By Misty Cryer
In celebration of the anniversary of the Eddy County Sheriff’s Posse, all of the events offered by the Posse at the arena are free of charge, including activities during Western Week, such as the rodeo and concert. Free admission was made possible by the many sponsors of the events and is intended to reignite interest in the Western lifestyle.
“We are in full swing for rodeo season,” said Jenny Rennie, Event Coordinator and Treasurer for the Eddy County Sheriff’s Posse. “This year is the 85th anniversary for the Eddy County Sheriff’s Posse. It was established in 1939. The board decided at the beginning of the year that the goal this year was to try to make everything that we do at the Sheriff’s Posse this year free,” she said.
“The main thing that our goal is focusing on this year is keeping the western way of life alive. There is such a loss of interest in rodeo and doing things at the arena. We have a small group of people that are out there and are working to keep it alive and keeping the arena going. We’re hoping that by having it completely free and getting people out that don’t normally come to the arena that maybe it will help revitalize that and get that interest going again,” Rennie said.
“Our normal monthly events of barrel racing, play days, and things like that are always free to the public. Especially in today’s economy, it’s very hard for a family of any size to be able to take the kids and go somewhere for the day without costing a fortune. Aside from buying something at the concession, they can go out completely for free. Generally, we have barrel racing on Saturday and Play Day on Sunday, so they can spend the entire weekend out there,” she said.
“Western Week is coming up, which is our great big event of the year and something that everyone always remembers. That has been our main focus all year. We have a small group of members. We’ve been diligently working on getting sponsors of the rodeo, the concert, and everything that goes along with it. We miraculously somehow managed with the help of so many sponsors —we have sponsors that have donated $250 up to $5,000 —no amount is too large or too small. We appreciate anything that anybody can donate, and we definitely don’t turn our nose up at any offer that somebody gives,” she said.
“We have hit the target amount of being able to say that it is free to the public at this point. We are still gathering sponsors because we are still trying to increase the amount of added money that we can offer to the contestants. The more added money you can offer, the better contestants and more contestants that you draw,” said Rennie.
“We are extremely lucky in that we are actually having the Baca Company Renegade Finale for the year here this year, so it is their rodeo finals, so that will draw quite a bit of people. It is also an open rodeo, so it is open to local contestants and is open to contestants near and far—not just the ones that have been following the series all year,” Rennie said.
“We will kick off all of the activities for Western Week on the Saturday before the rodeo. We’ll start with the Queen Competition on Saturday, September 21. The girls will all be doing the competition part of it—their modeling, their speech, their interview, and all of that—and then they’ll do their horsemanship. We will still do the crowning on the Saturday night of the rodeo, on September 28,” said Rennie.
“On Thursday, we will have our barrel race. It is a $500 added barrel race. It is also PBR approved, so people who track their PBR points throughout the year can come in for it. This gives them an additional benefit to coming in early, ahead of the rodeo,” Rennie said. “On Friday, we have a full schedule. We will start out with our breakaway roping. While the roping is going, inside the building, we’ll be serving our barbeque. Immediately following the breakaway roping, we will go right into team roping. For the barrel race, the breakaway, and team roping, of course, we’re giving away championship buckles,” said Rennie.
“On Saturday, we start off with the crowning of the queens and go right into the rodeo. Our flag runners will be flying our sponsor flags and will be running them throughout the rodeo for all of our sponsors that donated and made it possible to have the free rodeo. It will be all of the events—saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, roping… There will be barrel racing, a couple of sets of bull riding—there will be everything as a full rodeo. Of course, it will be followed up with the concert by Gunnar Latham. Admission to all of the events is free,” said Rennie.
In addition to the free rodeo and concert, food and beverages will be available for purchase through concessions, the barbeque, and at a beer garden hosted by Cal’s Shade Western. Rennie said they are in the process of setting up vendors to be there as well.
To become a member of the Eddy County Sheriff’s Posse, interested parties are encouraged to reach out to a member who works at one of the events, inquire on Facebook, or call Jenny Rennie at 575-706-1971. “It is not a hard or a lengthy process to become a member,” said Rennie.
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