Friends give Ronan fairgrounds a facelift

RONAN — Longer days and warmer temperatures, songbirds and green grass are all signs indicating springtime is here, and that means summer is on its way.

For many people in the Mission Valley, summer means one thing — it’s rodeo time. From bull riding to barrel races, rodeo events bring energy and excitement to Lake County towns, and one group in Ronan is working hard to ensure that where there’s a desire to participate in rodeo and agriculture-related events, there’s a place to do so that’s close to home.

Formed in 2011, Friends of the Fairgrounds is a citizen group under the umbrella of the Ronan Fairgrounds and the fair board, tasked with promoting, protecting and enhancing the fairgrounds. In other words, they’ve made it their job to make the fairgrounds accessible and utilized by the community.

“We’re here because there was a need; we had a request for activities,” group chairperson Sjaan Vincent said. “About a year ago, we started researching: How can we put this into place so we can fulfill these requests?”

For the past year, the group has looked closely at extending the usage of the grounds over an extended period of time in order to cultivate the area’s ag-related culture and usage. Part of its efforts included a major fundraising push that resulted in the installation of a new rodeo arena and a renovation of the bleachers, which were in dire need of repair.

Instead of the temporary facility that at times presented a challenge to those looking to run events in Ronan, now the grounds boast a permanent outer rail and enough of an infrastructure to have a nice event.

“People were having to go to other places to have their events,” Vincent said, “but the goal was always to keep it at home — provide a venue that Lake County can use.”

That effort started a snowball of interest by area groups to host events in Ronan. From league barrel races to local high school rodeos, Ronan’s grounds have quickly become a popular place for local and regional groups to play and compete.

“Last year was the first year and it was like the floodgates opened,” Vincent said. “In the future, we need to add pens, panels and shoots to make it more multi-purpose. All those things have previously been provided by the stock contractor, but we would prefer to have those features for someone who wants to train here and doesn’t have it.”

There is much to be done in addition to providing more permanent rodeo grounds for the local community. Some of the fairgrounds buildings date back to the 30s, and the bleachers have been around “forever,” Vincent said, or at least since the 20s.

One happy side effect of the improvements to the fairgrounds is that by bringing these events to Ronan, and by keeping local groups here, hard-working volunteers hope to stimulate economic development, not just for their town, but others in Lake County.

“Traffic to town is important, and for these events, we have people coming from north and south,” volunteer David Koger said. “It’s going to attract a tourism stream and we hope to capture some of the tourism dollars.”

On the flip side, Koger said, while tourists are only here for 90 days in the summer, the rest of the time, the fairgrounds are available for the local community.

“That’s really why we’re here — to provide for the local community,” he said. “Rural areas are losing a lot of their youth because they’re being attracted to the cities. We’d like to provide an experience for them that may interest them in staying here.”

The largest public meeting room in the county and also the emergency center, Lake County-MSU extension agent Jack Stivers said the community center is the hub of the community from Arlee to Polson.

“It’s the largest public meeting room in the county,” he said. “It’s used about every three days of the year.”

While the fairgrounds are a separate entity from the community center, it’s clear that having both facilities on the same grounds increases the value of hosting events in Ronan.

“The idea is to enhance our local private arenas, bring attention and visibility to these events and make sure that if there’s an interest, the interested party can identify the people that are available to help,” Stivers said.

In order to do that, Friends of the Fairgrounds is asking for input from the community. What kind of events would you like to see in Ronan?

One event that’s coming up is an Equine Expo and Friends of the Fairgrounds fundraising auction on May 5. The event will showcase the regional horse community through demonstrations of the different disciplines, for instance, mounted shooting, reining and western dressage.

The Southwest Rodeo youth organization will be on hand to demonstrate events and offer workshops for kids, while plans for a backcountry horseman camp and even eyeing a mechanical bull demonstration should attract attention from everyone looking to have some fun.

“Our vendors will be anything equine — it will be the place to be on May 5,” Vincent said.

The auction will help the Friends of the Fairgrounds pay off some remaining costs of last summer’s renovations.

“We’d like to welcome the community to the arena and let them know about the availability,” Vincent said. “We want to be self-sustaining and not count on taxpayer money or have to solicit donations. This is all volunteers giving lots of hours to the project.”

The public can donate to the auction by contacting Ken Snyder at 261-1759, or 676-9441. The group will pick up larger items, and everyone who donates will be given receipts for their donations.