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LAKE CITY- Hundreds of friends and family members reunited Saturday at Lake City's annual Western Days celebration. A highlight was the Top Rail Saddle Club's 50th annual rodeo, which featured participants from across the Midwest.

"It takes a strong core of people to keep a rodeo like this going, and we're proud that we are still putting on a good show after all these years," said Ted Janssen, who joined the Top Rail Saddle Club when he was about 6 years old. He helps coordinate the rodeo.

Featured were Senior Rodeo Queen Bailley Richardson, daughter of Eric and Barb Richardson, of Lake City, and Junior Rodeo Queen Sydney Batz, daughter of Kirby and Ali Batz, of Yetter. Both are students at Southern Cal. Special guests included Kara Telfer, of Underwood, who is Miss United Rodeo Association 2009. Telfer, who hopes to become an equine veterinarian, is the great-granddaughter of Fran Nutter and the niece of Andy and Deanne Grantham and Bill and Pat Albright, all of Lake City.

Western Days events included the inaugural Stewart Memorial Community Hospital Auxiliary quilt auction. More than 60 items made by local residents were sold to generate money for hospital patient room updates. About $9,000 was raised.

"It was just wonderful to see this kind of support for the hospital," said Ellen Frank, volunteer director at SMCH.

On sale in the town square Saturday was Lake City's Central School Preservation's latest miniature in the "Our Home Town" collection.

"A lot of our buildings here in town have an interesting history, and ... people look forward to the new addition to the 'Our Home Town' collection each year," said CSP volunteer Linda Stotts, who helps design the handcrafted miniatures.

Another booth featured updates from the Lake City Pool Project. The project kicked off earlier this year by seeking input from local residents on features they would like to see in a new swimming pool. Drawings that show what the proposed $1.8 million project might look like were on display.

Contact Darcy Dougherty Maulsby at (515) 573-2141 or editor@messengernews.net