympics competition, a silent auction, a dinner and a dance. The event took place throughout most of the day in different parts of the fairgrounds and ended Saturday night with the raising of nearly $8,000 to help Carr with her rising healthcare bills.

Carr was a little apprehensive when first asked about having a fundraiser, but she appreciated the sentiments and the community coming together for her. “I’m sure it will help out greatly with my medical expenses,” said Carr, who is fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma and has gone through 10 chemotherapy treatments with two more to go. “It also did my heart good to see the community coming together and enjoying a fun day,” said Carr, who also said that it was her goal that the participants enjoy the day. She is scheduled to have a PET (position emission tomography) scan at the end of July to check on the treatment status. “Hoping and praying for positive results,” she said.

The event started with the “Play Day” run by Chojnacky in the 4-H horse arena. The competition included six events — pole bending, keyhole, arena races, barrel racing, speed barrel racing, and a trail obstacle course. It was divided into four age groups — 12 and under, 13-17, 18 and over, and a senior class.

Nancy Lawson of Plains took first place in the senior class, followed by Plains resident Laura Wagner in second. In the 18 and over class, Paula Garrison of Thompson Falls was the champion rider, followed by Jaden Scheffer of Plains. Ariel Sprecher, who lives in Trout Creek during the summer and in Arizona in the winter, nabbed first place in the 13-17 age class. Madison Chojnacky placed second. In the 12 and under class, Lainey Erwin of Trout Creek took top placement with Tel Senecal of Ronan in second.

There were 21 participants in the four age groups with only two in the senior class, four riders in the 18 and over class, 10 in the 13-17 class, and five in the 12 and under class. The top winners received ribbons, a feed bucket and a gift certificate, said Shannon Chojnacky, who said the riders had fun and they raised $515.

The rodeo competition had six teams from Trout Creek, Thompson Falls, Hot Springs and Ronan. Each team’s entry fee was $200, with the plans for half to be used for prize money for the top three teams and half going to Carr, but all three winning teams donated their winnings back to Carr, said McAllister, who was part of the Hot Springs team of Whiskey Trail Ranch. Her team finished in third place with 11 points and included Tammy’s husband, Scott, and sons Jack and Nick. They tied with team Kyra’s The Boss, but because Whiskey Trail Ranch had the fastest time in the “Branding” event, finishing in 1.14 minutes, the Hot Springs team took third. Contestants only simulated branding after team members selected the chosen steer and tied it down.

The first event, “Sorting and Penning,” was won by KM Custom Fabrication of Ronan, which finished with a time of 1.39.5. The team consisted of Kelly, Tanya, Trapper and Koy McAllister. Triple G Livestock of Ronan won the “Trailer Loading” contest at 2.34.4. KM Custom Fabrication took the “Doctoring” event in 37.6 seconds. Second place overall went to Triple G Livestock, which included team members Paul Guenzler, Haley Nelson, Tanner Burg, and Ryle Lytle.

The first place team won $300, second $180, and third $120, but all three donated their winnings back to Carr. Beau and Cindy Carpenter of Polson ran the event so McAllister could compete. The competition lasted just over three hours. The rodeo raised $1,200.

The other teams were the Garrison Ranch, which had Ty and Paula Garrison and Cody Garrison of Thompson Falls, and Madison Wills of Ronan. The Kyra’s The Boss team members were Justin and Kyra Marmon, Josh Senecal and Steve Love, all of Mission Valley. They finished in fourth place. The Wilson Ranch included Paula and Cody Garrison, which were also on the Garrison Ranch team, along with Sydnee Wilson from Thompson Falls and Josie Uskie from Hot Springs.

Mikiah Cook, president of the Montana State 4-H Ambassadors, conducted the Farmer’s Olympics after the rodeo. There was no entry fee for the Olympics, which had five events — three legged race, sack race, bale throw, tire roll race, and the stick horse barrel race — and five teams. The winning team was Colton and Taylor Lee, brothers from Hamilton. Second place was Larry Lee and his daughter, Madisyn, of Hamilton.

The silent auction took in the most money for the day with a total of $3,522. There were 29 items in the auction, which was run by Leanna Pardee of Thompson Falls, who said a generator fetched the highest bid at $850. The dinner raised $1,900. The South Side Sparks 4-H club and volunteers collected $345 with their snow cone sales. The Trout Creek Mavericks 4-H Club donated $500. In addition, Thurston said there were some other miscellaneous donations that people gave directly to Carr, who was there all day. There’s also a fundraiser site — https://www.givesendgo.com/ wendycarr?mibextid= Zxz2cZ — for people to donate.

“I think it was important for the community and specifically the agriculture community to come together and it was a huge success,” said McAllister. The team had been planning the event since early March. Thurston felt it turned out very well and people had a lot of fun. Later in the evening, Carr was presented the “Outstanding Co-operator Award” by Don Feist and Emily Baker of the Eastern Sanders County Conservation District and Dillon Martini of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which is usually given to a ranch or co-operator that works with the NRCS and Eastern Sanders County Conservation District to make improvements on their property to better the conservation on their property or work on projects with these organizations, said Carr. “This year they decided to change it up a bit and give the award to me for the work I’ve done for the agriculture community, such as starting up Ag Days and the Ag tours, etc. It was a total surprise and I had no idea I was receiving it,” said Carr.