Sherri Jaeger has volunteered at the Williams Lake Stampede since around 2008 and loves it.
She started out doing ushering and taking tickets at the gate for the first couple of years.
“Then I moved into selling tickets and working at the Let R Buck - I would take admission at the gate “five bucks, five bucks,” I would say as people entered.”
Aside from admission, she has also sold beer tokens.
“It’s loads of fun,” she said of what brings her back each year. “I would arrive when the Stampede opened in the morning first thing and then stay until the Let R Buck was closed about one in the morning.”
For her volunteering at the Stampede is about meeting people, watching rodeo, listening to country music and working alongside the other volunteers who are “a lot of fun.” She is hoping to volunteer this year, but has not determined where she will put her energy. Bull riding is her favourite event, although she admits she loves all of them.
“You’ve got to be crazy to be a bull rider. Just thinking about sitting on something that big and trying to hang on for eight seconds is something else.”
There have been a few times when it’s been pouring rain while she has been volunteering, but that has not dampened hers or anyone else’s enthusiasm.
Rain or shine it’s always a good time, she said.
Born in Vanderhoof, Jaeger moved to Williams Lake in 1968 with her mom Leona and dad Jim Beastall and siblings.
“I like that Williams Lake is a place where you know most people in the community. When I worked at Save-on-Foods I met new people as well.”
In recent years she has persuaded her mom to volunteer at the Stampede. Jaeger has also volunteered at Stampeders hockey games and youth bowling in the past. She worked at the Williams Lake Tribune for 35 years in various departments with the exception of being a reporter or a pressman.
Recently she left her job at Save-on-Foods where she worked for four years because she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Married to Rob Jaeger, she has two children Shelby, 30, and Cody, 28.
Pick up a copy of this year’s Williams Lake Stampede magazine out now for a complete schedule of rodeo events.
news@wltribune.com
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