Summer 2006

Welcome back and we hope everyone had a great summer.

Our fund raising adventures began with the Millarville Rodeo the end of May. Unfortunately, the weather did not co-operate much. Along with a booth at some Brookfield Properties buildings, other rodeos were attended and then it was on to the Stampede Bash at the Ranchmans. Everyone who attended enjoyed themselves and next year the party will be held on June 22, 2007. We did very well with the silent auction, the boot raffle and the dinner tickets. We made approximately $4,700.00. I would like to thank everyone who helped make this a success. Special thanks to Rosemary and Allen Canuel who braved the crowds selling cards on the cowboy boots. Thanks to the Alberta Boot Company who donated the boots valued at $265.00. We raised $520.00 on the boots.

OUT OF THE NORTH THEY CAME, the brave men and women of the Edmonton Sheriffs Posse to nab their man. And get him they did, in time to show him off at the Calgary Stampede Parade. For the third year in a row, they have donated $1,000.00 to Opening Gaits. Marina Irwin, Darren Matwe and I went down to Ft. Calgary before the parade and received the check from their fearless leader, Lloyd Monk. Thanks again to the Posse for their donation.

During Stampede Week, Opening Gaits volunteers did stints of selling tickets for the Kinsmen’s at the Stampede Grounds. The Kinsmen raise money for charities with their car raffles. This wonderful organization benefits many charities and Opening Gaits is one of them. They are donating up to $5,000.00 for us to purchase a lift to use at the arena. We have some students that this lift will really help and it will save some father’s backs. They also plan to provide volunteers for the Charity Rodeo. Big thanks to the Kinsmen.

The Saddle-Up raffle tickets are selling well.

Once again the prizes are:

1st prize – Wade Ranch saddle and tack sponsored by Peak Energy of Calgary
Supplied by West World in Carstairs

2nd prize – His and Her Ping Golf Clubs and round of golf sponsored by Rockford
Developments of Calgary and Heritage Pointe Golf Club

3rd prize – Chain Saw package sponsored by Calmont Truck Rental, Leasing and
Service of Calgary. Supplied by Millarville Power Products.

We sold raffle tickets at the High River, Airdrie, Okotoks and Strathmore Rodeos along with the Millarville Farmer’s Market and the Farmer’s Market at Currie Barracks. Hopefully, the parents will do well with the book of tickets they were sent in the mail. Kudu’s to all the parents who have taken the time to volunteer.

This delightful young lady is Shallaine Daley who volunteered to model at the Opening Gaits Raffle ticket booth at the Strathmore Rodeo.

These two handsome young gentlemen are Hugh and Evan Thomson from Perthshire UK. They were attending the Strathmore Rodeo with their parents and visited the Opening Gaits raffle ticket booth.

All this hard work will come to a peak at the Cowboy Trail Ranch Rodeo for Charities to be held at the Millarville Racetrack September 16, 2007. Thanks to our Chairman, Don Chalmers, the rodeo is well organized and teams are lining up to participate. Another board member Marina Irwin is organizing the beer garden and the dance. All in all it should be a really fun day. The raffle draws will be made at the end of the rodeo around 6:00pm.

NEW NEWS

Look for the new shopping portion on our website coming soon. T-shirts, hoodies, hats and pins will be available.

While at the Strathmore Rodeo I met a very nice woman who owns Rich Safety Restraints and we will be linking to her website. They custom build every type of harness imaginable and are made of high quality nylon. They even make harnesses for race car drivers and seat harnesses for buses just to name a few. Hopefully, this will be helpful information.
Jane Thorburn 9/5/06

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 6:07 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.