When Leah Stroot was a child growing up in Grand Forks, her parents regularly took her to events held at the Red River Valley Shows in Crookston – the Winter Shows, rodeos, horse show – which created fond memories for the family. Now, 13 years after the last public event was held in the building, she's living in Crookston and majoring in equine science at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. And she's excited about being part of an initiative to revitalize the facility into the Red River Valley Equestrian Center.
Stroot is one of several seniors and a couple of juniors in ADawn Melbye's Equine Management course at UMC who are diving into the RRV Equestrian Center project head first. She's also the only member of the class who was actually in the building while it was bustling with activity rather than collecting dust, storing large trucks and gradually deteriorating from non-use.
“The Winter Shows is one of the things that got me interested in all this,” said Stroot. “Being a city girl, I wasn't around livestock like cows, sheep, pig, etc., and found it intriguing. The shows got me to where I am today.”
Horse community
As Lannis Bergsgaard, a member of the Red River Valley Shows Building board and former agriculture teacher at Central High School, and Nicky Overgaard, equine science instructor at UMC, explained, they had been talking about making use of the building for quite some time. Then last fall, after Titan Machinery moved its equipment out, the RRVSB board started getting into more serious talks about uses for the building.
“There are so many students in the equine program at UMC who have nowhere to board their horses while attending school here,” said Overgaard. “This is the perfect place for it. The program gets bigger and bigger, and we get a lot more students coming here who want a viable option to keep horses, or they'll go elsewhere.”
Not stopping there, the brainstormers came up with the idea of creating a whole equine community.
“There's definitely a need,” she said. “This facility can host horse shows, clinics and things like that. We can make use of that building again for what it was intended for, educational and agricultural purposes. We want to reestablish our horse community, offering shows, training and boarding.”
Bergsgaard added that there is a demand for a quality horse boarding and riding facilities in this area. While UMC has the University Teaching and Outreach Center (UTOC) that houses several university-owned horses and hosts a number of mostly university-related events, it is not large enough to accommodate other needs.
“There is a need for a facility to hold competitions this far north,” said Overgaard. “The only one fairly close to here is at the Fargo racetrack, and that's kind of small and limited. There is a lot of interest north of here, but they have to travel a long way.”
She noted that while the equestrian center is not affiliated with UMC or funded by it – it is a subsidiary of the RRV Shows Association – faculty feel it will be an important asset to community and to the equine program. There are many opportunities to work together as well.
Bergsgaard said the center would be available for organizations and associations to rent for activities and meetings, and rattled off a list of possible uses, including competitions such as horseback riding lessons, family rides, cowboy-mounted shooting, archery, various 4-H activities, Boy Scouts activities, a shooting range, and hands-on opportunities for the new ag program offerings Crookston High School. There's also a push to reactivate the Agassiz Riders, a local equestrian club of which he was a member.
“We’re not going to be competitive with the Alerus Center or Fargodome,” said Overgaard. “But it's perfect for horses.”
The north side arena facility, a 120 x 275 foot building constructed in 1977, is being prepared for the center, and back barns will be used for stabling, said Bergsgaard. Work to repair damage from an arson fire last year should be done by April, which will allow them to proceed with more renovations.
The goal is to have the place ready for boarding this fall, but if financing and renovations come together quicker, it could be as early as summer, said Overgaard.
