Local committee offers to take rodeo again

The Great Northern Rodeo Committee may put on the rodeo at the Great Northern Fair next year after all.

In July, the committee said it was done putting on the rodeo, but committee member Clint Solomon said Tuesday that the group now was willing to continue, with some conditions. The Great Northern Fair Board approved offering them the contract subject to negotiating details.

“If we get Friday, Saturday and we get the grounds fixed up to standards and that back fence, that lot, taken care of … and Friday, Saturday, we get the money and do kind of the same as last year … ,” Solomon said during the board’s monthly meeting Tuesday. “And we don’t want to have any paying rent for the grounds or signs or any of that stuff. We’re not going to be renting stuff if we put on the rodeo, and we don’t want to have further arguments about it.”

The board agreed three years ago to turn the rodeo, over to the local committee, rather than contracting out to companies out of the area. The committee offered to put on the rodeo for free, in exchange for taking all of the gate proceeds. The board did give the committee $10,000 for the first year, calling it seed money.

In the last 18 months, the relationship had been more and more strained, with the committee representatives complaining about how they were treated by the board and the fair manager.

After the fair, Clint Solomon told the board at its meeting July 23 that the committee no longer would put on the rodeo.

Solomon said Tuesday that board member Gus Sharp approached the committee members and asked them if they would reconsider. He said that due to the strong support of local businesses and community members for his group putting on the rodeo, the committee decided to reconsider.

He added that the committee wants to go through Sharp in its dealings with the fair board.

Sharp said he is willing to do that.

“I told them I would be more than happy to represent them at the board meetings and be their voice,” Sharp said.

The board appointed a committee including Sharp and board members Missy Boucher and Alma Seidel to negotiate a new contract with the rodeo committee specifying what was allowed and what was required of each side as far as use and requirements of maintaining the arena.

Sharp, with agreement from fairgrounds manager Tim Solomon and other board members, said he doesn’t think resolving the issues should be difficult.

“I don’t think we’ve got that big a differences,” he said. “We end up with a lot of stress and a lot of arguments, but the stuff we’re discussing isn’t going to kill anybody either way.”