The Honky Tonk Tailgate Party Tour, a package concert tour featuring three country music artists, will be featured at the fifth annual Cattlemen’s Ball of Nebraska. The ball will be held June 1 at the Benes Cattle Company located 25 miles northwest of Lincoln near Highway 79 and the town of Valparaiso.
The Honky Tonk Tailgate Tour is made up of three solo artists with very different styles. Daryle Singletary has deep country roots and sings traditional country tunes. Rhett Akins specializes in rowdy, up-tempo country music with a Southern rock flair. Wade Hayes has a talent for heartfelt country ballads. Each artist will perform for 30-minutes and then conclude the performance together.
Event activities include an art show, live auction, cowboy poetry and celebrity team penning. Staff members from the University of Nebraska Medical Center Eppley Cancer Center with the help of nurses from Nebraska Health System and the UNMC College of Nursing will provide free screenings for prostate and skin cancer.
The hosts of the 2002 Cattlemen’s Ball include Ermin and Delores Benes, Dan and Kathy Benes and their families. Chairpersons for the 2002 event are Dr. Elliott and Lynne Rustad of Lincoln.
Nearly the entire Valparaiso community has been involved with the ball planning, said Dan Benes, as cancer is a disease that touches just about every family. The Benes family is no exception. Kathy’s parents are both cancer survivors. Dan’s grandfather suffered and died with lung cancer, and his cousin passed away last fall with a brain tumor. In addition, 31-year-old Lyle Bouc of Valparaiso, a patient at the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, lost his battle with lymphoma earlier this month.
“Planning the Cattlemen’s Ball has been a lot more work than we anticipated, but we have had tremendous community support,” said Dan Benes. “If the Cattlemen’s Ball can save just one life because of our fund raising efforts, it will have been well worth the time spent.”
The Benes Family and the 2002 Cattlemen’s Ball Planning Committee are already at work with pre-ball fund raising efforts including the upcoming Nebraska Team Penning Event to be held April 6 in Lincoln at the Lancaster Event Center. Team penning is a timed sport in which three people herd three designated cattle in a pen. They hope to raise more than $2,000 for the Cattlemen’s Ball and the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center at this event.
The Cattlemen’s Ball is held each year to showcase rural Nebraska, promote beef in a healthy diet and to raise money for health care research. The UNMC Eppley Cancer Center in Omaha is the primary recipient of this fund raising effort with 90 percent of the proceeds going toward cancer research programs at Eppley. The remaining 10 percent of the funds raised stay in the local area and are used for health care activities.
The UNMC Eppley Cancer Center received $133,000 for cancer research from the 2001 Cattlemen’s Ball held at the Thacher Cattle Company near Valentine, Neb.
Invitations are not sent, as the event is completely open to the public. At the 2002 Cattlemen’s Ball, Top Hand ticket holders ($60) may attend Saturday afternoon and evening activities beginning at 1 p.m. Trailboss ticket holders ($250) receive a champagne reception, commemorative gift, Trailboss brunch and preferred seating for the evening dinner and concert.
Tickets are limited. For tickets, call 1-800-666-8071 or send a check to P.O. Box 181, Valparaiso, NE 68065.