BURWELL – Nebraska’s Big Rodeo in Burwell has seen dizzying highs and humble lows in its 100-year history, but the reason for its longevity has remained consistent: the people setting up and pulling the gates that make the yearly event possible.
On Friday, those people saw more than a year of hard work pay off in the face of a recent disaster; the Burwell Rodeo Grounds and home of Nebraska’s Big Rodeo broke ground on a project to reconstruct a piece of what helps the Big Rodeo earn its name: the grandstands.
In July 2020, one year before the rodeo would celebrate its official centennial, severe winds mangled a part of the grounds’ east grandstand, greatly reducing the amount of available seating.
Garfield County Frontier Fair Association President Jess Helgoth, alongside a platoon of fair board volunteer members in iconic blue button-ups, described the damage as someone who’d seen it firsthand.
“There was a massive storm approaching from the west, with 75 mile-per-hour winds, which caught the banners and crumbled the whole back of the bleachers.”
Helgoth and his board broke ground on the operation with the help of a $435,000 grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s Community Development Block Grant program.
The association president said in an interview after setting aside his golden shovel that the help from the Department of Economic Development comes as a blessing for his volunteer-led association’s dreams for the rodeo’s future.
“This wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for that. The state recognizes these long-running traditions. It’s going to be huge to have these new facilities, and it’s all because we have a great state. That’s what it comes down to.”
Helgoth, who has almost never missed a Burwell rodeo since his birth, has seen the event shift and morph into many forms; in his role as the county’s fair association president, he said that rebuilding the east grandstand will keep the rodeo, and its grounds, the economic engine for central Nebraska summers.
“This is a huge economic boost not only to Burwell but to the entire area. The rodeo has an economic impact on the whole state because it’s the biggest draw in the state that week.”
Indeed, the project should have no problem drawing a crowd; according to estimates from the Central Nebraska Economic Development District, another supporter of the project, the grandstand and its amenities will bring in an additional $10,000 of rodeo revenue per day.
The east section of the grounds currently holds several bleachers, a row of picnic tables, and a canopied open-air structure: the grounds’ current beer garden. When the renovation is complete, the same area will offer handicap-accessible seating for 24 visitors, 2 accessible bathrooms and parking, an 800-seat grandstand, and poured concrete to make access to amenities on the east pavilion a breeze.
Helgoth said that a high level of accessibility is crucial to the continued success and growth of the rodeo.
“That’s going to be so huge, in either the east grandstand or the new north ones: the handicap accessibility. You’re going to be able to walk up a ramp with your walker, both sides will be elevated. You’ll actually be able to see the action. You won’t be sitting on the ground like in the old days. It’s all going to be updated, modern facilities. It’s going to be really nice.”
The Garfield County Frontier Fair Association won’t be dragging its feet in getting the grandstands built; Helgoth estimates that construction on the new facilities will get underway immediately after the completion of this year’s Big Rodeo in August, with completion anticipated by 2024’s Nebraska High School Rodeo finals, which are less than a year away.
