Carbondale Wild West Rodeo named along with Buddy Program
Pictured above: Kristin Garwood, Big Stone Publishing, Carbondale Chamber Board President; Lindsay Lofaro, Buddy Program Executive Director; Mike Kennedy, RE/MAX MOUNTAIN WEST, Carbondale Wild West Rodeo Board President; Andrea Stewart, Carbondale Chamber Executive Director
This article from Carbondale Chamber of Commerce Newsletter. Learn more about the Chamber and Carbondale at http://www.carbondale.com/
Carbondale Wild West Rodeo Association (CWWRA)
The Carbondale Wild West Rodeo Association (CWWRA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, and was formed prior to the 2005 rodeo season by Dave Weimer and Mike Kennedy after a failed two-year attempt by an out-of-town rodeo promoter. Finding sponsors at first was tough, but with lots of try-and-try-again, the sponsorships started to gain some momentum. There are now more than 75 sponsors!
The current, all-volunteer Board of Directors is comprised of Mike Kennedy, Melanie Cardiff, and Tom Harrington. The mission is simple: to keep the western heritage of the area alive and well through the 12-week summer rodeo series. The CWWRA is starting its 13th season in June 2017!
The rodeo gives the rodeo cowboys and cowgirls from Grand Junction to Aspen, to Montrose and beyond an opportunity to show their talents, win some prize money, and possibly a champion belt buckle at the end of the season. Competitors from out of State often come to the Carbondale Rodeo at various times throughout the summer as well. Spectators come from the local area as well as out of town, out of State and sometimes from overseas! The biggest majority of spectators are locals, because it is the place to be on Thursday nights in the summer!
The CWWRA puts the rodeo on with mostly volunteer help (approximately 24 volunteers a week) in the arena, with sign-ups, parking, and lots of odds and ends that need to be done each week. Of course, the stock contractors, judges, security, secretary, and gate people are paid, but the CWWRA runs as much as possible on volunteer help. Without the volunteers and the sponsors, the CWWRA would not be able to continue the series every year.
As mentioned earlier, the CWWRA is a non-profit and earnings are marginal, but the CWWRA has been able to donate funds to other non-profits in the area year after year. Some of the regular recipients have been The Komen Foundation, Valley View Hospital Callaway and Young Center, Senior Matters, Roaring Fork High School Basketball, the Boy Scouts, and the Black Sheep 4H and Mount Sopris 4H clubs, to name a few.
The CWWRA does not request or accept funds from the Town of Carbondale, and the CWWRA does its part to improve the public Gus Darien Rodeo Grounds on a regular basis. Over the years, the CWWRA has donated over $75,000 in arena improvements, such as the warm-up arena, the large set of bleachers, a roof over the bleachers, the new lighting system, added livestock pens, a Senior Matters shed, and more. Several of these projects were competed with the Town of Carbondale as a major partner, and the Town has been great to work with! The cooperation is essential to the Rodeo.
Come and check it out each Thursday beginning in June! Or, if you want to get more involved, be a volunteer, or a rodeo sponsor to promote your business, click here. Yee haw! See you there!
