Press

A Record Setting Year

November 18, 2016

lynn-american-royal

President and CEO, Lynn Parman reflects on the 2016 American Royal season.

It’s been an incredible three months and we are nearing the finish of a record setting season filled with cultivating dreams of youth and adults from around the country.

I wanted to take a moment and provide some highlights of the season thus far.

Record setting event attendance

This season is one for the record books. Some of the highlights include:

  • Over 5,600 kids participated in our School Tours and Youth Invitational Rodeo – an increase of 700 more than last year
  • More livestock were shown during our Livestock Show than in the last five years
  • More than double entries in our Cutting Horse show
  • More ProRodeo tickets sold than in the last five years and a standing room only Saturday performance
  • Record setting gross sales at our Junior Premium Livestock Auction
  • Over 40,000 attended the Friday events at the World Series of BBQ and record setting attendance for the weekend overall

Newly formed Scholarship Fund

The American Royal has now established a separate fund that will provide the structure to manage all of our scholarship funds – whether that’s our Royal Scholars, designated scholarships like the Stanley Stout Livestock scholarship fund or future scholarships yet to be identified. This new fund will provide transparency and focus to our scholarship funds and create a pathway for more donor giving in this area.

New website/app and unprecedented media coverage

In Septemiowas-smokey-ds-bbqber, the American Royal launched our new website and app which included all new branding. The website has all new navigation and new pages to better project who the American Royal is today and the impact we have on youth around the country. The app allows you to purchase tickets to our events, see maps and receive push notifications for up to date information about the events. Lastly, we had a 200% increase in media coverage of our BBQ this year with over 570 stories on-line and in print as a result of our media outreach strategy.

 

 

 

What’s next?

The Arabian Horse Show occurs December 3 – 4th and planning is currently underway for the first Women in Ag Leadership Summit to be scheduled in March, 2017. Our Annual Meeting will be held on February 15th at a location TBD.

As we wind down the season and start planning for 2017, I feel gratitude to our Board Members, sponsors and volunteers that have supported us with such enthusiasm and a willingness to serve that I have never encountered in my non-profit career.team

Finally, I am so proud to work with and lead such a talented and dedicated staff at the American Royal. I am very grateful that each of them is part of our team and family.