Aksarben Stock Show hosts first-ever Grand Drive

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - Fonner Park’s 94th annual Aksarben Stock Show hosted it’s first-ever Grand Drive on Saturday in Grand Island.

This is replacing the Purple Ribbon Auction Aksarben had done for the past 93 years. Organizers say it was time for a change, especially when they realized it was putting stress on people’s pockets. Benefactors used to bid on the winners too early, not leaving enough money for the rest of the contestants.

“When you have those situations where a kid’s standing there and no one’s bidding on them and they’re feeling a little uncomfortable, their parents are devastated and the people in the crowd are like, “oh I wish I had some money left to bid on you but I’ve already done all I had allotted for it,” said Grand Drive Organizer Laura Hurley.

The Grand Drive is set up to where scholarship money is already set aside for the winners.

“With this platform, we have a better way of knowing what needs to be raised, money wise and our benefactors know what they could give and what their budget should be,” Hurley said.

There were more than 3,500 entries at Aksarben this year, and the youth with the best scores got to split more than $140,000 dollars worth of scholarship money.