The Pony Express

Newsletter of the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame Association

110 W 6th #374/Ellensburg WA 98926

EMAIL tlp@fairpoint.net/www.ellensburgrodeohalloffame.com

Number 14 (March 2008)

Mike Allen, Editor

 

It’s Membership Renewal Time: Howdy, here’s your semi-annual Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame (ERHOF) Pony Express newsletter! It is time for all non-life ERHOF Members to renew their annual memberships. We hope you will renew, and we deeply appreciate your continuing support.

 

New Flash! As a dues-paying ERHOF member you hear it here first: The 2008 Inductees to the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame are Stuart Anderson, Guy Allen, and Dick Griffith. Griffith was a 1930s and 40s world champion bullrider and contract performer (trick rider); Allen has won 18 world titles in steer roping; and Anderson was a pivotal rodeo sponsor responsible for televising of the Ellensburg Rodeo. Plan to attend our Thursday, August 28, 6pm Induction Banquet at the new CWU Student Union Recreation Center (SURC). Building. Lifetime members will be contacted to RSVP their tickets. Purchased tickets will be available through the Rodeo Ticket Office. Because past banquets have been sellouts, Hall of Fame board members encourage rodeo fans to buy their banquet tickets early. Stay tuned for updates in the Ellensburg Daily Record and your August rodeo edition of The Pony Express.

 

It’s Gonna Happen! A committee has formed to identify a Permanent Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame Museum Site and begin a capital campaign towards building a permanent Hall of Fame. Brad Fitterer (Chair), Scott Repp, and Allen Faltus join ERHOF board members Joel Smith and Tim Eckert in this important endeavor. And to prime the pump, the Kittitas County Commissioners recently granted ERHOF $5,000.00 from the motel tax fund to fund an architectural plan, a professional fundraiser consultation, and a major kickoff event. There are tentative plans for a news conference and reception, combined with announcement of our ’08 inductees. If we hold this event, all ERHOF members will receive invitations.

 

Impetus for the Permanent ERHOF Museum Site campaign came in part from our successful ‘07 rodeo weekend South Rodeo Grandstand Kittitas Heritage Center Museum ERHOF Exhibit. Nearly three thousand visitors viewed this major display of our most treasured artifacts---the Linder Rodeo Program Collection, Tom Ferguson’s World Championship jewelry, the Ellensburg Rodeo Wranglerette Collection, the Buff Brady Trick Riding Outfits, Deb Copenhaver’s Madison Square Garden Championship Saddle and Schaller Bennett Kittitas County Bronc Riding Saddle, etc. etc. etc. Much credit is due our exhibit curator Stacy Young, and her curation team---Julie Virden, Rochelle Cramer, Mollie Morrow, Tim Eckert, and the Kittitas County Heritage Center Board.

 

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