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| Saddle up for Whoop-Up |
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| Wednesday, 06 June 2007 07:01 | |||||||
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor  Helen Elliott - Grand Marshall Paul Olson is getting really good at being chairman of the event and this will mark his fifth year heading up the project. He notes that a huge improvement will be the seating at the rodeo grounds. When flooring at CMR High School in Great Falls had to be replaced, it was decided to get new bleachers as well. The Lions Club was able to get a big section and a crew went and removed the bleachers, brought them back here and it is now placed at the rodeo grounds. “With a new date, we are getting more cowboys and are not competing with the Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City,” he said. Another new activity, getting an early start on the weekend is the Whoop-Up scramble at the Pondera Golf Club on Friday. This is a four-person event with golf teams teeing it up and getting off the box at 8 a.m. Call the PGC at 278-3402 for more information, it is not too late to get a team up for some golf action. Following the tournament, at 7 p.m. there will be a Rodeo Calcutta at the PGC. Now is the time to go and buy your favorite cowboy and hope he places at the rodeo. Also getting a jump of the Whoop-Up activity will be the Bebe Berland Academy of Dance, which is having a recital at the Orpheum Theatre/Wiegand Auditorium on June 7, 6:30 p.m. Little dancers from Conrad and Choteau will be strutting on the stage. On Friday, from 5-7 p.m., in another new change, the Conrad High School freshman class will have a K-8 Fun Fest outdoors on the playground at Meadowlark School. Kids will be grouped by age for a variety of outdoor games. Prizes will be awarded. As this event ends, two Montana good ol’ boys will be teaming up for a concert at the Orpheum Theatre/Wiegand Auditorium. Eric “Fingers” Ray and Richard Matoon will put on a dazzling performance of traditional country and classical guitar music and singing. Tickets will be on sale at the door only and if this doesn’t get you primed for the weekend, nothing will. Saturday morning as you roll out and pick your head up from our saddle-pillow, you can mosey over to Meadowlark. Beginning at 7 a.m. the Lions Club will have a free ham and pancake breakfast. You not only can feed your face, but this is one of the top social events of the year. Better than tasty does not begin to say how good these Lion hot cakes stack up. Ray Stoetzel and Dan Wilcox will be cooking the cakes from a time—honored, beer-batter recipe blended together by Byron Grubb and a couple of his closest cohorts. Outside groups, please take note; there is no soliciting here. At 8 a.m. there will be, still another new event added on to a traditional one. At the Whoop-Up Fun Run, sponsored by the Pondera Medical Center, a new fun category is being offered. For kids 12 and under, the one-mile walk/trot will have a costume class. All you have to do is come up with a clever costume that you can finish the race in; the costumes will be judged after the race. It will not matter what order you finish the race, only that you and your costume survived. There will be prizes and something for all participants. For more information on this and the PMC Fun Run, contact Julia Drishinski at 271-2295. The race gets off from in front of the courthouse. No doubt, you’ve read about the Rhubarb Festival, formerly of Ulm being relocated here. Rhubarb festivity will be taking place all day on Saturday along Main St. starting at about 9:30 a.m. and a rhubarb cookbook will be available at the library. The Conrad Community Service Sewing Circle will have a quilt showing in the showroom of Courtesy Ford. All proceeds from their projects come back to the community. There is a one-dollar admission fee and they will be open from the morning to afternoon. Call Terry Syvertson at 278-3390 for more information. The VFW Auxiliary will be out and about selling “Buddy Poppies” which are assembled by disabled veterans and proceeds are used to aid veterans and their dependents. The Children’s Parade will begin to assemble at 9 a.m. sharp for judging just west of Meadowlark School and then take off at 9:30 a.m. There are divisions for best costume, best pet, best entry on wheels (not Bikes) and best bikes. First through third awards, sponsored by 1st Liberty Federal Credit Union, will be given out in each division. The parade will leave Meadowlark School and head south on Main St. and go to Seventh Ave. to turn west and disband at the Conrad Lions Club Swimming Pool Park. For more information, contact the Chamber of Commerce office at 271-7791 or Joan Jensen at 278-8200 (W). All this gets everyone primed for the biggest little parade in the Golden Triangle and this year Helen Elliott will preside over the parade as Grand Marshall. Born in Great Falls, she was raised in Conrad and is an ardent promoter of both the city and state. As a small child, she loved Shirley Temple movies because, “Shirley and I shared the same birth date,” Now, Elliott promotes movies and concerts at the Orpheum Theatre/Wiegand Auditorium and other projects of the Pondera Arts Council (PAC). In her past life, she taught music in the Conrad School System. She continues to give private voice and piano lessons and directs the Presbyterian Church Choir. As a former farm and ranch wife and owner of the land where the Whoop-Up rodeo grounds are, she has a strong commitment to the area. “I am truly honored to have been selected as Grand Marshall,” she says, adding, “Lets go have a lot of fun.” The Grand Parade will begin to assemble at 9:30 a.m. sharp for judging and will get underway at 10:30 a.m. There are four divisions. Division A are floats and groups and will assemble on the east county road along side the baseball fields. Division B, bands and marching groups, drill teams and clown should be in line at the first parking lot on the north side of the baseball fields. Division C, cars, should assemble on the east side of Iowa St, (machinery on the west side) at the corner of 8th Ave. Division H, horses and driving rigs, need to contact the Parade Chairperson for parking and line-up locations and that would be Cynthia Johnson or Barbie Killion at the CofC office, 271-7791. Everything will start to roll at 10:30 a.m., proceeding east on Seventh Ave. S., then head north on Main St., turn west on to Second Ave. S. proceeding to Sunset Blvd. and go past the Pondera Medical Center to disband. The parade route has been established to accommodate the residents of the Horizon Lodge and PMC Extended Care Unit. At 11 a.m. there will be cake walk in the Legion Park sponsored by the Horizon Lodge and also at 11, the Golden Triangle Flyers will put their radio controlled airplanes into motion at grounds just off the East Frontage Road. You can’t miss the yellow sign. Following the Big Parade, young cowboys and cowgirls will gather for the stick horse rodeo at the Conrad Lions Club Swimming Pool Park. Come on down and watch future rodeo stars in action. Contact Robert Rohrer at 278-5756 for more information. Sponsored by the CofC, the Whoop-Up Motor Show will take place in the Lions Club Swimming Pool Park from 12-3 p.m. Admission is free and some of the coolest or hot, if you like, cars will be on display. For more information, contact Laurie Morris at 278-5533. There will be antiques, classics, vintage vehicles, hot rods, custom cars, muscle cars, special interst vehicles, pickup trucks, motorcycles, tractors and more. You do not want to miss this exhibition! All this leads up to the Main Event of the weekend, the Whoop-Up Trail Days Rodeo. Gates will open at noon with the action starting at 2 p.m. with raging bulls and buckin’ broncs coming from Jacob’s Livestock. Rodeo fans need to take note, that the Lions Club has obtained new bleachers, coming from CMR High School. One set has been installed next to the cook shack and another next to the beer shack. These are 64 feet long and six tiers high. Another set of bleachers has been moved to the east end of the arena. Dan Majerus noted that “We have more money added, we’re right in there for the added purse,” which is an attraction for more and better cowboys. The rodeo is packed with events, one of the most popular is the Mutton Bustin’. Contestants can still sign up at the Gustafson and Rohrer Law office at 400 S. Main or call 278-7521. Sheep riders have to be less than 50 pounds and have a signed release. There will also be two days of youth steer riding for those aged 8-13. A signed release is needed here and can be obtained at the G/R law office. There will be a Pack Horse racing contest at the rodeo grounds, which was a huge, hit last year. Contact Steve Hutton at 450-1955 or Dick Kinyon at 278-3236 for more information. Kelly Fowler of the Golden Triangle Flyers will put on a radio controlled aircraft demonstration during the intermission on Saturday. And, what is a rodeo without a rodeo queen? This year there are three gorgeous ladies selling queen tickets; Samantha Jo Bradley, Savanna Jo Baumann, and Jaclyn Michelle Thayer. There will be two drawings, one Saturday and one Sunday for $200 each for the Whoop-Up Queen contest. Queen candidates are Savanna Jo Baumann, Samantha Jo Bradley, and Jaclyn Michelle Thayer. The queen will be announced and introduced on Sunday. Sunday, rodeo slack starts at 8 a.m. and a breakfast will be served at the cook shack. Kids 10 and under still get a free ride at the rodeo. A one-day adult ticket is just $8. For those 18 and under it is $5. A one-day family pass is $25, two adults maximum on this. Fans need to note: Due to liability insurance, absolutely NO kegs or coolers will be allowed in. Saturday evening at 7 p.m. the KSEN/Colgate Country Showdown will take place at the Pondera Golf Club. Come on out and possibly you can catch the beginning of a singers rise to stardom. Call 278-3402 for more information. Sunday, the rodeo grounds and concessions open at noon and the second day of rodeo and special events start up at 2 p.m. Come out have a great time. All proceeds from the 67th annual event stay here for local projects.
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