Story by Buffalo Bill Rodeo Communications
North Platte, Neb. –June 8, 2026 – Pro rodeo is a professional sport, with $24 million in payouts to rodeo athletes across the nation.
Yet nearly every one of the 700 PRCA rodeos in the nation is a stand-alone event, produced in its community with a group of local volunteers who give of their time, with no pay, because they love the sport.
It’s a labor of love for them, who spend hundreds of hours preparing for and producing the event. And they often spend their own money and use their own resources to do it.
In North Platte, at the Buffalo Bill Rodeo, a group of 13 rodeo committee members work to put on a rodeo that includes more than 500 cowboy and cowgirl competitors, draws 13,000 in attendance and has an economic impact of $21 million (including all NebraskalandDays events) in the area.
For those volunteers, they do anything and everything that needs to be done.
The Buffalo Bill Rodeo is one of the NebraskalandDays events, so the NebraskalandDays staff takes care of ticketing, insurance, security, concessions, and some of the arena upkeep.
For the rodeo committee members, everything else is their duty: contracting and hiring announcers, acts, and other personnel, painting, repairing chutes, panels, and pens, digging post holes, cleaning office areas, renting out stadium seats, organizing auxiliary events like the rodeo’s media party and picnic, and more.
Dr. Shawn Murdock is the last person anyone would think of as rodeo material, but he’s a rodeo committee member and loves it.
Murdock helps with renting the stadium seats, and during the event, helps sort and pen calves and steers for competition.
He estimates during the off months, volunteers spend about five hours a month on rodeo duties including their monthly meetings. During rodeo week, it’s from morning till night, going well after the rodeo ends.
“It takes a lot of team work and a lot of time,” he said.
The rodeo is carefully planned.
“It’s not put together haphazardly,” Murdock said. “It’s well thought out. Our goal is to have the best show we can, for the audience.”
Heather Harwager, an insurance agent, joined the committee last year. Her duties include organizing and cleaning. She helps another volunteer, Cindy Swanson, organize the rodeo queens and the sponsor flags they carry during the grand entry. She also helps clean the offices and crow’s nest for the announcers, rodeo secretary, media, and other officials.
A former rodeo contestant whose children competed, Harwager likes to help grow the sport that she loves.
Shelli Arensdorf has served on the committee since 2005. A former contestant herself, whose children also competed, she helps with arena maintenance, announces slack, organizes, cooks and coordinates the media party and committee picnic, and does anything that needs to be done. She began volunteering with the rodeo in 1993.
The longest serving person on the committee is Jerry Woodruff, DVM. He joined in 1990, fourteen years after moving to North Platte.
“We give our labor for the good of the cause,” Woodruff said.
He enjoys seeing the mix of committee members, who bring a variety of talents to the group. From insurance agency owners to doctors, bankers, and business managers, everyone has a skill that is useful to the rodeo, Woodruff said.
“Folks with different talents, different abilities and different visions can be really good for the event,” he said. “No one person is above the rodeo. Everyone has a hand in it, and all those talents come together for the common good.”
The committee men and women get along well, Woodruff said, which makes the volunteer work more enjoyable.
“This team works very, very well together,” he said.
Volunteering is worth it, Harwager said.
“A lot of good comes from it. You get a sense of satisfaction, knowing you were involved in something for your community, that helps it grow the sport you have always loved.
“That’s the volunteering, giving back. It’s so well worth it.”
This year’s Buffalo Bill Rodeo committee members include Murdock, Harwager, Arensdorf and Woodruff, along with Levi Fisher, Justin Thompson, Jeff White, Jerry Thompson, Ben Lashley, Todd Ballentine, John Tucker, Judd Hill and Kylee Hall.
The Buffalo Bill Rodeo will take place at the Wild West Arena in North Platte June 17-20. Performances begin at 7:30 pm each night.
Tickets range in price from $11-$26 and can be purchased online at NebraskalandDays.com, at the NebraskalandDays office, and at the gate.
For more information and a complete schedule of NebraskalandDays events, visit the website or call the office at 308.532.7939.