Annual Event Benefits Eddy County Youth

By Misty Cryer

The Southern Eddy County Youth Program (SECYP) is a local non-profit organization that supports Eddy County youth who are members of the 4-H and FFA youth development organizations. SECYP will hold the Fifth Annual Dancing on the Pecos fundraising event from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on February 13 at the Walter Gerrells Performing Arts and Exhibition Center in Carlsbad.

The event features dinner, a dance, a raffle for door prizes, and both live and silent auctions. “We have a live band come in. It’s a 21 and over event,” said Riki Lopez, President/Chairman of SECYP. “We feed them a good steak dinner,” she said.

Lynn and Kim Ballard of the Small Town Grill food truck will cater the meal, and Golf Society will operate a cash bar at the event, said Riki. The Yarbrough Band out of Las Cruces will be playing. “It’s the same band we used last year,” she said.

“I promise, I don’t say this about all the gigs we do, but it was one of two of the most fun events we did all year because the place was packed and they danced to every single song, no matter what song it was, fast or slow,” said Dawson Yarbrough of The Yarbrough Band. “They just danced the whole time. The band, we had a blast because when people are dancing, the band is having a good time, too,” he said.

“The Yarbrough Band has been going on since about 2007 with members here and there,” said Dawson. “The current members now, we’re going on our 12th year with this specific group of guys,” he said, naming the members of the four-man band: Jason Yarbrough, Mike Matthews, Bill Ratcliffe, and Dawson Yarbrough.

“We play old country music mixed with some newer stuff here and there. As long as it sounds like old traditional country, we’ll play it, even if it’s brand new,” said Dawson. “Mostly, it’s just music you can dance to and have a lot of fun on the dance floor,” he said.

The 4-H and FFA chapters donate baskets that the clubs put together as door prizes and raffle items, said Riki. “You can purchase extra raffle tickets for that,” she said, adding that 20 raffle tickets are included with each ticket.

Several businesses donate items for the silent and live auctions, along with items the kids have made that are featured in the silent auction, said Riki. “We try to have a few of those every year; the crowd seems to like that. They like to see their work; we’ve got some pretty crafty kids,” she said.

The mission of supporting these youth activities began years ago, and it has been carried on through the years, said Riki. A few years ago, the Southern Eddy County Youth Program was developed with a 501(c)(3) status to continue the support, she said.

“We raise funds for the Eddy County Fair Livestock Auction. We have a buyer’s pool where we pool many together,” said Riki. “We do some fundraisers, and then we also take donations,” she said, adding that in the past, SECYP has also funded the shooting sports side of 4-H.

“During the livestock auction at the end of the Eddy County Fair, we purchase animals from different kids that go through the sale,” said Riki. “We also do add-ons for those kids that don’t pull one of those sale slots, so it gives them a little bit of money. Then we also sponsor a couple of awards for the indoor projects for the fair,” she said.

Specifying that not all 4-H and FFA members participate in the animal part of the fair, Riki said the indoor projects consist of things like baking, sewing, and photography.

For the Junior Livestock Auction, Riki said the ultimate goal is to make a sale slot in that sale after the week of the fair, so the hard work the kids put in literally pays off.

“This is one of the highest money-making sales in the state,” said Riki. “Some kids have buyers lined out for them, and others don’t, so that’s what this buyers’ pool was put together for,” she said.

The 4-H and FFA members also help with setup and clean-up at the SECYP fundraisers, which gives them volunteer hours, said Riki.

For ticket information, call or text Riki (575-361-4375), Jentry (806-782-7891), or Krista (575-302-8885). All of the VIP tables, priced at $1,000 each, are sold out, said Riki. “Tickets are $75 per person, which gets you dinner and 20 raffle tickets,” she said. At press time, she said there were approximately 50 tickets still available.