Upgrades, fundraising planned for Caldwell Night Rodeo

“I don’t know if any of you’ve noticed, but our announcer stands are a little bit rickety, and it’s a little spooky out there once in a while, so it’s time to upgrade,” Robb Vavold, one of the rodeo’s vice presidents, told the Caldwell City Council at its Tuesday meeting.

The council was considering whether to direct $1.6 million of the city’s budget to fund improvements at the rodeo, which is a nonprofit. The resolution passed unanimously. The city’s finance department staff will present a formal budget amendment for the council’s consideration at a future meeting.

Mayor Jarom Wagoner said he fondly remembers attending the rodeo as a child, including working at the rotary booths.

“It’s just great memories for me, and I love it,” Wagoner said, “and now I’m making those memories with my sons.”

The city’s current budget included an item to direct about $4.2 million of its fund balance toward a “Quiet Zone” — upgrading the railroad tracks that run through the downtown area so that passing trains will not have to sound their horns. Even with reallocating some of the money for the rodeo’s announcer box improvements, the city will still have money to fund the initial study for the zone, Wagoner said.

Wagoner said city staff were interested in using the city’s fund balance on something to “enhance the community” and “gives back to the city economically.”

In the coming years, the rodeo is also hoping to fund construction of skyboxes along each side of the stadium, Vavold said.

“We’ve always wondered how we can do more seating, and our existing bleachers system cannot be expanded,” Vavold said, “so this is a way to do it. And it would be premium seating as well.”

REINVESTING IN THE COMMUNITY

An informal study conducted by the rodeo staff five years ago estimated that the Caldwell Night Rodeo brings about $10 million in revenue to the Caldwell community, which was likely an underestimate, Vavold said. The University of Idaho is currently working on a formal study, with the results expected in January, he said.

After talking with some of the rodeo’s leadership about how to use city funds, Wagoner said they devised a plan where the city “pitches in up to $1.6 million of what the rodeo is able to raise on their end.”

Vavold said he is unsure about the different phases of the improvements, but estimated the total to be $4.2 million, “a big capital fundraising on our side.”

“We’re lucky enough to have former Gov. Butch Otter on our directors board, and he’s going to be leading that,” Vavold said, “so we are very confident that we’ll be able to do this.”