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SIERRA VISTA — Frontier Days, a full-fledged fair with a carnival, professional entertainers, vendors and Women’s Professional Rodeo, will be returning to Sierra Vista next year.
The event, which debuted last April, is a benefit for Cochise County Workforce Development. Next year’s fair is slated for April 3-5, and will be held at the new Sierra Vista Riding Club grounds, 575 Guilio Cesare Ave.
With an office in Sierra Vista, Workforce Development is a nonprofit, federally funded corporation run by a board of directors. It provides a wide array of free services to Cochise County residents who are looking for jobs through resume writing workshops, interviewing tips, computer training, career development information, job-search resources and much more.
Businesses often turn to Workforce Development’s pool of potential employees when searching for people with specific job skills. For businesses, Workforce Development offers training and retraining, a business center to meet and interview applicants, as well as a temporary satellite office with access to computers, printer, copier, phones, fax and assistance.
 A young rodeo competitor watches the amusement rides during the Frontier Days festivities in Sierra Vista in April. The event is scheduled to return next April. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
“One hundred percent of the money raised at this fundraiser will stay in the county and will go toward training people for ‘in demand’ occupations,” said Vada Phelps, executive director of Workforce Development. “Examples of in demand jobs include positions in the medical field, truck drivers, information technology and technical writing.”
At one time Workforce Development trained up to 400 people a year, Phelps said. But federal funding cuts have caused the organization to scale its training services back to less than a 100 a year.
“We also help with supportive services, like gas to get back and forth to school, tools, day care, books and uniforms,” Phelps added. “When people come to us needing training, but don’t have the money for the schooling, we do what we can to help them. If we don’t have the funding, we look for grants and other funding sources.”
Because of the drastic funding cuts, some of Workforce Development’s programs and services could be in jeopardy. Wanting to keep as many programs as possible, the organization’s board of directors decided to come up with a fundraising event, something they hoped would grow each year.
Frontier Days was organized, with the Women’s Professional Rodeo as an anchor event for the fair.
Despite losing money in its debut year, Workforce Development decided to bring Frontier Days back, giving it another shot in 2009.
“For a ‘first-time-ever’ event, many of the participants believe it has tremendous potential,” said Jack Bauer, who serves on the Workforce Development board and was the brainchild behind the event.
When Frontier Days returns next year, the fair will have an additional exposure leg-up from the Women’s Professional Rodeo.
Frontier Days runs immediately behind another Women’s Professional Rodeo Association event in Queen Creek, called Fiesta Days. The two events are featured in Rodeo News, a publication with articles written by nationally renown rodeo competitor, Jolee Lautaret, who was one of the big money winners in Frontier Days last April. In addition to the boost in publicity, the fair will have new features on its list of events and entertainment, with hopes of drawing more spectators.
“We’re planning to add an ethnic tent next year,” Bauer said. “With the ethnic diversity we have in this community, we thought it would be a nice touch to feature some of the ethnic groups.”
Bauer is hoping the groups will showcase native customs, dress, dancing, music and food. His vision is to have different ethnic groups each day of the fair.
Another idea Bauer is considering, is to hold a rodeo queen contest earlier in the year, which would give Frontier Days its own queen and court. Queens and princesses representing other rodeos throughout the state were invited to appear in the event last April, creating a spectacular show by riding under spotlights during the rodeo’s grand entry on opening night.
Along with the rodeo, crowds were dazzled by breath-taking horseback riding stunts performed by the Riata Ranch Cowboy Girls, a group of young ladies from a trick riding and roping school out of Southern California.
“The Magic of Michael and Billie DeShalit,” an illusion act that performed several times during the fair’s three days, was another crowd-pleaser.
“We got very good feedback from the community, so we’re hoping to bring some of these performers back next year,” Bauer said. “We’ve got a lot of ideas about how to do things differently and are planning to add more to this event next year. We’ve had great community support, which is key to the success of something like this.”
REPORTER Dana Cole can be reached at 515-4618 or by e-mail at dana.cole@svherald.com.
Citizen wrote on Aug 27, 2008 8:49 AM: