Park News
This year the Harper Community Park was fortunate to be able to award 2 outstanding Harper graduates with the 2024 Harper Community Park Scholarship. Congratulations Jack Helfrich & Rhody Holmes! Thank you to everyone that supports the Harper Community Park to help us make this possible.
We have had a great turnout at the Youth Rodeo Series with Open 4D Jackpot Barrel Race this summer, the final two will be held July 29th & August 23rd books open at 5pm.
The 60th Annual Harper Frontier Days Rodeo & Dance is just around the corner. We hope you will be able to join us for all the fun on September 27th-28th at the Harper Community Park. Friday night team roping at 6 pm will kick off the weekends festivities. Saturday’s activities will include Corn-Hole, Washer Pitching, 42 tournament & Kid Fish. We will also have some of the BEST Pickers in the Hill Country set up for a Pickers Circle & live music from the one and only Jerry Almarez. Do you have a little one that wants to be the next Little Mister or Little Miss Harper and ride on a float in the parade? Bring them down to compete for the crown and make sure to check out our website to get them registered. Who’s ready for a parade? The floats will hit the road at 5pm, so make sure to find you a nice shady spot on Hwy 290. Check out our website for details if you would like to have a float in the parade. Following the parade there will be a Barbecue meal with all the fixins’. The Harper Open Pro Rodeo, produced by Lester Meier Rodeo Company will begin at 7:30 and The Wagon Aces will begin playing at 9pm. Additional details can be found at www.harpercommunitypark.com. Volunteers are always welcome; please contact us at harpercommunitypark@gmail.com to join the fun.
Would you like to be a Sponsor of the 60th Annual Harper Frontier Days Rodeo & Dance? We still have sponsorships available and would love to have you join us as a sponsor. Please contact us at harpercommunitypark@gmail.com or reach out to one of the park board members for additional information.
Looking to volunteer your time? The fall Park clean-up will be held in September, everyone is welcome to join and help us get the park ready for our Harper Frontier Days Celebration!
Please make sure to follow us on Facebook & Instagram and check out our website, www.harpercommunitypark.com, to stay up to date with all of our events.
What a great start to 2024! We rang in the New Year with Billy Mata and The Texas Tradition, and served up some of Andrea’s Famous Black Eyed Peas. Thank you to everyone who came out to support the Harper Community Park and start the New Year off with Friends and Fellowship. We also hosted the First Annual Cowboy Gala in conjunction with the Hill Country Horse Club to raise funds for the Harper Expo Center, it was such a beautiful event and a great night out. If you have not had a chance to see the proposed project you can go to our website www.harpercommunitypark.com/ExpoCenter, and you will be able to take a look at the renderings and see what a great versatile facility it will be.
Looking for some fun? Mark your calendars for May 4, 2024 for a Derby Dance with The Rocky King Band. Doors will open at 5 giving us plenty of time to catch the race before we serve up Derby inspired eats & drinks, then Rocky King Band plays from 7-11pm. We may even have a fun Best Dressed and Best Hat contest so start planning those outfits now.
Planning for our 60th Annual Harper Frontier Days will be underway soon and if you or someone you know is interested in being a sponsor or volunteering to help us make it a success, please reach out to us at harpercommunitypark@gmail.com. We would love to have you.
Stay up to date with all of the fun by checking out our website at https://www.harpercommunitypark.com/events.
Did you know the Harper Community Park Association does not receive outside funding? The Park exists solely by your generous donations, event sponsors, rental income and volunteers. We are so incredibly fortunate to have the support of our amazing community and without you all the Harper Community Park would not be able to continue. We love being able to provide a place for all to enjoy with their family and friends, host weddings, reunions, rodeos, dances and more. We are always happy to welcome new members, volunteers, sponsors & donors. The annual membership meeting will be held first quarter 2024, we will be electing 2024-2025 directors and all members and those looking to become members are welcome. Please make plans to join us, the date will be posted soon or you can email us or check out the calendar on our website to confirm date. If you would like to support the Harper Community Park please check out our website at
www.harpercommunitypark.com and visit our About Page.
The most recent project the Harper Community Park Association is working towards is bettering our facilities so we can host even more events in the Park. Currently the board is seeking funds to complete the construction of a cover over the arena in order to create a more versatile EXPO center. Our hopes are to build a facility that can be utilized by our community members, including the school, 4H/FFA and other local organizations. Mark your calendars for the upcoming Cowboy Gala on February 17th, benefitting the construction of the arena cover. If you would like to volunteer your time to assist with this project or any other events hosted by the Harper Community Park Association please reach out to us at harpercommunitypark@gmail.com.
We are looking forward to hosting some fun events this year, make sure you don’t miss any by checking out our website https://www.harpercommunitypark.com/events.
Rodeo Legend
In Loving Memory of Sheila Maner Zant
Sheila started riding as an infant in the front of the saddle with her dad, long time rancher and horseman. From That point on she was all about horses and riding. She would follow her dad around on the ranch working stock on first on her Shetland pony and then as she grew so did the horses.
She trained her first barrel horse by herself. A black horse named “Pancho” given to her by her grandfather. They soon became an inseparable pair, working on the ranch and running barrels. She rode him in every rodeo she could get too and always loved riding at the Harper Rodeo.
Sheila rodeoed throughout high school as well as every other sport she could do and also competed in stock shows. After high school she then went on to rodeo at Southwest Texas State Jr. Collage in Uvalde Texas. She was on the rodeo team there when in 1979 she was elected as Rodeo Queen.
During her collage years she was able to compete at the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association in Lake Charles Louisiana, which is no small feat with only the top three in each event from each region going. Sheila was not only successful in barrel racing, but she was often competing in the Ladies Breakaway Roping, which was just getting started at the time.
Shelia went on to travel the PRCA circuit with her husband James and son Wacey. Family and Friends all said Sheila was one of those people who made friends with everyone, was always happy to see you and above all loved spending time riding with her son.
Sheila Lost her Life on December 8, 1994 in a horse accident doing the thing that she loved all her life.
The 59th Annual Harper Frontier Days Rodeo & Dance is just around the corner. We hope you will be able to join us for all the fun on September 22nd-23rd at the Harper Community Park. Friday night team roping at 6 pm will kick off the weekends festivities. Saturday’s activities will begin with registration for Corn-Hole at 11am, Washer Pitching registration at 12 pm and 42 Tournament registration starts at 1pm. We are bringing back the highly requested Kid Fish this year, so make sure to have your little anglers in the park by 1 pm to join all the fun. We will also have some of the BEST Pickers in the Hill Country set up for a Pickers Circle starting at 1pm. Do you have a little one that wants to be the next Little Mister or Little Miss Harper and ride on a float in the parade? Bring them down to compete for the crown and make sure to check out our website to get them registered. Who’s ready for a parade? The floats will hit the road at 5pm, so make sure to find you a nice shady spot on Hwy 290. Following the parade there will be a Barbecue meal with all the fixins’ at 6 pm. Now, for the best part of the weekend the Harper Open Pro Rodeo, produced by Lester Meier Rodeo Company, begins at 7:30 pm and will be followed by a boot scootin’ dance at 9 pm. Additional details can be found at www.harpercommunitypark.com. Volunteers are always welcome; please contact us at harpercommunitypark@gmail.com to join the fun. Headwaters for Heroes will be hosting their annual fundraiser the same weekend. The H4H fun includes a Sporting Clay Shooting Tournament, Open Car Show and a BBQ Cook-Off. Event details can be found at www.headwatersforheroes.com. There really will be something for everyone this weekend so please mark your calendars and come join us in Harper to support 2 great organizations!
We have had a great turnout at the Youth Rodeo Series with Open 4D Jackpot Barrel Race this summer and are looking to do more in the future. The last one of the series will be held Friday July 21st, books open at 5pm.
Looking to volunteer your time? The fall Park clean-up is scheduled for Saturday September 9th, 2023 at 8:00 AM. Everyone is welcome to join and help us get the park ready for our Frontier Days Celebration!
Would you like to be a Sponsor of the 59th Annual Harper Frontier Days Rodeo & Dance? We still have sponsorships available and would love to have you join us as a sponsor. Please contact us at harpercommunitypark@gmail.com or reach out to one of the park board members for additional information.
Please make sure to follow us on Facebook & Instagram and check out our website, www.harpercommunitypark.com, to stay up to date with all of our events.
On May 19th 2023, the Gillespie County Wildgame Dinner generously donated $25,000 towards the construction of Harper Community Parks Arena & Expo Center.
Greetings from the Harper Community Park Association. We finished out 2022 with a bang and had a great turnout for our New Year’s Eve dance featuring Billy Mata and The Texas Tradition. If you haven’t had the opportunity to make it out to one of our dances yet, make sure to put April 22, 2023 on the calendar for Jake Hooker and The Outsiders. We are also excited to bring a Youth Rodeo Series and Open 4D Barrel Race to the community, with the help of the Hill Country Horse Club. The dates for the events are April 21, May 19, June 16 & July 21. The fundraising efforts continue for the new arena project and a Committee has been established to focus on this task.
The Park Board would like to welcome and thank the new members that joined the park. The Community Park is owned by its members and welcomes any and all new ideas in order to improve the park for the community. For more information and to stay up-to-date check out the website at www.harpercommunitypark.com and follow us on facebook.
We would like to extend one more HUGE thank you to everyone that came out to support the 58th Annual Harper
Frontier Days Celebration. The event was a great success and with the proceeds the Harper Community Park was able to
pay-off the note on our Beautiful Hall! We are so excited to have it paid off and are looking forward to being able to focus
on working together with the Hill Country Horse Club to finish the Arena project now.
The annual Harper Community Park Association membership meeting will be held February 26, 2023 at 1:00 pm in the Harper Community Hall. You will be able to pay your membership fee of $35.00 at the door if you haven’t done so prior to the meeting.
We have had several weddings and events in the Hall this year and are looking forward to hosting many more. If you or someone you know has a wedding or event coming up, make sure to reserve your dates before our calendar fills up. The HCPA Board is currently setting dates for fundraising events this year so please make sure to check out our website at www.harpercommunitypark.com, and follow us on Facebook for upcoming events.
We would like to thank all of the generous SPONSORS and
AMAZING community and park members that contributed to
the 58th Annual Harper Frontier Day’s celebration - held on
September 23rd & 24th. We were so excited to bring back
the parade this year, as well as Little Mr. & Miss Harper and
the Harper Rodeo Queen! We hope everyone enjoyed the
weekend and had the chance to make it out and check out
the progress that has been made on the new arena! Make
sure to look for park & arena updates, as well as upcoming
events and information on our recently renovated website–
www.harpercommunitypark.org and Facebook.
We would also like to extend a huge thank you to the volun-
teers from the American Legion, Harper FFA and commu-
nity members for cleaning up the park in preparation for the
58th Annual Frontier Day’s celebration. With the energized
groups, we were able to mow & weed eat the entire park,
clean the pavilion, the BBQ shack, paint and so much more!
Thanks again to all of you for your hard work, the park looks
wonderful.
Don’t forget the holiday season is just around the corner, so
if you are in need of a venue for your large family gathering,
company retreat or more, please consider the facilities at
the Harper Community Park. Make sure to check out the
Harper Community Hall virtual tour: https://my.matterport.
com/show/?m=8iyJK7c7KMM
On September 10th & 17th, 2022, the HCPA had park clean-up days in preparation for Frontier Days Events. We cannot thank the awesome group of Harper FFA kids and their dedicated FFA sponsors enough for all of the hard work they put in! A huge thank you is also due to the American Legion and community members who came out to help too. Together these 2 organizations and the community members have the park looking pretty dang good! If you haven’t driven through lately make sure to check out their work and take a look at the arena progress. There have been countless volunteer hours put into the arena the past couple months and it’s looking great!
On June 7, 2022, the LCRA announced the 36 recipients of more than $815,000 in community grants, which included A $19,000 grant from LCRA to the Harper Community Park Association for construction of an events office and announcer stand as part of its planned new multipurpose arena in Gillespie County.
On April 18, 2022, Mr. Jim Bradley with Capital Excavation Co. kindly donated a water truck to the park.