Sheyenne Stampede Saturday

"Herd over" to Hendrickson Park on Saturday for the Sheyenne Stampede!

The day opens with High Stakes Barrel Racing and ends with live music by high profile band BlackHawk.

Bessette Motors is the premier sponsor of this inaugural event on the outskirts of small town Sheyenne, and organizers expect thousands of people to take in the full day of activities.

Brent Helseth, Sheyenne Rodeo Club member and sponsorship chairman, said Tuesday that organizers hope to make the Sheyenne Stampede an annual event.

This isn't your standard issue rodeo either, folks. Both the morning Barrel Race and evening Ranch Rodeo are open class events, with no rodeo association connections required.

High-Stakes Barrel Racing action starts at 10 a.m. The entry fee is $75 per horse, and riders can enter as many horses as they choose. Entry is capped at 100 horses, and every horse runs once in this "rodeo run" format. With $1,000 added to the purse, payout goes to the horses with the top 10 fastest times. Barrel racing is sponsored by The Glass Shop and Prairie Dog Construction.

The Ranch Rodeo gets underway at 5 p.m., with the field capped at 10 teams of four cowboys/girls. In this rodeo, contestants are in a race to complete basic ranch tasks as a team in the least possible time. There are five events: range doctoring, steer branding, trailer loading, cattle sorting and trailer relay. If it sounds like a typical day at the ranch, you'd be right.

Entry fee is $400 per four-person teams, with $500 in prize money added to each event. Payout goes to the top four contestants in each event, with buckles awarded to the team with the best "average," based on points earned during the events. The Ranch Rodeo is sponsored by Farmers Union Insurance, Roughrider Feeds, Rue Ranch Trucking, Nystrom Trucking and Leading Edge Equipment.

Contestants for the barrel racing and ranch rodeo should email [email protected] or call (701) 650-1725 to enter.

New Rockford Eagles Club will open the beer gardens at 6 p.m., in advance of the evening's concerts. S.D. based country musician Brandon Jones opens at 7:30 p.m., and will play until 9 p.m.

The champion buckle presentation will follow Jones' performance, at 9 p.m. Champions of both the barrel racing and ranch rodeo will receive their buckles.

Country band BlackHawk headlines, with their set to begin at 9:30 p.m. BlackHawk's road to fame began nearly 30 years ago, when their 1993 self-titled Arista debut album launched with the smash single "Goodbye Says It All." Four more songs raced to the top five of the country charts, and the album went double platinum.

Co-founder Van Stephenson died of melanoma in 2001, and since then the band and its fans have raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for The Van Stephenson Memorial Cancer Fund at Nashville's Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Fans can expect a mix of their '90s hits and newer songs from their 2000s albums Spirit Dancer and Down From the Mountain.

The concert is sponsored by Bank Forward, James River Ag, Westad Auction & Appraisal, Top Shelf Energy, Unverferth Manufacturing, Belgarde Trucking, Hefty Seed Company, Community Credit Union, Myhre Seed and RadioWorks.

The evening closes with a Beer Garden Party, featuring Brandon Jones and friends, at 11 p.m.

Advanced tickets are on sale now at http://www.sheyennestampede.com. Cost is $35 plus fees and taxes. Tickets will be on sale at the gate for $40. Youth 10 and under get in free. The ticket includes entrance to all the day's events.

Food vendors on the grounds include Ron Lende of New Rockford and Summer Cookin' with Scott and Celine Fetsch of Carrington.

The organizers encourage spectators to party responsibly. Primitive camping is available in Hendrickson Park at no cost, as well as at Warsing Dam east of Sheyenne. Spectators can also reserve a room at Open Season Lodge in Sheyenne, call (701) 996-3020 to reserve.

Bus transportation is available from Carrington and possibly New Rockford. Carrington area guests should call (701) 652-5765 to get a seat. In New Rockford, stay at Rock Inn, Buck-it's Lodge or Bison Lodge. Park your RV at Schuster RV Park or Archie & Jessie Campbell Memorial Park.

For more information, call Brent Helseth at (701) 302-8220.