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UNMC Eppley Cancer Center Director Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., speaks at the champagne brunch at the Cattlemen’s Ball. |
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Mud left by overnight rain didn’t stop the 3,600 people who attended the ball from enjoying the festivities. |
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Cattlemen’s Ball attendees wait to get cancer screenings. |
But when Mother Nature delivered more than three inches of rain to the Grand Island area in the wee hours of the morning on June 6, organizers of the 11th annual Cattlemen’s Ball of Nebraska weren’t smiling.
“The ball has never been rained out,” said Deanna Bosselman of Doniphan, one of the general chairs of this year’s ball. “With over 3,000 people attending, cancelling because of rain and mud isn’t an option.”
The Cattlemen’s Ball — a day-long festival that promotes beef as part of a healthy diet, showcases life in rural Nebraska and raises money for cancer research — takes place outdoors or under large tents.
The event has raised more than $3 million for cancer research at the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center since it started in 1999. It’s held on a different Nebraska ranch or feedlot each year.
This year’s event, with the theme, “Give Cancer the Boot!” was hosted by the Robb family of Doniphan and held on the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust in Doniphan, just outside of Grand Island.
By the time the day’s festivities started, the rain had stopped but had left the grounds muddy and soft.
To prepare for the 3,600 attendees, truckloads of mulch were brought in to the ball site and spread over the grounds. This made navigating the grounds easier so that attendees could enjoy everything the ball had to offer, including:
- A casino;
- An art show;
- A herding dog demonstration;
- A wine tasting featuring wines from Nebraska vineyards;
- A fashion show with local cancer survivors serving as the models, and
- A general store.
A beef dinner Saturday evening was followed by a concert by country singer Craig Morgan.
Free cancer screenings were provided for ball attendees by the Eppley Cancer Center and The Nebraska Medical Center.
Janice Rismiller, a three-year breast cancer survivor from Blair, Neb., stopped by the screening tent to fill out the questionnaire for the Breast Cancer Collaborative Registry — a Web-based registry that will allow researchers to study the factors that influence the risk of developing breast cancer.
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“If I can do anything to help further research, then I’m more than happy to do that,” Rismiller said.
In addition to the numerous live and silent auctions held throughout the day, a Famous Boots auction also took place. The auction featured cowboy boots autographed by celebrities including:
- Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett;
- Microsoft founder Bill Gates;
- Larry the Cable Guy; and
- Country music star Keith Urban.
Buffett’s boots sold for the highest price, at $2,700.
Singer Craig Morgan, who also signed a pair of boots, joined the auctioneer onstage during the auction and offered the winning bidder of his boots a meet and greet backstage.
Morgan also was a winner in the Famous Boots auction — he now owns the boots signed by Larry the Cable Guy that he won with a bid of $700.
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“The Eppley Cancer Center is extremely fortunate to have this relationship with the Cattlemen’s Ball of Nebraska,” said Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Eppley Cancer Center. “Each year the host community does an outstanding job, and the faculty and staff at the cancer center join me in thanking the committee members and the community of Doniphan for all of the very hard work that went into making this year’s ball such a success.”