Jubilee celebration

The threat of the COVID-19 virus affected Jubilee to a minimal extent this year, according to event coordinator and Moorcroft Area chamber of commerce member Cindy Mosteller, who reported a shortage of about 200 guests overall. However, that loss as well as the modified schedule, was not a detriment for the day’s fun as Mosteller later called the 2020 Jubilee a success.

The celebration kicked off with the Moorcroft High School Promenade on Thursday evening and the crowning of the King and Queen and the royal court. Then, at Friday night’s Ranch Rodeo, guests gathered to enjoy the antics and endeavors of the participants in the arena. Humans and horses alike seemed to relish this opportunity to have fun, chase steers and practice the art of ranch life.

There were ten teams entered in the rodeo’s Rope, Mug and Tie; 12 mutton busters; and 12 bronc riders. Of these, the evening’s winners began with the HQ Ranch riding in the Rope, Mug and Tie event: Wayne Pollat, Kurt Kissack, Jeff Longwell and Michael Rourke with 25 points; afterwards, Muttin Bustin’ with Baze Negaard taking the buckle with 90 points; and Ranch Bronc riding prize went to Straten Ducheneaux with 80 points.

Saturday morning saw the beginning of a very busy day for Jubilee volunteers. The first event was the 3k run/walk around town that was to begin at 7:30 a.m. Unfortunately, it was cancelled due to organizational issues.

The remainder of the day fared much better, as was apparent by the more than 270 guests who attended the free chuck wagon breakfast consisting of a hardy meal of pancakes, sausage and eggs at the West Texas Trail Museum.

The parade is one of the Jubilee’s star attractions every summer and this year was no exception; with many entries and candy galore tossed from various buckets, bags and little clown cars, the route down Big Horn Avenue was packed on either side with parents and grandparents seated in colorful camp chairs under trees and umbrellas for shade as youngsters shook out their plastic sacks and prepared their strategy for getting the most sweets.

Sharon Campbell, Carla Goff and Lacey Rasco organized and executed the parade with 47 parade entries.  Sharon and Carla have been helping with the parade for 35 years.

Parade winners were: Best Theme – Diehl’s Supermarket; Most Creative – Girls Scouts, Troop 1007; and Most Humorous went to “The Banjo Players.” 

Two separate tournaments started between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Teams signed up for volleyball and the cornhole competition and, while the ten volleyball teams completed their game by mid afternoon, the 49 cornhole teams, a new record for the event held annually by the eight-time state champion Moorcroft High School wrestling team, lasted well into the evening.

Members of the winning volleyball team were Trey Fischbach, Talissa Fischbach, Kailee Gill, Kyan Meek, Natalie Scribner, Kaylee Terry and Carysyn and Cami Mettler. 

The winners of the cornhole tournament were the father-son duo of Travis and Clay Stripp, who took the champion spot followed by Shawn Terry and Tate Alllison in second and Parker Seeley and Tucker Allison in third. 

The fire hall quickly filled with more than 700 hungry people for lunch. The station prepared and served the same amount of pork this year instead of the more expensive beef in years previous and still ran out of meat before they ran out of line. Moorcroft Councilman and volunteer fireman Ben Glenn noted that everyone enjoyed the delicious fare cooked on the grill donated by the late Al Machtain’s estate.

Then, back to Robinson Park for the icecream social and a few moments of relaxation in the cool grass and shade of the trees and picnic canopies.

The splash bash was set up in the usual place on the west side of the park with great attendance and costly results to the town as was discussed at Monday night are meeting of the town council. The damage caused to the grass has been an ongoing issue for the last several summers, according to Public Works Director Cory Allison, and the governing body has decided the event will be moved in the future.

Though the grass cannot be easily repaired, the governing body noted that the Secret Squirrel Brigade had gone through the park repairing where possible and cleaning up after the festivities.

After the bouncy houses were taken down and the kids dried off, many families headed home as the more adult games began, kicking off with the celebrity box social and the talented word work of auctioneer Chuck Wood of Gillette. The highest selling celebrity was Tyler Lindholm, bringing in $470. A handmade bench autographed by Moorcroft High School graduates raised $500. 

The bed race or the Sports Relay Race, as it was called this year, was very entertaining. Team Crook County Cuddle Buddies (Doug Reynolds, Jimmy Roberts and Alisha Roberts) won with a time of 58 seconds. 

Keeping with tradition, the evening closed with a street dance. Kalyn Beasley played for about an hour to open for Tris Munsick and the Innocents.  The crowd grew as the night went on with many people dancing.