Lexington, VA – January 20, 2016 – The Roanoke Valley Horse Show will return in 2016, but this time the historic horse show has found a new home in the Virginia Horse Center.
The horse show, previously held at the Salem Civic Center, was founded in 1972 and continued for 43 years, but insufficient funding for the charitable show caused the event to be cancelled in 2015. Now, the Virginia Horse Center is thrilled to play a part in bringing back the popular horse show, to be held from June 20-25, 2016.
“Unfortunately, we had to cancel last year because we were unable to cover costs,” Mark Hartberger, president of the Roanoke Valley Horseman’s Association said. “The cost of the Salem venue was just far too expensive. There is nothing wrong with [the Salem Civic Center]; it’s a perfect location, and we made a beautiful horse show. It is just very expensive to hold a horse show on grounds that are not made for horse shows.”
Previously, the Roanoke Valley Horse Show was responsible for both the time and expense of installing footing, tent stabling and much more in order to make the horse show a reality. Now, the ability to utilize the Virginia Horse Center facility will not only allow the horse show to continue, it will save event organizers and volunteers time and will enable more money to be given back to the charities which the Roanoke Valley Horse Show supports.
Logo courtesy of Virginia Horse Center Foundation.
“All of the maintenance, putting up tents, getting the asphalt parking lot ready to put horses on – it is all very time consuming and expensive,” Hartberger said. “The Virginia Horse Center is cared for every day so that we don’t have to worry about any of those things.”
Virginia Horse Center Foundation President Ernie Oare strongly desired to see the Roanoke Valley Horse Show continue, and he was instrumental in facilitating the move to the Horse Center.
“The historic and traditional volunteer charity horse shows like Roanoke are the kind of horse shows that are very sadly going by the wayside,” Oare said. “That’s why we’re so happy that we can hopefully help keep it going for years to come. The Virginia Horse Center operation is turn-key for them, which will allow their expenses to be much, much less than they were.”
The Roanoke Valley Horse Show is a nonprofit organization and event, and the funds raised from the annual horse show are donated to health and human service organizations in the region. While the horse show will be moving outside of the area, the event will continue to benefit the Roanoke Valley and to uphold the show’s longstanding traditions of southern hospitality.
The horse show is an all-breed horse show offering hunter, jumper, racking, roadster, Saddlebred and western divisions. To learn more about the Roanoake Valley Horse Show and supporting the event in 2016 visit www.roanokevalleyhorseshow.com.
Source: Emily Riden/Phelps Media Group.