Fans weathered rain and mud at the Nambour Showgrounds last month (May 20) to witness the Ray White Nambour Rodeo. 

With non-stop rain throughout the day and night doubts were high that the event could proceed. But, despite fielding queries all day from nervous ticket-holders organisers decided to go ahead and the result was a cheque handover of more than $38,000  to Reimagine Nambour on Wednesday night (June 22). 

“I don’t think we could have picked a worse night,” laughed a relieved Matt O’Grady last week. “On the Friday of the event our phones didn’t stop ringing with ticket-holders wondering if it was still on. 

“Even so,  we only had one person ring up wanting their money back (before the event), despite all that rain, which was absolutely fantastic.

“We had over 1700 people go through the gates on the night. So it just goes to show that if you can put events on in Nambour, people will come. People want to be here. We have the facilities to put these events on. So we need to make sure we can do more of these sorts of things to support the town. 

“I’ve had so many people come up and say what a fantastic rodeo it was. Everything from car parking, to getting people through the gates, to the bar. It was absolutely amazing.

“An event like this does cost over $40,000 to put together so the sponsorship dollars are really appreciated. 

“They take the pressure off us to get the event organised and it minimises the financial risk and allows us to push forward.”

Mr O’Grady thanked his property manager Abbey Foster for her hard work organising the event. 

He also thanked major sponsors Butler McDermott Lawyers, MacKellar Group, Cricks & Ram Nambour, Snap Fitness Nambour, Done & Dusted Demolition and Ray White Northern Corridor Group. 

“Without the support from these local businesses, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and donate this money to Reimagine Nambour,” he said.

Reimagine Nambour Chairman Peter Boyce said organisers should be proud of their “amazing”  efforts in staging such a successful Rodeo, especially under the conditions. 

“Without your drive and your team’s drive the Rodeo wouldn’t have been such a success and we’re very proud of the fact that you have Nambour at heart.”