Volunteers needed, sponsorship opportunities open and planning underway
Nothing will throw off the Triple S Fair and Rodeo committee from making 2024 a successful rodeo year. Since this isn’t their first rodeo, they are reaching out to the community early in order to lasso some local support.
“The Triple S Fair and Rodeo, as far as I know, is the largest community event in the Interlake. It attracts around 12,000 people over the weekend,” said Tripe S Fair and Rodeo Sponsorship Director Eddie Phillips.
He says that this event has something for the whole family. The typical rodeo events including bull riding and barrel racing take place but they also have the Midway Fair as well as a kids zone, petting zoo and other attractions that liven up the weekend event.
This year’s Rodeo will take place on July 12 to 14 and is, as always, presented by the St. Andrew’s-St. Clement’s Agricultural Society.
Currently, the group has been meeting monthly since January and is in the beginning stages of getting this year’s fair up and running.
“Planning is always key. We need volunteers to take care of certain aspects as well as to be there on the weekend. We’re always, of course, accepting directors. We had a big surge when it looked like we might have to close down the event [due to a lack of directors]. We did get some fresh blood but we’re still looking for people to help out if they want to have long-term involvement. If they just want to [help] short-term, we also need volunteers for the weekend itself. But certainly, if anybody wants to help out now with planning or adding events or has ideas to expand what we’re doing, we certainly welcome them,” said Phillips.
In addition to needing volunteers to step up early so that they can get plans underway, the group recently put out the call that sponsorship opportunities are now open for both businesses and residents who would like to give to this community event that’s been around for more than 100 years.
“What we’ve done is we’ve broken our sponsorship really into two different sections, although there are many opportunities to be involved as a sponsor. There are the overall fair sponsors where we have our silver, bronze, and gold [levels] this year. We’re also we’re also letting local companies know that our title sponsorship has opened back up again. We’re looking for a title sponsor who will do a three-year commitment but we’re flexible. Other than that, we have opportunities for vendors to come in or companies to come in who would like to sell their products in our Triple S Vendor Barn. And then we have, on the agricultural side of it, we have opportunities to sponsor things like our different events or buckles for the bronc riding or the bull riding. There are lots of opportunities [and interested people] can find out more about that by going to our website under sponsorships to find all those packages there,” said Phillips.
He explained that the Rodeo heavily relies on sponsorships every year to get them going and now is the time when they have to put down deposits in order to secure the fun for the summer.
“The sooner that we can get engaged with the local businesses, the more secure that we can make the event and make it a success,” he explained.
In addition to sponsorships, volunteers make this event a success every year. They are involved in every aspect of the rodeo from safely guiding parking, to running the beer gardens, to checking people into the rodeo grounds.
“[As a volunteer] you have so many opportunities, depending your skill set, whether it’s working with people or whether it’s working behind the scenes. If you are interested in helping not on the weekend, but helping us repair items in the park, that’s something that our directors get together to do a month or two beforehand: make repairs to the grandstand or make repairs to the different buildings that we have. So, if anybody isn’t available that weekend, but still wants to get involved, and maybe they’re handy or can swing a hammer, we certainly welcome those people as well,” said Phillips.
He says that if people want to connect about volunteering or sponsorship opportunities they can go online to http://www.selkirkfairandrodeo.com/ to learn more and if they would like to contact him they are welcome to call 204-485-4854 or email cowboyprotect@gmail.com.
Phillips encourages business owners in our community to take advantage of this opportunity.
“I’m also a business owner. From my perspective, the audience is from all over southern Manitoba, certainly from the local area, and you get their undivided attention. There are lots of opportunities that we give to showcase what the sponsors are doing. Whether it be in the rodeo arena where we’re announcing them, if they sponsor something like one of the bucking chutes, then their name gets announced every single time an animal comes out of the bucking chute. Not to mention the fact that we expressly support [our sponsors] on our social media sites, both Facebook and Instagram. If it’s on the volunteer side, certainly it’s an opportunity to support a great community event. It just seems like it’s such a challenge for communities to put on events where you’re getting together in person. This event has been going on for well over 140 years. We’d like to keep it strong. We’d like to still see people come out and get together,” said Phillips.
In addition to the rodeo, this year the St. Andrew’s-St. Clement’s Agricultural Society will be hosting the RCMP Musical Ride so stay tuned to the Triple S Fair and Rodeo’s social media to keep up to date with everything that’s coming to our community.
The Triple S Fair and Rodeo is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TripleSfairandrodeo and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/selkirk_fair_and_rodeo.
