The Philomath Frolic and Rodeo’s new board president, Alyssa Lewis, may have only become involved in a prominent way with the organization over the past 17 months but she does have a lifelong association with the beloved local celebration.
During the summer of 1989, George and Christy Miller were among those in attendance at the rodeo with their infant daughter in tow. Eighteen years later, about a month after graduating with Philomath High’s Class of 2007, she was crowned Frolic and Rodeo queen for a reign to begin the following calendar year.
Now, it’s 17 years later and Lewis again finds herself in the organization’s spotlight with a seat at the head of the table as president of the board of directors.
“I’ve come to the Frolic my entire life — I never missed a rodeo,” Lewis said. “So I was really excited to have the opportunity to be on the board.”
Lewis, 35, said the rodeo queen opportunity had a lasting impact.
“It was a huge privilege and it really helped me grow individually and professionally,” Lewis said. “It helped me be a lot more outgoing, not be so afraid to talk to people and helped me want to be more involved in my community.”
Lewis works for Citizens Bank, which stresses community involvement, and that led to leadership positions with the Philomath Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Naturally, I found other avenues to really be a part of the community,” she said. “When this came open, it was like ‘absolutely,’ I was so excited.”
Lewis initially became involved with the Frolic’s board of directors in October 2022. Thirteen months later, she was elected vice president of program management, a position that she will continue to hold through the rest of this year while also taking care of board president responsibilities.
Darrell Hinchberger, 70, had served as board president since 2018.
“She’s going to be great,” Hinchberger said about Lewis. “She’s really stepped up and does a lot for the Frolic, especially during the organizational time so she’ll be a good hand to have.”
Lewis becomes the second woman in recent months to be named to a major rodeo’s lead position. This past November, the Pendleton Round-Up elected Tiah DeGrofft as its president for the 2024 rodeo. The Round-Up, which dates back to 1910, previously only had men in the leadership position all of those years.
“I think women in rodeo is becoming more of a prominent thing,” Lewis said. “It’s really neat to see, you know, this shift in leadership roles and that women are becoming more involved in these board positions within rodeos that have been traditionally a male-dominated role.”
Hinchberger’s relationship with the Frolic has been mostly a lifetime affair. He was the organization’s first vice president back in the early 1980s “when Hazel Lamberty and Inez Marstall and that group of people decided that they wanted to have a rodeo” and continued off and on over the next three-plus decades.
During Hinchberger’s five years, Philomath Frolic and Rodeo worked through a pandemic-related shutdown, the loss of a grandstands section 10 days before the rodeo and the launch of an arena project to modernize an aging facility.
“Right now, the Frolic is as good as it’s ever been,” Hinchberger said. “That’s because of the customers that come to our rodeo with sellouts on both Friday and Saturday nights every year. … It’s really grown.”
The impacts of the COVID pandemic hit all aspects of day-to-day life, including large public events like the Frolic. In 2020 when state-imposed restrictions wouldn’t allow the celebration to go on, the Frolic board was still able to provide the annual fireworks show.
“The thing that we kept coming up with is keep doing something,” Hinchberger said. “When it benefits the community — that’s what the Frolic is all about.”
In June 2022, a fire broke out under the grandstands after a worker had cleared weeds using a propane torch. Twelve hours later, the Frolic’s board of directors announced that the rodeo — scheduled to begin in less than two weeks — would go on. The wheels went into motion immediately and the summer celebration didn’t miss a beat.
Last year, it was announced that the grandstands project would receive $1.9 million from the state through an appropriation that Rep. David Gomberg (D-Otis) included in a late-session bill. The money moved up the Frolic and Rodeo’s timeline on the arena rebuild.
“We have grandstands that seat just over 2,000 people and to get to 5,000 every night, that’s going to be really great,” Hinchberger said. “It will allow us to do a lot of other things because of the nice new arena.”
Lewis said she’s looking forward to the project.
“It’s going to be amazing next year when it’s all done and it’s going to look completely different,” she said. “We’re going to have that facelift that we need and get us even more seats, which is great because we’re a sellout every single year.”
Like Hinchberger, Lewis has witnessed tremendous growth in the organization.
“We had a record number of vendors last year and we have more cowboys and cowgirls wanting to come and be a part of our organization,” Lewis said. “We were voted Best Rodeo in the NPRA (Northwest Professional Rodeo Association) this last year and we’re hoping to continue that with our new grandstands.”
Hinchberger said the Frolic never struggles with volunteers over the three days of the rodeo. But it can be a challenge to keep folks engaged over the rest of the year.
“We struggled for a little bit as far as getting the management portion of the team together and we’ve got a perfect board now,” he said. “Our board has outstanding people in different fields, people that have different tastes on what they want to do for our community.”
The Frolic and Rodeo’s board has 13 directors. A team of 80 to 120 volunteers help with putting on the rodeo, such as ticketing and manning the gates.
“The main volunteer base is rodeo weekend and the work parties leading up to rodeo weekend,” Lewis said. “That’s where we really get a lot of our community support to be able to help run the rodeo.”
Hinchberger will remain on the board, which he stressed does a whole lot more than organize the annual rodeo.
“It’s an organization that has a lot of different things that we try to bring to the community from Easter egg hunts to our grounds being used for weddings, receptions, things like that,” he said. “It’s the Frolic’s total package — that’s what I enjoy about it.”
Lewis said she also feels like the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo is in a great position.
“We have a ton of community backing, which is huge,” she said. “You have to have that to be able to continue to grow the organization, to be where we’re at and then continue to grow it after we have our new amazing grandstands.”
In addition to patrons and sponsors who step up, Lewis points to the volunteers and the board.
“We have an incredible board that puts in a ton of time and a ton of effort to make sure we’re providing the best experience that we can for our patrons and for our community,” she said. “I don’t think we would be anywhere near where we are now if we didn’t have that huge involvement.”
The board’s executive positions — president, vice president, treasurer and secretary — are all one-year appointments. Board member terms run for two years.
