East Helena Valley Rodeo runs on volunteers and community support
East Helena’s rodeo drew 2,500 to 3,000 spectators, but its real engine was the volunteers who built, ran and funded it.
Neighbors had been working the East Helena Valley Rodeo grounds all day, every day since Monday, long before the first ticket was scanned or a horse entered the arena. Association president Katie Bakke said the event depended on a 100 percent volunteer operation, and treasurer Rhonda Vogl called the week leading up to the rodeo hard work and a week of no sleep.
The East Helena Valley Rodeo Association dates the first event to 1963, when LeRoy Johnson leveled the land. George and Shirley Schiller’s flags caught electrical wires and ripped out the PA system, forcing Bruce Cornell to announce to the crowd without amplification.
The organization is now a nonprofit volunteer association with more than 30 committee members working year-round. In the late 1960s, VFW members and non-members formed the current association, and it filed a Certificate of Incorporation with the Montana Secretary of State in 1972. The group later redesigned and built a new arena.
It is part of the Northern Rodeo Association circuit, which sanctions about 40 rodeos each year in Montana, and the East Helena event typically draws 2,500 to 3,000 spectators. Once the gates open, around 100 volunteers help keep the program moving, from the grounds crew and bleacher setup to the signs and dirt work.
Profits from the annual July rodeo go toward upkeep of the buildings, arena and rodeo facility, plus scholarships for Helena High School Rodeo Team members and donations to community organizations. A benefit dinner in 2025 raised more than $3,500 for a new grandstand, and about 80 guests came from Helena, Augusta and Boulder. Kyle Simpson of Simpson Oil Field Services also helped the association buy a 650-seat grandstand, and the association would like to add another one in the future.
The rodeo moved to a new site in East Helena after leaving its longtime grounds, a shift Bakke called “bittersweet.” In the new location, more than 100 people and several businesses were involved in grounds preparation.
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