Good day,
Before discussing our plans for the 2023 Pacific Northwest Lineman Rodeo, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on last year… 2022 was our first rodeo since Covid restrictions were dropped. Our Committee saw many new faces join us, as well as many returning faces too. The committee recognized that for 2022, many of the traditional participating utilities were still not approving travel or event participation. Honestly, we didn’t know what to expect going into the Rodeo. How many teams/participants would we get? Would we have enough volunteers to execute successfully? What should we realistically expect to raise in donations? These were just a few of the unknowns the committee was trying to manage and overcome.
Looking back, the 2018 Rodeo (our 25th anniversary) was the largest rodeo we have ever hosted with 35 Linemen teams competing, and 69 Apprentices/Pre-Apprentices participating! The 2019 Rodeo also saw a strong turnout, with 20 Lineman teams and 54 Apprentices/Pre-Apprentices participating. The 2018 Rodeo successfully raised $44,000 in donations to the Oregon Burn Center, and 2019 raised an amazing $50,000 in donations to the Oregon Burn Center. I look at those results, and remember many years ago how a successful Rodeo would struggle to donate $10,000 and the idea of giving a donation of $50,000 seemed unrealistic and impossible to reach!
The 2022 Rodeo event was simply incredible! We had 21 Lineman teams competing, and 65 Apprentices/Pre-Apprentices participate as well !!! This was way beyond what we had anticipated! To top this off, between the Rodeo and the IBEW Golf Tournament, we raised a total of $75,000 in donations to the Oregon Burn Center directly supporting the Voucher Program, Kids Camp, and Peer Support programs!!!
What an amazing result!! I want to take a moment and recognize the hard work and dedication from the rodeo committee, the support from all the sponsors, and recognized the significant donations from PGE, Pacific Corp, Clark County, IBEW local 125, 659 & 77, and our vendors including Jelco, Buckingham, Milwaukee, Makita and Altec to have made this all possible.
Without everyones help, we would not have been able to accomplish this. Thank you one and all!
Regarding the 2023 rodeo, the committee will be opening registration for the 2023 in April. Please watch our website for more information to over the next month. We look forward to hosting another amazing event this year, and cant wait to see everyone again!
Once again, I thank you all and none of this can happen without your generous support.
Be safe
Joel Wallace
Rodeo Chairman