Friday night’s powerful thunderstorms had an impact on the fairgrounds at the Lancaster County Events Center, where the National High School Finals Rodeo will be held beginning Sunday.
“The community response to helping the LEC Fairgrounds recover from a microburst tornado event Friday night affecting many of the over 2,000 outdoor horse stalls for the 1,623 High School youth competitors has been heart-warming as has been recent response to volunteering throughout the event.” According to Amy Dickerson, Lancaster Event Center Fairgrounds Managing Director, “The show must go on.”
She says the LEC Fairgrounds is now two days and counting behind on preparations for the event and they are still finishing up in the damages stall areas. There are many opportunities for the public to help early this week, including:
- planting flowers & putting up signs on Monday
- stuffing contestant welcome buckets on Tuesday
- and putting 2050 stall tags up on Wednesday after hopefully all the stalls have been replaced
Strong arms & backs are needed outdoors Monday to Wednesday for:
- replacing and checking all horse stall walls & canvas tops are secure
- weed eating
- running equipment to mow ditches
For these setup roles, folks can
- Show up 8-4:30 pm to get started with shifts running to 10 pm daily.
- Go to the Lancaster Event Center Fairgrounds office at 4100 N. 84thStreet, enter Gate 2 off Havelock and go straight ahead to office in Lincoln Room (building closest to 84th)
- Wear closed toe comfortable shoes, jeans/long pants and be prepared to be outside.
- Gloves, beverages and/or food provided depending on length of shift/task.
As the rodeo starts, these are the remaining open volunteer roles that would be most helpful to fill:
- Rodeo performances gate ticket taker/monitor (you get to see the action & meet all the visitors)
- Rodeo Ticket sales—indoor, seated job Sunday July 18 to Saturday July 24
- Parking lot guides—Sunday July 18 to Saturday July 24 to help keep pedestrians & youth safe during traffic rushes before/after 13 rodeo performances
- RV guides during check-in Thurs July 15 -Saturday July 17 (driving golf cart, 19 years plus)
Sign up for volunteer roles after the rodeo starts Thursday is easy at