Announces the Second Annual Jackson Hole Shrine Rodeo to be held Wednesday September 4th and
Saturday September 7th 2019. Specific details are found on this link: http://jhrodeo.com/shriners-rodeo/
The Jackson Hole Shrine Club has partnered with the generous people who own and operate Jackson Hole Rodeo to bring this fundraiser event. This is our second year of what we anticipate will become an annual event. Last year was a great success raising several thousand dollars for the Shriners Hospital for Children in Salt Lake City. The event exceeded our expectations and we anticipate it will be an ongoing success story for the kids.
As everyone is aware, our historical cutter races came to an end. However our club has continued to work to raise money. Jackson Hole Rodeo actually approached us to ask if they could put on two nights of rodeo for the Shrine with the proceeds of the event going to the Shrine Hospital in Salt Lake City. Their generous donation of time, man power, rodeo stock, concession help, advance computer ticket sales, and their list of sponsors, of which most became added sponsors for the Shrine Club, made this a turnkey operational event. While I do not have the exact figures in front of me, suffice it to say that last year’s rodeo raised every bit as much money as our winter cutter races. The labor for the club was substantially less, and with aging members, and shrinking numbers, it was a Godsend.
The Jackson Hole Shrine Club has been involved in helping to man the Christmas tree lot on weekends, from Thanksgiving until all the trees are sold, for Stockton Shirk Interior Designs. The proceeds from the tree sales has gone to the Hospital in Salt Lake City and have grown steadily each year we have been there. We are seeing on average about $6,500 going to the hospital from the tree sales. It has cost our club nothing but good will and a few hours of spreading Christmas cheer. Other clubs may not have a generous person or business to buy the trees, but the fact is a club could buy the trees if they had a lot for sales, and there is a profit after the trees are paid for. One word of advice would be to purchase high quality trees that will last through the holidays.
Additionally Skijor USA,https://www.skijorusa.com/ brought a skijoring event to Jackson in January at the Teton County Fairgrounds. Skijor USA is building a very substantial and professional skijoring organization and this year put on ten events with Jackson being the first one on January 12th and 13th. The Jackson Hole Shrine Club was asked to partner with that event in hopes of having any profit being donated back to the Hospital. The event from start to finish came together in under two weeks. The venue worked well for the crowd and the competitors enjoyed the event. Out of the blocks, Skijor USA made a few thousand dollars, although the numbers are not where they need to be to be truly profitable on the first race, the potential for this to grow and be a significant event to fund raise for the kids is definitely there. Once again the club did very little this year to help. Maybe if we can step up and help a little bit more the return for that effort will pay dividends going forward.
March 21-24, 2019 was the World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb, the 43rd annual event. http://www.snowdevils.org/ The Jackson Hole Shrine Club began helping with the Jackson Hole Snow Devils, who sponsor the event, several years back by selling raffle tickets for very high end items. The proceeds from the raffle are going to the hospital. In addition the Snow Devils most years add money to the donation. The money raised is very substantial. As I am writing this the final numbers are not known, but it is believed the raffle by itself is about $25,500. Historically, as I stated, the Snow Devils have been generous and added to the raffle money.
Our club continues to age, the number of members continues to shrink, yet we have been fortunate to find ways to increase our giving to the Hospital with the generosity of groups within our community who support the mission of the Shriners.
One last item about our events. The Jackson Hole Shriners Rodeo, you may donate with an online ticket purchase, as well as watch the rodeo via a live webcam on the website, http://jhrodeo.com/shriners- rodeo/ . The same is true with the World Champion Snowmobile Hill Climb. Online raffle tickets are made available on the Snow Devils website, http://www.snowdevils.org/ and this event is also live streaming. Skijoring, you can register to compete online at https://www.skijorusa.com/ . Advance tickets and donations may be an option on that site. Christmas tree sales, you need to show up in person and donate at the venue.
