Volume II -- Issue 12

The Quick Lineup...

Letter from the President
IGRA Convention
New Membership Chair
Monthly Trail ride
December Birthdays
Membership Discounts at local retailers

Letter From The President

Howdy gang and Happy Holidays,
I can not believe its December already and the end of the year. We are now only 6 months away from Stampeding into History with our inaugural rodeo. Our team is working overtime trying to get ready. We are going to need a ton of volunteers to help so if you are feeling generous this holiday season please drop us a note and trust me.. we will have a position for you!!
Speaking of positions, I have recently been appointed a Director on the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus. This is quite the honor for myself and our rodeo association. My voice will be the voice of the 200+ members of LGRA. This is not the only voice that I have for our association. I am also a member of the Police Comissioner's GLBT Civilian Liaison Committee representing our assocation. The work this group does is behind the scenes but critical to our section of downtown. If you ever have any issues or major problems within the boundaries of Philadelphia that you feel are glbt related please feel free to drop me a email and I can forward it to the proper authorites.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. I look forward to seeing many of you soon.

IGRA Convention - Ernie Bowers

Hey everyone! I hope your Thanksgiving was joyful and memorable. I wanted to give a little recap about IGRA’s convention earlier this past month in Kansas City, Missouri. First off, I’d like to thank the people in MGRA for being such great hosts. It made up for watching scores of people walking to the Garth Brooks concert blocks away that I couldn’t see! But there was a lot to do otherwise, beginning with Board of Director’s meeting on Thursday. There we chose the new poster for IGRA Finals for Denver for next year, as well as go over a new travel marketing site that will be introduced shortly. Also, we approved the rest of the rodeo applications for next year, and chose the locations for the next years IGRA board meetings – IGRA University in Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Chicago, and Convention (which would be decided where at convention this year on Sunday).

On Friday Jen (our president), Chris (our Secretary), myself, and two of our members, Tom Zimmerman and Marcel Pajuelo-Schwartz, attended various small committee meetings where proposals to changes in rodeo rules, by-laws, and IGRA functions get ironed out. Like Congress. With a lot of coffee breaks. There was a proposal to remove Steer Deco as a required event, but thankfully that was shot down, since that is a real crowd-pleaser and gateway for a lot of contestants to enter into rodeo events.

On Saturday all these proposals that made it through their various committees get voted on on the convention floor, but first, two new Associations were seated: the Louisana Gay Rodeo Assocation based out of New Orleans, and the Capital Crossroads Gay Rodeo Association out of Sacremento, California. I welcome them to IGRA, even though many of them have been part of IGRA for years through the California group (and Wes and Jeff make great cheerleaders!). One of the biggest changes made on Sunday was moving IGRA’s Royalty competition to convention (it used to be Finals weekend), while IGRA’s dance Finals (which were at convention) will be held next at February 2009’s IGRA University.

After the convention ended, I had already had to leave for my plane back East, but Jeff ably attended the Board of Directors meeting in my stead (thanks, Jeffie!). At that meeting, I was honored to have been elected Chairman for our Division, which includes DC, Toronto, Chicago, Minnesota, Michigan, and Florida.

I want to thank everyone who attended convention, and especially Tom, who took the time to come and learn “the ropes”. He really was a great help, and I really appreciate it.

The first Liberty Stampede is quickly approaching, get in on your mind! We are looking for volunteers to help put on the best show this side of the Mississippi! If you think you’d like to help, but don’t know how, please by all means get ahold of one of us by email (mine’s trustee@libertygra.org) or see us out and about…(and if you know anything about marketing, PLEASE get ahold of us!)

Let’s Rodeo

Ernie Bowers

Trustee, LGRA

Santa Saturday

New Membership Chair - Aubrey Davis

Hi, I’m Aubrey Davis. I just wanted to write a small note to say that I was voted in November 14, 2007 as the new Membership Chair for LGRA. I am honored to be a part of this community as a member of the LGRA Board.

I am country person at heart. I was born in South Texas and have lived in Philadelphia for over 5 years now. I was a member of the gay rodeo in Denver, Colorado and had a lot of fun doing it.

I will do my best to make sure any questions or thoughts are heard and taken into consideration, so please send them my way.

Take care and have a wonderful holiday season and hope to see you at the next rodeo event.

Sincerely,
Aubrey Davis
Membership Chair

Trail Ride - Jeff Bolognese

The next trail ride will be Sunday, January 6, 2008 at 11:00AM. (Reservations are now closed for the November Trail Ride) We will be riding once again at Sheeder Mill Farm, 12 Sheeder Mill Rd, Spring City, PA 19475. For more information about their farm, visit their web site at http://www.smfhorses.com/.

To RSVP now, you can send an email to Jeff Bolognese.

UPCOMING EVENTS

December Birthdays
LGRA wants to wish the following a special birthday wish:

Shane Duncan
Ron Emrich
Joseph Dumpert
Tracey Slough
Dwayne Orrison
Stacey Franklin
Stephen Watrobski
Brant Casey
Brett Hollis
Jade Meskunas

Join the LGRA Yahoo Group

It has come to my attention that this "yahoo box" may not be functioning properly. If anyone else has a problem please let me know. In the meantime if you are having problems please just cut and paste the following to join the group.

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/LibertyGRA/