Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Jeff Kvamme of Carrington is shown above spinning his lasso to attempt to rope a steer during the ranch rodeo at the Sheyenne Stampede on Saturday, August 21.
Country music recording artist Brandon Jones from Rapid City, S.D. was one of the few music artists to perform at the Sheyenne Stampede.
On Aug. 21, hundreds of rodeo enthusiasts and concert goers flocked to Sheyenne, N.D. to attend the inaugural Sheyenne Stampede sponsored by Bessette Motors. Attendees enjoyed a full day of activities ranging from barrel racing to the long-awaited concert by platinum country music band, BlackHawk.
The day began with High-Stakes Barrel Racing at 10 a.m., where contenders could enter with their horse to race for $1,000. Taking the first-place belt buckle was Korrey Tweed of Pekin, N.D., a former winner of Miss Rodeo North Dakota in 1996, riding LeRoys Speed Bug.
Jozey Retzlaff of Carrington was named Miss Sheyenne Stampede. She is the daughter of Doug and Holly Retzlaff.
Up next was the ranch rodeo at 5 p.m., where five teams of four ranchers competed in five events, each designed to mimic typical ranching tasks: range doctoring, steer branding, trailer loading, steer mugging and a trailer relay.
Bargmann Ranch (Sandy Bargmann, Josh West, Derrick Kessler and Wes Jensen) quickly established their dominance in the ring, completing the steer branding event in just 57.12 seconds for their first win. However, their best run came in trailer loading, where they caught and wrestled their steer into the trailer after just 35.19 seconds, the fastest time of the evening.
Bargmann Ranch went back and forth with Veagan Horse Company all night, who took two wins of their own, thanks to quick times in steer mugging and range doctoring. However, an illegal head-catch in steer branding and a dreadful time in trailer loading ensured that Bargmann Ranch would go on to win three of five events to secure a $2,500 payday and the first-place belt buckles awarded later that evening.
Also competing in the ranch rodeo were Team Wild Rides, Larson's Hay Grinding and Pipestem Feeders. Afterwards, attendees got to enjoy the music of Beni Paulson, who had just competed for Team Wild Rides in the ranch rodeo, and Brandon Jones, a country music recording artist from Rapid City, S.D.
After the championship buckle presentation at 9 p.m., fans got to enjoy BlackHawk, a platinum recording band that's been performing hit songs since 1993. Fans got to enjoy a variety of their greatest hits from the 1990s, and from their 2000s albums, Down from the Mountain and Spirit Dancer. To close out the night, Brandon Jones returned to host a beer garden party at 11 p.m.
Brent Helseth, Sheyenne Rodeo Club member and sponsorship chairman, said that over 1,000 people attended Saturday's events, and has expressed the organizers' hope to make the Sheyenne Stampede an annual event.
