The New Waverly Public Library will hold an invitational calf roping benefit Saturday beginning at 5 p.m. at the B&R; Arena, where county residents will have the opportunity to watch 40 of the nation’s top ropers compete together.

According to Hal Kooken, vice president of the New Waverly Public Library board, the event will serve as one of the only major fundraisers for the newly-completed library to be held this year.

“We’re having 40 of the top ropers in the United States come out to this event, and that group is going to include internationally recognized names that you just don’t get to see all together,” Kooken said. “The top 10 ropers who have the best times will be going for a $10,000 pot, and we’ll also have the top two rookies in the nation competing in a 10-calf shoot-out.

“This is a chance for the people of Huntsville and Walker County to see the best of the best.”

Kooken said some of the most recognized ropers in the world will be present at the event, and they will appear in a group much larger than similar events have drawn.

“The fact that we’re having 40 of the nation’s top ropers is significant on its own — even in Las Vegas, you only see groups of about 15 of these guys competing together,” he said. “We’re going to have ropers like Joe Beaver and two famous rookies, Tuf Cooper and Adam Gray.

“We’ll also have an autograph session after the roping, so people will be able to take pictures and get autographs from these competitors.”

Kooken said the calf roping benefit’s success would be very important to the continued operation of the New Waverly Public Library.

“The library was built over the last 14 years, and now we’re transitioning into operating it on a very modest budget,” he said. “The City of New Waverly gives us about $20,000 of our budget, and we have to raise the other $40,000 through fundraisers and the occasional grant, so it’s very important that events like this are successful.

“Our board is confident we will be able to raise a large portion of the operating funds we need at this event.”

The fundraiser is even more important to the library, Kooken said, due to recent storms and their effects on typical library events.

“We usually have a big barbecue kickoff around September, but Hurricane Ike interrupted that this year,” he said. “We’ll probably be having a dinner and auction event sometime in November, but this is definitely the only major fundraiser we’re planning on holding for a while.”

The calf roping event will be held at Bryon Gardner’s B&R; Arena, located on Stewart Road approximately three miles west of Interstate 45 off Farm-to-Market Road 1374.

Donations of $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12 would be appreciated, Kooken said.

For more information, contact Kooken at (936) 662-8354.