After a small hiatus, the Rodeo City Riders Saddle Club have brought their annual trail ride back to life.
The trail ride had taken place in Northport for many years, however due to a change of land owners the trail ride stopped.
During the hiatus new members joined the club and talks began of moving the trail ride to a new place.
Tabitha Novitski, who has been a member of the Rodeo City Riders for a number of years, did not want the trail ride to end with Northport and started working on a plan for the new organized trail ride.
“Some of our other club members lived in the Symco area where they knew some of the landowners and had the opportunity to be able to ride in some of the woods that the ride would be going through,” Novitski said. “This is where the idea came from to move it to the Symco area due to the land being so beautiful and there is an endless opportunity in the area.”
Novitski said she began attending meetings at the Thresheree grounds back in February in order to gain permission to move the ride to the new location.
She then began going door-to-door in order to find a weekend that the landowners agreed on to have the ride.
Novitski then said the trail ride committee spent almost 10-hour days on numerous weekends clearing trails, cutting trees, talking to bar owners, the sheriff’s office and the state Department of Transportation.
“The Rodeo City Riders Saddle Club is very excited to see where this amazing opportunity will go and hope it grows in the future,” Novitski said. “We are so thankful to the Thresheree Club for the land to be able to camp in, and our land owners in the Symco area for opening up their land for us all to enjoy.”
Club members decided to call the event Riding into Symco, Novitski said it would be meaningful to add the small town of Symco into the branding of the event.
The trail ride was a two-day event, which happened over the previous weekend, with a 10-13 mile ride Sept. 20 and 6-8 mile ride Sept. 21.
Ava Johnson, Miss Teen Rodeo Wisconsin, and Ellie Pomrening, who is running for the Mid-Western Rodeo Queen in Manawa, were on hand to represent their titles and sell raffle tickets to support the Rodeo City Riders Drill Team.
Johnson said she has been involved with the Rodeo City Riders in the past as her sister was on the team.
Pomerening said she has been to clinics that the riders held.
They both agreed the amount of people who came out to help support the Rodeo City Riders on the trail ride has been amazing.
There was also entertainment at Boondocks Bar and Grill and Union Still Bar and Grill.
Money raised at this event will help to support events in the area as well as scholarships, the Rodeo City Riders Drill Team, HomeTown Hero’s Youth Drill Team, Manawa High School Rodeo and Miss Rodeo Wisconsin.
“We, as a club, are happy to be able to give back to our community as they support us as a club,” Novitski said.