Pahrump Valley Rodeo Club seeking sponsors, raising money

The Pahrump Valley Junior High and High School Rodeo Club will host its annual high school rodeo in conjunction with Pahrump Valley Days in February, and sponsors are needed to help fund the event.

“It’s going to cost me $30,000 to put on the high school rodeo, so every little bit helps,” said Buddy Krebs, the club’s director.

In addition to seeking sponsors, the club is raffling off four guns to raise money, both for the rodeo and to help send rodeo club members to nationals. The Pahrump Valley club has had several members qualify for nationals, which for high schoolers this year will be in Lincoln, Nebraska, while junior high nationals will be in Des Moines, Iowa.

Leading the way for Pahrump Valley this year is Garret Jepson, who ranks sixth among all-around leaders among Nevada high schoolers. Jepson and Joseray Funk of Douglas-Carson trail only Alamo’s Trevor Carter and independent Madi Borkman in team roping.

The first raffle drawing, for a Ruger 10/22, will be Dec. 15. The other raffle drawings, for a custom AR-15, a Henry .30-30 and a 6.5 Creedmore, will be held Feb. 21, the final day of the high school rodeo. Raffle tickets are $10, and all tickets will be eligible to win each of the guns.

The rodeo will begin Feb. 19 with cutting at noon at McCullough Arena and shooting at 9 a.m. at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute. The rest of the extensive rodeo program will start at 9 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday. One $20 advance ticket is good for the weekend at McCullough, and Krebs said he expects a bigger turnout than last year’s high school rodeo in Pahrump.

Krebs said tickets for both the raffle and the rodeo are available at the Pahrump Valley Museum, Do It Best Hardware, Shelter Insurance, Hypno Comics and Shadow Mountain Feed and Tack. More information is available at pahrumpvalleydays.com/high-school-rodeo or by calling Krebs at 775-277-0064.

The rodeo will be just part of Pahrump Valley Days, an event which received approval from the Nye County Commission despite major resistance from the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors a major festival just five weeks after Pahrump Valley Days. And Krebs is excited about it.

“It’s going to be the first event since COVID,” he said. “The whole event is Western-themed. There’s going to be vendors in the park, a huge carnival. The vendors are all going to be Western decorated. An artist is going to do Western art around the arena and the park. We’ll have country bands, a horseshoes and cornhole tournament, a car show and the Pahrump Gunfighters.

“The whole goal is to bring it back to old-school Pahrump, back when I was a kid. It’s going to be a really fun event.”

But fun costs money, and Krebs is acutely aware of the need for financial support from the community to ensure the event’s success.

”We are desperately in need of sponsorship to make this whole event successful, especially the rodeo,” he said. “Go on Facebook and search Pahrump Valley Days to learn about sponsorship possibilities.”

But even those without the means or need to sponsor the rodeo can help.

Said Krebs: “Just buying tickets to watch the rodeo helps us pay for the rodeo.”