Ray White Rodeo delivers $20,655 boost to groups
From left, Nambour Community Foundation Board Director Sharna Grand-Court, Peter Clark, Bob Ward from Nambour Men’s Shed, Ray White Nambour’s Matt O’Grady, the Do It For Dolly crew and Tramco Chair Greg Rogerson.
Five community organisations have shared $20,655 following a record Ray White Nambour Rodeo that drew 4,415 people through the gates last month.
The donations were presented at the TramCo Rodeo Volunteer Evening at the Nambour Tram Terminus, where organisers thanked the volunteers, sponsors and supporters who helped deliver the event.
This year’s rodeo was the first overseen by the Nambour Tramway Company after Ray White Nambour principal Matt O’Grady handed over its organisation following five years at the helm.
TramCo director Peter Clark said Mr O’Grady had turned an idea born in 2020 into an annual national event.
“What started as a modest community event has grown into a fixture on the National Rodeo Circuit and over the past six years, Matt and his team have raised just under $360,000 and every single dollar of that has gone back into this community,” Mr Clark said. “While we feel a genuine civic duty to support our local community, we are also still working hard to raise the funds needed to complete the Tram. And as it turns out, a Rodeo is a pretty good way to do both.”
Mr O’Grady said this year’s crowd was almost 500 higher than the previous record, with visitors travelling from interstate and overseas.
“It’s an incredible achievement and obviously we were helped by the weather this year, which was great,” he said.
Mr O’Grady said recipients were chosen carefully, with an emphasis on organisations that put funds directly into local services and projects.
The donations were:
• Nambour Men’s Shed — $5,655, recognising its volunteers’ long-running work managing rodeo parking and its broader role supporting local men.
• Nambour Community Foundation — $5,000, to be distributed among smaller community organisations.
• Do It For Dolly — $5,000, supporting efforts against bullying and cyberbullying.
• The Shack — $2,500, for its work providing food, comfort and guidance to people doing it tough.
• 2nd Nambour Scout Group — $2,500 raised through its rodeo sausage sizzle.
“The Shack offers food, comfort, and direction to those doing it tough. Quietly, consistently, without fanfare,” Mr O’Grady said of Shack founders Dale and Donna Dowler, daughter Imogene and their volunteers.
The rodeo also remains a major fundraiser for TramCo as it works to complete Nambour’s long-awaited heritage tram.
“In closing – to every volunteer, every sponsor, every person who bought a ticket or worked a gate – thank you,” Mr O’Grady said.
“This Rodeo exists because of you, and so does everything we were able to give back tonight.”