2012 Issue 5 - Wild Pink Yonder

The Pony Express
The 2012 Alberta Tour:
Aug 10 – Sept 1
Cypress Hills
to
Whitemud Equine
Learning Centre,
Edmonton
Painting the west pink ... one town at a time.
June 2012
Volume 2, Issue 5
Alberta Mounted Shooters Compete
for Two Days at Trail’s End
Horses running flat out. Steely eyed
riders with 6-shooters blazing. Blam!
Blam! Blam!
This year, we’re proud to add the Alberta
Mounted Shooters to the entertainment
at Trail’s End. This won’t be some little
“demonstration”. Oh, no! This will be a
full-blown shooters’ competition!
There will be competitors from all over
the province and they are stoked!
This will be exciting entertainment to
watch!
How Pink Towns are Judged
In the very beginning, Rusty and I
decided that we should not be the ones
who judge the towns we visit. Our
reasoning is that we develop really nice
relationships with some of the towns, and
lesser relationships with some others. If
we were judges, it stands to reason that
we’d be biased, and we really don’t want
that. We want everyone to know that this
is a fair and square competition.
The categories a town are judged on are:
So, before we head out on tour, we
conscript three Longriders to judge the
towns. They are the ones who the towns
must impress. They get taken on tours
and are given photos and albums and
anything else a town wants them to see
to show their pinkification efforts.
5. How much community spirit is there?
If you could have seen our 2011
Pinkification Judges in action, you’d be
impressed. Every evening before going
to bed, they’d meet off in a corner by
themselves and hammer out the
numbers for the town they just visited.
1. How much pink is there around the
town?
2. How much effort did the decorating
take?
3. How much creativity was involved?
4. How much effort did the volunteer
committee put in?
6. How were the horse
accommodations?
7. How much effort went into creature
comfort for the riders?
Each category is worth 5 points for a
possible total of 35. Judges can use
decimals (ie 5.2).
Page 2 of 3
Prize Saddles Look Great!
As we told you before, Welsh’s Saddlery
& Western Wear has signed on as one of
our sponsors.
The Rider of the Wild Pink Yonder who
raises the most money overall will take
home this beautiful saddle. There will be
a draw for a similar one, but of darker
leather. Each package value: $2,000+
Those Amazing Riders of the Wild Pink Yonder
We knew Peggy Steffen enjoyed her
time as a Longrider in 2011, but we had
no idea how much. And we had no idea
of her generosity.
It seems Peggy enjoyed those evenings
when we sat around a campfire the best
... and she especially enjoyed those
occasions when we sang because
someone had thought to throw their
guitar in the back of their truck.
better home for this particular guitar!
Thank you so very much, Peggy
Steffen.
Now ... who’s going to play it?
So Peggy went to work over the winter.
She searched high and low and finally
found a gift that she wanted to give to
Wild Pink Yonder.
Isn’t it beautiful? I cannot imagine a
Horses All Magazine Likes Us!
Horses All magazine says that there are
ten great charity trail rides that a person
might want to attend in Alberta this year.
“Bring your own horse, raise some
money, have some fun” is what they had
to say.
They also said that Wild Pink Yonder
was one of those great rides. We are
pleased as punch to be ranked up there
with rides put on by organizations much
bigger than ours!
Page 3 of 3
Looking for Ideas to Raise Pledges?
Over the last few years, we’ve seen a
number of innovative fundraising ideas,
and we thought it might be timely to
share them now.
Box 97
Lamont, Alberta
T0B 2R0
Canada
Phone:
(780) 363-0003
Fax:
(780) 363-0004
E-Mail:
[email protected]
1. Tell a company that if they’ll sponsor
you (for $500?), you’ll wear their ball cap
or T-shirt with logos.
2. Purchase a roll of pink fabric ribbon
from a fabric store and sell 24” lengths of
it that people can sign or put a message
on with the understanding that you will tie
that piece of ribbon into your horse’s
mane or tail for the duration of your ride.
3. Do a hamburger/hot dog sale in front
of your local Peavey Mart or other store.
(Usually these businesses have a barbe-cue that you can borrow. Then you
get another store to donate a box of
burger patties and buns.
4. Offer to put a company’s logo on the
side of your truck and/or trailer. (A
magnet logo or a stock-on that peels off
easily.)
On the trail
to a cure.
5. Offer to put a company’s logo on a
pink banner that you drape across your
horse’s butt for parades. (We parade
down main street in many towns we
visit.)
6. For a minimum donation of $400, you
can get a company’s brochure or sales
catalogue into the welcome bag for every
person who rides the Wild Pink Yonder
trail this year. (WPY retains the right of
refusal, in case it conflicts with one of our
major sponsors.)
7. Organize a Pink-a-Palooza. This
could be a ride at a local trail or a
competition at a local arena. Folks pay
to come along and possibly win pink
prizes that we will provide for you.
8. Contact Cindy Houghton
([email protected]) and have
her put on a horse first-aid course at your
place. Advertise it all over your
neighbourhood, on Kijiji and on the Wild
Pink Yonder Facebook page. Once her
costs are covered, the rest of the money
is yours to fund your ride.
9. Have a garage sale.
10. Find a busy intersection (with a
traffic light) and have a team of your
friends help you wash car windows as
people drive through. (This can be
VERY lucrative. Just ask the Town of
Sundre!)
11. Talk to your local gas station and
ask if you can set up a bottle collection
bin there.
12. Do a door-to-door bottle drive of
your own.
13. Have a bake sale at work.
14. Have a car wash at your local gas
station.
15. Rent a cotton candy machine and
sell cotton candy at local events.
16. Have personalized fortune cookies
made and sell them. They’re cheaper
than you think!
(www.fortunecookiescanada.com)
About Our Organization…
Wild Pink Yonder Charitable Society is a not-for-profit organization that raises money
for breast cancer research. In Alberta we fund Alberta Cancer Foundation (ACF).
Pinkest Little Town in the West is a contest that is hosted by Wild Pink Yonder. The
winning town is the one that raises the most money (per capita) for Wild Pink Yonder
and that, quite literally, turns itself the pinkest. Our winner receives a free music
concert plus bragging rights in the form of two 7’6” x 3’6” highway signs that proclaim
that town to be the Pinkest Little Town that year.
In the fall of 2011 Wild Pink Yonder launched a second ride and contest -- in Manitoba.
Funds raised there was used for breast cancer research as directed by Cancer Care
Manitoba. The ride there will recommence in 2013, as it has become necessary to reinvent ourselves there.