The Custer County Ag Society met in regular session Thursday evening, December 11 at 7:00 PM. Board member Jake Rosentreader arrived at the end of the regular session, just prior to the meeting entering executive session. The three new Fair Board members, Caleb tenBensel, Scotti Ross, and Andy Gibbons were all present for their first meeting since being elected in November.
After a discussion of bookkeeping matters, the Board approved the financial report and monthly bills paid. Board President Brian Palmer noted that the month of November showed a number of expenses and little income, but indicated that was fairly standard for this time of year.
Board Hears Committee Reports on Facilities, Winter Ball
In Committee Reports, Mark Cardoza told the board that winterization of fairgrounds equipment and facilities is well in hand, with battery maintainers being installed and fuel stabilizer added where appropriate.
Regular 2,000-hour service of the fairgrounds’ skid-steer loader revealed damage to lift cylinders resulting from a lack of regular grease in a pair of obscured zerks. The cylinders will need to be replaced at a cost of around $1,000. Because the loader is one of the most used pieces of equipment for the fairgrounds, the board was in agreement that the maintenance work will need to be done.
Gibbons stated that a gas leak had been detected during the recent tractor pull event November 22. The leak was quickly repaired by Black Hills Energy.
Cardoza also recommended a clean-up day for the fairgrounds office building, which the board was in agreement should be scheduled soon.
The Winter Ball Committee handed out raffle tickets for board members to sell leading up to the Ball. Two different raffles are available: one for up to $2,500 of landscaping work by Sun Valley Landscaping, and the other for a Zermatt Arms custom 22-250 rifle provided by OZ Bar Precision in Berwyn. Raffle tickets are $50 each, but there are only 200 tickets for each drawing.
The Society Winter Ball, themed “Cowboys and Candlelight” is Saturday, January 24 at the Broken Bow Municipal Building. The Ball will start with a silent auction at 5:30 PM and end with a performance by the band “Loose Cannons”.
New Business Covers 2026 Officer Elections, Ross Brings Ideas for Funding
To start New Business for the session, elections were held to appoint officers for the 2026 season. Little change will be seen in the officer group, with Brian Palmer, Desirei Cook, and Jake Rosentreader retained as President, Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Clint Lambrecht was added as the Board Vice President for the year.
With a deep background in strategic planning and grant writing, new member Scotti Ross brought several related items to the board for consideration.
Ross recommended first the addition of the Ag Society’s Venmo information to horse stalls so that users could pay electronically to use the fairground facilities. The board was in agreement that this would be a beneficial addition, and agreed to take steps to do so.
A more involved discussion centered on a greater use of tourism grant funds to cover outreach efforts by the Ag Society. Ross noted that she has received feedback in the past that area residents were unaware of the activities occurring at the fairgrounds, and recommended an expansion of advertising and outreach efforts.
Ross told the group, as an example, that grant funding would allow the group possibly outsource social media advertising efforts. Expenses for updates and enhancement of the fairgrounds’ website may also be eligible for grant funding. Whether outsourcing or using internal resources for advertising, Ross noted that detailed contracts and accounting would be necessary to obtain grant funding.
While the board determined that obtaining a grant from Visit Nebraska with a submission deadline of December 18 would be too tight to meet, it was agreed that application for Custer County Tourism grants that close in April and later in the year should be pursued for this purpose. Ross offered to work with Rosentreader and Cook on grant applications moving forward.
Ross also recommended undertaking a strategic planning effort to establish short- and long-term goals for the Ag Society and fairgrounds. Ross suggested that this should include surveys of a number of stakeholders, to include both current and past users to analyze where improvements can be made to continue to serve the community and attract new exhibitors and users to the area. The Board agreed to schedule a planning session for the effort in the near future.
In new action related to the Winter Ball, the Board approved purchase of the rifle for the drawing from OZ Bar Precision, as well as a number of options for firearms from Leth’s Gun Care in Merna. Leth’s is offering a 45-70 Carbine rifle, or a number of other similarly-priced rifles and handguns for the tumbler auction at the Ball.
The final action of the regular session was to schedule a Board Planning Workshop for Wednesday, December 17 at 5:00 PM. At that point the Fair Board entered executive session to address personnel matters at 7:45 PM, with no further regular action to follow.
The next regular meeting of the Custer County Ag Society will be Thursday, January 8, at 7:00 PM in the Shooting Sports Building on the Custer County Fairgrounds.
