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The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Ever wonder what really goes on at a small-town morning radio show?
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends is your daily dose of real callers, big laughs, and unforgettable characters straight from QCountry 925 in Show Low, Arizona.
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Cougar Cub Horseless Rodeo: Supporting Teachers Through Stick Horse Adventures
Saddle up for an innovative twist on rodeo tradition as we dive into the heartwarming story behind Linden Elementary's Cougar Cub Horseless Rodeo. This unique fundraiser, celebrating its fifth year, transforms ordinary stick ponies into trusty steeds for young cowboys and cowgirls eager to show their skills while supporting local teachers.
Principal Deitering and PTO representative Melissa Perkins share how this creative event emerged from a desire to directly support classroom teachers who regularly spend personal funds on supplies. Unlike typical fundraisers, 100% of proceeds go straight to fulfilling teacher wish lists, creating a direct pipeline between community support and classroom resources. What makes this event special isn't just its cause, but its accessibility—open to any child 8th grade or under, regardless of equestrian experience or school affiliation.
The competitions themselves showcase small-town ingenuity at its finest: barrel racing and pole bending on stick ponies, "keg races" mimicking musical chairs, boot scrambles where children race to find their footwear, and the crowd-favorite "Money Calf" event where kids chase fake livestock covered with cash prizes. With 49 buckles up for grabs (sponsored entirely by local businesses), the event maintains authentic rodeo competition while building community connections. Behind the scenes, dedicated PTO volunteers spend six months planning this three-hour extravaganza, coordinating everything from food vendors to photography to carnival games.
Join us this Saturday from 4-7pm at Linden Valley Arena—spectators attend free while participants pay just $10 per event. Whether you're competing for buckles or simply enjoying the festivities, you'll witness firsthand how rural communities create magical experiences that strengthen bonds while supporting education. Bring your family, your appetite for fun, and your appreciation for teachers who shape our future!
For more info visit - https://sites.google.com/view/cougarcubhorselessrodeo/home
From the Horn Auto Center Studios Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew. Good morning, it's the Morning Brew with Chris. Who's this?
Speaker 2:Jan.
Speaker 1:Jan the Weatherman, aka Jan from Heber Arizona. How have you been? It's been a while. Give us an update on Jan from Heber.
Speaker 2:Oh, enjoying the weather.
Speaker 1:Nice, we're getting lots of rain. Any more rain today, you think?
Speaker 2:I think we're going to have a thunderstorm or two break loose this afternoon.
Speaker 1:Oh nice, that's our unofficial weather report from Jan the Weatherman. What can I do you for this morning, Jan?
Speaker 2:I would like to hear Chris Stapleton Good night train to Memphis.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah.
Speaker 2:And I wanted to make a comment about your guest that you had on Friday.
Speaker 1:Yes, our Country Climb Star of the Week for last week.
Speaker 2:Right, that guy is going to be well. He's already great. I think he's got a great voice. I was really impressed, and then he wrote that song.
Speaker 1:Yeah, chase Saunders. He was amazing, so make sure, keep your eye out for Chase Saunders and he'll be having some more new music coming out and we'll release that as well. You liking the Country Climb? Star of the Week segment.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah. Big shout-out to our friend Austin Burke with the Playlisted podcast in Nashville, who sends us these artists every week straight from Nashville. It's our small little town, has our own little gateway to Nashville Pretty cool, huh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1:Heck. Yeah. Well, sweet, jan, we love you, buddy. Here is Chris Stapleton with Midnight Train to Memphis on Q Country 92.5. Give me a yeehaw, jan, yeehaw. See you, buddy, bye. I am so excited to have some guests in studio today. We have Melissa Perkins with the PTO over there at Linden Elementary and we have the principal of Linden Elementary, mrs Deitering, and you guys have a really fun fundraiser and event happening this Saturday at Linden Valley Arena. Go ahead and tell us what's going on.
Speaker 3:So we have our Linden Elementary PTO presents our fifth annual Cougar Club Horseless Rodeo and we are so excited for this. It's going to be this Saturday from four to seven at Linden Valley Arena and we've got pony rides, barrel racing, boot scrambles, grocery races, raffles, carnival games and so much more. And remember that 100% of the proceeds go directly back to our teachers. Most rodeo events are just $10 and carnival games are a dollar a ticket Plus. There's going to be food there Food and raffles, yes, and there's going to be pony rides. Like I said, and to make sure to come, check out our Facebook page and our Instagram page if you would like to get some more information. It's affordable, fun, the whole family can join. We're going to do this rain or shine and we have some very fun stick ponies for the kids to use for all these events. I know my son's looking forward to the money calf. I've never experienced a money calf race until last year and it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:What is a money? Calf race.
Speaker 4:So we put money all over the calves. I don't know if you've ever been to the Snow Plate Pioneer. Days but I snagged that idea from them. But we just put money all over it and then we actually have a sponsor for that. This year that sponsored the money for that. Usually we get prizes, whatever, and then we give two buckles per cow. So there's two different age groups, so they're not killing each other.
Speaker 1:And so if you want to partake in the Horseless Rodeo, it's open to anyone eighth grade and under. You don't have to go to Linden Elementary. It's available to any kids on the mountain eating under right Correct. And then you provide the horses, or the horses on a stick for these.
Speaker 4:Yes, sir, we provide everything you just got to show up and be ready to rodeo.
Speaker 1:And the coolest thing is, 100% of these proceeds go to the teachers. So at the end of the event you take all the money, and then what happens?
Speaker 4:Then we divide it between 13 teachers and then they write us a list and we order it or give them gift cards or whatever to help do whatever they need to do for the kids in their classroom. Teachers are always spending their own money, so we're trying.
Speaker 1:You know, when you give it goes right back to your kids, Heck yeah, yeah, I, my grandma was a teacher and my sister was a teacher and your mom was a teacher, right, and uh, yeah, so a lot of uh teachers dip into their own pockets, uh, you know, for their class and so this is a way to give back to those teachers so they don't have to dig into those pockets, right? Yes, we are back with today's guests. We have Melissa Perkins with the PTO over there at Linden Elementary and we have the principal of Linden Elementary, principal Dietering, joining us and we're talking about the awesome event happening this Saturday, 4 pm to 7 pm at the Linden Valley Arena. It's the Linden Elementary PTO Presents the 5th Annual Cougar Cub Horseless Rodeo, and the awesome thing about this is 100% of the proceeds for this event go back to the teachers at Linden Elementary to get supplies for their class so they don't have to dip into their own pockets.
Speaker 1:And the way we're raising money is you have a lot of events open to anybody on the mountain, 8th grade and under. Explain to me what is a horseless rodeo? And then let's go through some of the events that people can enter. Okay, what is a horseless rodeo? And then let's go through some of the events that people can enter.
Speaker 4:Okay, so a horseless rodeo is like a rodeo on stick ponies, so you don't have to be a cowboy cowgirl you just show up and so we we start off with the barrel racing.
Speaker 4:It's a pattern with three barrels that you can find online. We we show the pattern we've given out. We'll give more information for how to find that online. We show the pattern We've given out. We'll give more information for how to find that online. But the pole bending is poles. We do different poles for different age groups, but the bigger kids have seven poles. They have to run the pattern. Everything is timed so the child with the fastest time wins the keg race. That gets a little Western. We put crates down there and they run on their stick ponies around a barrel. It's like musical chairs and then we pull crates.
Speaker 4:Oh, cool that's always the highlight of our event. And then the dummy roping is you're roping a dummy, you have to, you know, do slick horns, neck, they all have points. Child with the most points wins. The money calf is where we release two cows and we have four buckles and $500 that J&J Pipeline sponsored and if you get money you take that money. It's fake money and it's laminated, but you take it to the announcer stand and they'll give you your prizes or your buckles.
Speaker 4:The boot scramble is where we put their boots in two different locations, or their shoes, sandals, flip-flops, whatever they have, and then they have to race down, find their shoes, run back. Winner obviously gets the buckle. Grocery race is three knapsacks that we sew together and they have to hop along down the arena with usually a zucchini, because that's what's in our garden, or we have an egg and water, and they all have to end up at the finish line with their groceries. And they all have to end up at the finish line with their groceries and they all get a buckle. And then we have winter winter chicken dinner, which mary garvin um raised 40 chickens and we released the birds and one of them has a buckle, and then you get to keep the chickens or you can give them back to mary, but we are giving away 49 buckles this year heck yeah yeah, jill tinkle had the idea to have a girls and a boys, which we weren't sure how to make it, you know, fit in our time frame.
Speaker 4:So she we did end up getting more sponsors that wanted to do more than one buckle and so she ended up buying 11 extra buckles. So that's really awesome of her because then it just gives more kids opportunity, more buckles. The girls feel like they have a chance, even though I will say, like the Decker girl always beats the boys in the races. So it is possible, but it's. It's really cool. It was really cool of her to do that.
Speaker 1:It's a fun event. If you want to sign up for the event, we go to your Facebook page. You could sign up online yes, right, until September 5th, and then people could sign up at the event as well right?
Speaker 4:Yes, the book's open at three o'clock and you can go to the entry office, fill out your waiver, um, and get your yeah, all your tickets there.
Speaker 1:All right and the Facebook page is um it's Linden Elementary.
Speaker 1:Linden Elementary, and on the flyer they also have a barcode so you could scan it for more info. And, uh, if you don't want to sign up and you just want to watch, come out and support. It's going to be a fun, fun event and, again, 100% of the proceeds go to the teachers at Linden Elementary. Let's make this event huge and raise a lot of money for our great teachers over there at Linden Elementary. You guys are also going to have food on site as well for people that are just coming to enjoy the festivities, right?
Speaker 4:Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:Who's the food?
Speaker 4:It's JB Knucklehead's Grill and Cook Shack. It's Mary and Rusty Garvin and they have donated this every year for us.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah, Big shout out to them. One of the events you're doing at the Horseless Rodeo is Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. That's where you put a bunch of chickens out and people have to Try and get the chicken with the buckle on it. Well, I came up with my own game called Winner Winner Chicken Dinner Trivia. I'm going to ask you questions about chickens and if you know the answer, say your name. That's your buzzer. It's Principal Didering versus Melissa Perkins.
Speaker 4:Are you ready? Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:All right, chickens. True or false, chickens are the closest living relatives to the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Speaker 3:Melissa Hold on.
Speaker 1:Oh, who got it?
Speaker 4:first, that was like okay, Melissa.
Speaker 1:All right, Melissa, true or false?
Speaker 4:I'm going to say true, it is true?
Speaker 1:Isn't that weird? I don't know. Also, I got this from ChatGPT.
Speaker 4:Well, Tyrannosaurus, excuse me, tyrannosaurus, they had wings and feathers.
Speaker 1:Oh really, or not, wings but feathers. Okay, I definitely don't want to.
Speaker 4:My son was a dinosaur guru. Oh really, yeah, I definitely don't want to capture a T-Rex, I'll capture a chicken.
Speaker 1:All right, this next one closest without going over, and it's the first one to three wins. You're up 1-0, melissa.
Speaker 3:About how many eggs does the average a year? Melissa, melissa, 300.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say 300. 300. Okay, and what's your guess?
Speaker 4:325. All right.
Speaker 1:Closest without going over. Melissa nailed it. It takes six months for them to even lay it. Holy moly, 250 to 300. Principal Ditering, I think you're unfairly matched today. All right, and you're up 2-0, melissa. Next correct answer gets you the win. Here we go In Chicken Anatomy. What's the waddle?
Speaker 3:Oh sorry.
Speaker 1:Principal Ditering yes.
Speaker 3:Isn't that the little thing that hangs off? Yep, yep, and I have one of those too.
Speaker 2:I feel like a chicken.
Speaker 1:All right, you are still alive. Principal, here we go. True or false, chickens can recognize over 100 different faces, including humans. Principal Dietering oh she's making a comeback. What's your guess?
Speaker 3:I think that's true.
Speaker 1:I think I saw that on Facebook somewhere. We are down to the final question. Determine who the winner is Principal Dietering or Melissa Perkins. Here we go. What fast foods chain slogan is eat more chicken, melissa.
Speaker 4:Eat more chicken. What is that? It's like a southern one.
Speaker 1:They're closed on Sunday. That's your hint.
Speaker 4:I don't, I failed.
Speaker 1:Oh no. I don't think you want to beat Principal Deitering Principal? What's your guess?
Speaker 3:Oh, it's where my kids make me go. Every time we go to Flagstaff, chick-fil-a.
Speaker 4:Chick-fil-A. That's my mom's favorite place. I should have known.
Speaker 1:Well, congratulations, principal Deitering. You know your chicken dinner trivia. I am so happy to have had Principal Deitering over there at Linden Elementary joining us today and Melissa Perkins joining us today to talk about the awesome event that's happening this Saturday from 4 pm to 7 pm at the Linden Valley Arena. It's the Linden Elementary PTO presents the fifth annual Cougar Cub Horseless Rodeo, with 100% of the proceeds go to the teachers, and I just found out I've been added to the lineup. I'm going to be joining you guys starting at 4 o'clock at the Linden Valley Arena. You're going to surprise me with what I'm going to be doing. It could involve a chicken suit. It could involve riding a horse.
Speaker 4:It could involve a bronc, it could involve anything. How crazy do you want to get?
Speaker 1:Come on out and you will find out what they're going to have me do at the rodeo. I'm so excited and you have a lot of great sponsors that made this event happen. Do you want to give a shout out to some of the great sponsors that helped make this event happen?
Speaker 4:I do because without our sponsors this wouldn't happen. And what I do want to say is this was our local, our local community making this happen. None of the chains, they can't donate to these things. Um, so I? I mean, I have so many, I don't even know where to begin. We have 49 people alone that just did buckles. Our barrels got sponsored. Our dummy roping, our dummies got sponsored. I mean I hate like jill tinkle hatch, toyota integrity excavation, the roping company double j pipeline pyramid construction, acdc state. I mean I hate like Jill Tinkle Hatch, toyota Integrity Excavation, the Roping Company, double J, pipeline Pyramid Construction, acdc State Farm, karen Rubin and the Tinkles. The Tinkles donated a lot of extra buckles so we could provide a boy and a girl event. Cedar Valley Construction, white Mountain Law Group, mountain Motorsports, kgj Roofing. There's so many and I am so, so sorry that I can't name every one, but we do announce every single one at the rodeo, during the rodeo, in between, and we also make these little custom buckles with their logos on it oh heck yeah, they're pretty sick.
Speaker 4:They're out of cardboard but they look good. We highly try to advertise. We do thank you notes. We have Jonathan Austin. I don't know if you're familiar with his photography. He's done like pieces on the White Mountains and posted them on Facebook. But he's amazing and he's going to come donate his time and his knees that hurt him to come take shots for us.
Speaker 1:Oh, heck, yeah. And so if people just want to come and watch, what's the fee to just Spectators are free. Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you can come watch, but if you want to do the pony rides, carnival games, concessions or the events, then you pay for that. And this isn't a trophy event where everybody gets a trophy. This is a fundraiser for the teachers. It's a rodeo. You gotta earn it in rodeo and that's how this is. Heck yeah.
Speaker 1:Sweet. Check it out Saturday, september 6th, 4 pm to 7 pm at Linden Valley Arena and if you want to get more info or sign up, visit Linden Elementary's Facebook page and you'll see the flyer right there. Principal Deitering, what's your message for the teachers at Linden Elementary and the great people that are going to be donating and helping raise money for your teachers?
Speaker 3:I just want to say like I am so blessed to be at Linden Elementary School. We have an amazing community that backs us. I just can't believe every year how the community comes out and is there for us and my staff is amazing. They're there for the kids. They're going to volunteer their Saturday to be there for those kids to do this fun event and I will say our kids. They love competition.
Speaker 3:They are not trophy kids. They don't want like everybody gets a medal. They are. They are competing and they enjoy competing with each other and they have they have the greatest sportsmanship that I see. So I just want to tell the community thank you for everything you do. We appreciate you and my teachers. You're amazing and I love you. Heck, yeah, we appreciate you and my teachers. You're amazing and I love you heck.
Speaker 1:yeah, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you to all our teachers and our principals, especially those at linden elementary uh for uh taking care of our future and uh educating our, our students. And if you want to help these teachers and help linden elementary and have a good time, get your your butt out to Linden Valley Arena September 6th that's Saturday, 4 pm to 7 pm, and I'm going to be there in the beginning and who knows what's going to happen. It's going to be for a great cause. Melissa and Principal Deitering, thank you so much for your time and thank you for your efforts for this great event. Yeah, and you have anything else to say.
Speaker 4:I just want to say thank you to our PTO group Robin Garvin when I first started this, it was me buying everything, me doing it, and she wasn't even on the board and she sat with me at a camp and we just planned this out and made it happen Andrea Jeffries, alicia Brown, katie Waite, jane Wigman and Candice Hill and I know I'm forgetting one person- Katie Varga, katie, varga, katie.
Speaker 4:Varga. But they are incredible and we just have a team and this is a lot of work. It takes us six months to do this and they're amazing and without them we couldn't do that, but our teachers are amazing. Thank you, Linden. Elementary teachers.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah, check it out this Saturday, linden Valley Arena 4 pm to 7 pm.
