20th Annual IFYR Entries Off And Running
By Mike McCormick IFYR Media Director
Pre-entries for the world’s richest youth rodeo officially opened April 1 on the website of the International Finals Youth Rodeo, and plans are under way to help celebrate and commemorate the 20th consecutive year.
Contestants planning to compete in this year’s IFYR should go to
www.IFYR.com to enter. The total purse consists of more than $200,000 in prize money, along with awards for the champions. Mike Jackson, operations director of the Expo Center in Shawnee, is also the rodeo coordinator. Jackson said the championship buckles and saddles will include on them a special 20th IFYR logo which will be used for this year only. Although pre-entries officially April 1, Jackson said “we had countless calls from contestants prior to that.” Last year, there were 925 who competed, the largest number ever, and Jackson said he would like to see more this year. There are 16 teams which already have sent in information and the Expo staff has sent back packets back to them as needed, he noted. Gordona Rowell, executive director of the Shawnee Convention & Visitors Bureau, said this year’s welcome bags for the contestants will have the IFYR20 logo on one side, and the CVB logo on the other, to help commemorate the 20th year. Special activities in conjunction with the 20th year are being planned, Rowell said. Suzanne Gilbert is special events coordinator for the IFYR. She said “we are making plans, but nothing is in concrete yet.
“We will have one night which is really about the volunteers, sponsors and rodeo personnel who have been a part of the IFYR all 20 years,” she said. More details will be
forthcoming, she added.
This year’s IFYR is scheduled for July 8-13 at the Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center with the first performance on Sunday night. It’s the second time in the history
WWW.COWBOYSPORTSNEWS.COM Cowboy Sports News Page 15 - May 2012
of the IFYR the opening performance will be on a Sunday evening, and the concluding short go will be held again on Friday night.
Last year was the first time in the history of the event, which originated in 1993, that the first performance was held on Sunday night with the finals on Friday night.
Check-in for this year’s IFYR will begin at 8 a.m. on Friday, July 6, and run
continuously through noon, Sunday July 8. Jackson said that noon July 8 is the deadline for check-in since the first performance will be that night beginning at 8 p.m.
Monday through Friday there will be two performances daily beginning at 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Jackson said construction of parking lots and upgrading of electrical facilities is moving along.
He anticipates the initial phase of the parking lot improvements to be completed within a couple of weeks or so. The next phase will then start, and
he said that will be the area next to the Otto Krausse arena and south of the conference center. “We’ll have them start at the south end, then move to the north end,” Jackson said, adding “they will do that lot one-half at a time.” Electrical work in the 184-unit RV park which is west, northwest and north of the arena and covered grandstand could be completed by May or so, Jackson stated.
In the RV area nearest Independence along the main entry way to the Expo Center, “all that OGE has to do is plug in their meter,” he said.
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