With this year’s Cowboy Ball in the rearview mirror, committee chair Rod Freeman is feeling very good.
“We were really going all out to set a new standard this year,” said Freeman. “Our income was the highest it’s ever been. We spent a lot because that’s what you have to do to upgrade, and we did very well. It was well-attended, we doubled the highest revenue we ever had before.”
The net after expenses was a little over $17,000. Freeman said that 494 people signed up for the catered meal, which was sold out three weeks before the event. In all, they served 535 meals.
Freeman said, “We probably could have sold another 10 tables. We didn’t have enough tables. We filled everything we had. We had people calling right up until the last day wanting a table.”
He said they got a lot of positive feedback about serving a sit-down dinner. People really thought of it as a “Valentine’s Day date night.”
Additionally, “with the last two years of covid restrictions, people were really looking for a night out,” said Freeman.
The Cowboy Ball is a fundraiser for the rodeo which takes place during the Ravalli County Fair. The money raised is a good start toward the project the committee wants to use it for – replacing and expanding the bucking chutes at the rodeo arena.
“We knew going in that this would be a multi-year campaign,” said Freeman, who also chairs the Rodeo Committee and is vice chair of the Fair Board. The current chutes were installed in 1986, so they’ve had a lot of wear and tear. He thinks the project could cost about $60-70,000. Freeman is also putting together a committee that will focus on raising money for the project from private sources.
He said a meeting has already been scheduled for later this month to talk about how things went and to get started on planning for next year’s Cowboy Ball.
“We did some things this year we’d never done,” said Freeman. “Everybody seemed to love it. We’re already starting on next year. We’re having a meeting to look at what we did, and what we can do better to grow it even more.”
Freeman’s enthusiasm isn’t showing any sign of waning anytime soon.
“Whenever you have an event that comes off well, it gives you energy,” he said.