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Previous Page The second, smaller key group of Rodeo volunteers are the administrative volunteers. These people provide the leadership for what is in fact, a very large organization. The volunteer administrators include those people on the Advisory Committee who meet here in Kansas City 4 times a year in addition to Rodeo week and represent participating companies and Local Unions from every region of the country. Their primary functions includes the selection of Rodeo events, and advising the Rodeo Association Board of Directors on all the operational issues related to hosting the competition. Nearly everyone of these dedicated volunteers also work another volunteer job or two during the week of and the day of the Rodeo as well. Many are Master or Chief judges. The other volunteer administrative group is the International Lineman's Rodeo Board of Directors. This group puts in countless hours all through the year between rodeos and each member is responsible for one or more of the major activities related to the Rodeo. Activities like registration, scoring, awards banquet, preparing the competition field, the trade night and BBQ, contracting with the hotels, arranging the local transportation, overall coordination of the event, handling the Rodeo Association finances, and countless other critical leadership tasks that make the ILRA an on-going and growing, functional registered not-for-profit organization are all overseen by this small group. The Rodeo was not always run as a not-for-profit organization. In it's earlier days for the first 10 years or so, the Rodeo was the property of TWSCO who had been instrumental in getting it started. Around 1993, the Rodeo had gotten sufficiently large that it could not be effectively managed or funded for further growth and improvement without outside help. The then Rodeo Board of Directors formed the National Rodeo Association which provided the opportunities for companies involved with linework to purchase annual association sponsorships at different levels which gave them the ability to enter their teams at a discounted rate depending on their level of sponsorship and started what later became the Advisory Board. This structure again changed in 1998 when TWSCO surrendered the rights to the National Rodeo to the expanded, newly elected International Lineman's Rodeo Association Board. That same year the ILRA entered in an alliance with Intertec Cooperation, the publisher of T&D magazine, to set up a vendor exposition and help handle the registration and other non-competition, rodeo related activities. The next year the Board filed for and was granted not-for-profit corporation status in the State of Missouri. Another group which volunteered countless hours in the early days as well as materials and tools for the competition were the vendor representatives. Now they continue to support the ILRA every year with both in-kind donations and reduced cost materials as well as providing another revenue source for the Rodeo through their participation in the Vendor Exposition. Literally hundreds of vendors have helped the Rodeo over the years and contributed both in terms of goods and the use of their very talented and hard working people. Many continue to do so today. The International Lineman's Rodeo was built and continues now to operate on this volunteer labor because it works and works well. Another area of "volunteerism" that was less effective historically was the ILRA's dependence on one organization or another "volunteering" to provide the physical space to hold the event. Given the current level of participation in the rodeo, the rodeo grounds require a large number of acres to house the participant tents, scoring area, testing area, and over 160 event poles plus dozens of dead end poles and other structures. In addition, the event requires use of a very large parking area for volunteers, participants and spectators. As mentioned earlier, the Rodeo quickly outgrew the space at Manhattan and then by 1991 had outgrown the space available at the KCPL Training Center. In 1991 the 8th annual rodeo was asked to be held in St. Louis to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the start of the IBEW which was being celebrated there that year. When the Rodeo returned to Kansas City in 1992 the Association worked with the City of Kansas City Missouri to acquire the temporary use of a large enough vacant space of land in a central location on which to hold it. The Association was given use of some vacant acreage near the Oceans of Fun and Worlds of Fun amusement parks. The Rodeo stayed there for the 9th, 10th, and 11th events. As with all the previous locations, each year the rodeo grounds were constructed during the summer and had to be torn completely down soon after the event and the whole process repeated each year. The Rodeo then moved to a vacant lot in the old Kansas City Stockyards district and was rebuilt there for the 12th annual rodeo in 1995. The lot was sold that same year and Kansas City provided use of some vacant ground a few blocks over on Liberty, again in the West Bottoms. That ground required considerable rehabilitation including the brush cutting, trash removal, addition of drainage, grading, tree trimming, and graveling prior to being able to build the 13th annual rodeo event there. The Rodeo stayed there for 14th and 15th annual events and then the City once again sold that property. In 1999, the Board of Directors contracted with National Agricultural Hall of Fame, in Bonner Springs, Kansas for a 10 year lease for some open ground behind the Ag Hall and, starting with the 16th annual Rodeo, have been there since. Finally, the added expense of completely tearing down the competition ground each year and starting construction from scratch the next year could be avoided. The Association hopes this will become the permanent home of the Event given its pastoral setting, ample parking, proximity to other local area attractions, and excellent cooperation between the ILRA and the Ag Hall. What is new with the ILRA in the last few years and this year? Probably the most notable change this year will be the reduction in the number of events competitors participate in because of the lateness in the fall of the event day and the more limited number of daylight hours. Next year and for the foreseeable years after however, the ILRA plans to return to its 5 competition event format and a date earlier in the fall. This years change is in part due to hotel room availability and in part due to not wanting to conflict with another large vendor exposition being held in September. New this year is the addition of an assigned First Aid and Safety Coordinator to better coordinate responses in the event of an injury or accident on the field. This will be in addition to the always available emergency services personnel and the trained field security volunteers. The planning this year includes a big celebration of the Rodeo's 20th anniversary at the Awards Banquet, fireworks to start of the Rodeo itself, and all kinds of other surprises. It's time to Rodeo! | ||
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