Welcome to the Pioneer Posse's Web Site

Pioneer Posse Board Meeting  March 2, 2010

Just a few of the items discussed at the meeting.....

WORK DAYS Set:

Please mark your calendars! Sunday March 21st AND April 17th have been designated as work days out at the Posse grounds. We will start at 9:00 am Sharp on both days! All members are encouraged to attend at least one of the days to help with spring clean-up! We ask that you bring rakes, shovels, weed eaters, trash bags, paint brushes and rollers, old rags and cleaners along with misc. hand tools. We will send out reminder post cards to all members! Everyone's help with this endeavor would be greatly appreciated! As always....lunch will be provided!

Dates Set for the Summer Series, the Mini Series and the Fall Series:

Please mark your calendars!

Summer Series Dates are as follows:

Wed. May 26th: Annual Tune-Up Night

Wed. June 2nd; Wed. June 9th; Wed. June 16th; Wed. June 23rd and Wed. June 30th

Mini Series Dates are as follows:

Wed. July 28th; Aug. 4th and Wed. Aug. 11th

Fall Series Dates are as follows:

Sun. Sept. 26th; Sun. Oct. 10th and Sun. Oct. 17th

* New this year for each series: We have taken away the $1 "timer fee", but added a $3 "office charge". This will be for each person, each series night with a $10 maximum for a family. It is NOT per event, it is per person. Remember.....only $10 maximum per family!

Starting April 5th through the Walla Walla Fair: The Wagonettes and Crossfire have the Posse Arena reserved EACH MONDAY evening from 6pm to 7:30pm

Starting in April, the arena will be worked on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

April 3rd: Pre-Parade.....Parade in Prescott. Watch the Web Site for more details!

High School Rodeo: At the Posse Grounds! April 24th and 25th! (make plans to attend!)

College Rodeo: At the Posse Grounds! May 1st and 2nd! (make plans to attend!)

* Please shop our Sponsors! We appreciate their help!

2010 Milton Freewater Chamber Awards Banquet

The Posse Court served at the Milton Freewater Chamber Awards banquet on Feb. 18th. The theme for the banquet was "Western Stars Round them up" so the Posse Court fit right in. Queen Amanda and Princesses Mackenzie and Taylor interacted with the crowd while serving coffee, water and punch to 200 people. Posse Moms Pam Widner and Kelly Skramstad served the evening cake dessert. Court advisors Debbie Scudder and Chris Wallace were official busboys and gophers. The Court was introduced and thanked for their support and promotion of Milton Freewater. (photos courtesy of our still great photographer, Cindy Humbert Granger)

Alicia Munk, 2009 Posse Princess was awarded the Youth of the Year Award by the Chamber of Commerce at the banquet. She did us proud!!!

Sunday, February 28th the Court will be attending the Columbia County Fair afternoon dessert coronation and on March 4th the Court will attend the Walla Walla Fair 2010 Showcase to watch Brittney Granger, who was our 2009 Queen, - Chris W.

THANK YOU

THANK YOU to The Riata & Rowels 4-H Club for helping with clean-up at the annual banquet!

Pioneer Posse Board Meeting

The next Posse Board Meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 2 at 7:00pm at the Holiday Inn Express on Pine Street in Walla Walla. All Pioneer Posse members are always invited to attend.

President's Letter.....

From President, Randy Grudzinski…

Dear Members:

I have served as your President for 3 years. I was convinced to take this roll at the persuasion of Ron Ackerman who wanted a much deserved break. The Posse is a great organization with many people who have worked tiredlessly over the last 62 years. Many members have donated much time and effort, tools, equipment and cash over the years. Since becoming your President, I have always believed the least we could do is preserve and maintain the efforts of those who came and made sacrifices before us. Arenas, even in rural communities like ours are being squeezed out and closed due to development, regulations and cost of insurance and operating. My goals three years ago was to sustain and improve The Posse by 1) obtaining a new tractor to adequately work the arena so we could continue to have and enhance the events at the grounds. Although there were plenty of objections, we accomplished this 2) Continue Ron Ackerman’s direction in improving the arena by adding more sand and screening the rocks out of the arena. Improve the overall condition and maintenance of the grounds. 3) Improve relations with the Valley Girls Racing Association and the Jr. Showgrounds. 4) Create additional sources of revenue for The Posse other than just the Cook Shack. In my opinion, this was putting too much reliance on the Cook Shack to provide most of the revenue for The Posse. 5) Create additional income through added value and support to our sponsors. 6) Create additional income through modest increases in member dues and event fees. 7) ask new Board members to give a statement of why they want to serve on the board and make sure they are willing to take on projects and to show up for board meetings as well as I have asked existing board members to take on more responsibilities 8) to ensure that everyone who uses the arena realize how important it is to pay your dues (we had numerous people using the grounds who were not current members which created a few problems, i.e. insurance issues, lack of funding for projects and not accurate counts for sponsor information. 9) increase the turnout for work days and increase volunteer help on series nights.

Please click the "read more" link below to read the rest of the letter!

Attn. Members!

The following are some of our recent confirmations of Pioneer Posse Arena use which include Dates and Events:

High School Rodeo: April 24-25 (Revised Date)

College Rodeo: May 1st & 2nd

Junior Show Horse Show : May 8th

Pioneer Posse & VGBRA Barrel Race: May 15

Tuesday Night Barrel Races: June 1, 15, July 13, 27, August 10 & 24

Harder Horse Show: June19

Pegasus Patrol Horse Show: June 20

2010 Tune-Up Night: TBA.....soon

2010 Summer Series: TBA.....soon

2010 Mini Series: TBA......soon

2010 Fall Series: TBA.......soon

Prescott Pre-Parade...Parade

Attention ALL Pioneer Posse Members!

What has become an annual event will take place on Saturday, April 3rd in Prescott, Wa. All Posse members are invited and encouraged to attend and participate in what has become known as "The Pre-Parade...Parade". This is a fun and informal time to get together and parade around the beautiful city of Prescott, Wa! There will be a potluck barbecue. You do not need a horse to come out and have fun....All members are always invited to attend all the different parades our Posse Court rides in and ride as the "Posse Outriders"! Come on out and have some fun and also get more information on becoming a "Posse Outrider"! You are ALL welcome! Please watch the Web Site for more information....

We will meet at Gary and Sherri Choate's home in Prescott at 11 a.m. A potluck lunch will be at noon and we will parade right afterwards.

2010 Annual Meeting

2010Court Well...... the 2010 Milton-Freewater Pioneer Posse Annual Dinner, Meeting and Posse Court Coronation was a big success! We had about 220 people attend. Chris Scudder and crew did an excellent job with dinner which consisted of Tri-Tip, Roasted Potatos, Baked Beans and Baked Chicken along with an array of scrumptious food our wonderful members brought! The ice cream sundae bar was also a big hit with young and old alike! The coronation was real nice with Amanda Quintel crowned Queen for this year along with Taylor Skramstad and Mackenzie Widner being crowned the two princesse's. Their outfits for "greeting" were adorable blouses with zebra and leopard print on top of black and torquoise colors worn over black skirts with COOL black boots with purple and torquoise designs with of course ...bling-bling! They were crowned in their Parade blouses which were absolutely beautiful! Queen Amanda's mother, Kathy handmade them all, complete with beautiful beading and lots of fringe! Chris Wallace, Kathy Narum and Debbie Scudder have all done an outstanding job in dressing the court and getting them all ready for their "Big Night!"

Representatives for the City of Milton-Freewater along with City Council Members were in attendance and presented the court with a check for $1500.00. A raffle was held for some very nice appliances which Greta Hassler won....she chose the fridg.The Live and Silent Auctions did very well, along with the raffle and the check from the City....we hear it all raised close to $10,000.00....a record! The membership held the annual elections with Randy Grudzinski retaining his seat as President; Nancy Grudzinski retaining her seat as Vice President and Tina Shroeder retaining her seat as Treasurer. Miriam Grant was elected Secretary and Board Members elected were Hans Shroeder, Marc Mauiri, Jody Bloomberg and Kristy Frank. Tina Shroeder did a good job of reading the Treasurer's report at the meeting. It was voted upon by the general membership to have a plaque made dedicating the Cook Shack to Joyce and Virgel Ammons along with Babe and Wayne Skramstad for all of their hard work in constructing it.Bordertown announced they would again be The Posse's Title Sponsor this year along with presenting the new court with very nice purple horse blankets to be used for the parades. Thank you Barb & Gene! The Board had a table set-up with special cards for all of the Sponsors in which all the members could sign, thanking them all. The band Froghollow played a little bit during dinner and then after dinner until everyone left. Chirs Wallace had the ride of her life out on the dance floor and Ed wasn't even there....if you see Chris, ask her about it! The Posse Board would like to Thank everyone for all of your hard work in putting together and pulling this annual banquet off! Also, a BIG Thank you to all of the parents of the past and present Courts! It's alot of work, but you'll look back someday and be glad you did all that you did for your daughters! Reflecting back on this night....I can't help but think how everything from this special evening will be forever etched in so many young children's minds! Could you imagine attending an event like this when you were a kid? How awesome! Oh! The memories! Oh! The Posse! We are FAMILY!~

In the memory of Virgel Ammons and Dick Monahan

A BIG Heartfelt Thank You to the following people who gave so generously to

The Milton-Freewater Pioneer Posse in the memory of Virgel Ammons and Dick Monahan:

* Patricia Sorey * Betty & Michael Lusk * Sharon Hall *

* Arminta & Don Rhodes * Charmaine & Klova Beck *

* John & Cathy Thompson *

We Want YOU!

We Want YOU! The Pioneer Posse Board has some openings. We are a working board and each board member is assigned certain tasks and jobs. We would love to welcome aboard some fresh, new, hard working people. If you or someone you know might be interested please let us know prior to the annual meeting. Please phone Randy Grudzinski @ 509.520.9099 with any questions or of your intent to run for the board.