Wranglers grab your hats this June long weekend, and muster some livestock for a good cause.
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Cowboy Hats for Kate will run a team yarding and sorting event will run from June 9 in Illabo to raise money for brain cancer research.
Now in its second year, the event honours the life and untimely death of Kate Day from brain cancer.
Kate Day discovered she had brain cancer after her horse fell while campdrafting near Gunning in 2017. Undeterred, she continued riding the next day.
When she returned home, she was sick to the point of immobility. She thought it was a concussion. But after being rushed from Junee, to Wagga to Sydney to see various doctors, she learned she had an aggressive brain tumour.
Kate fought for four years and two months, eventually passing away in February last year.
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Kate's sister in law Anita Withers, who instigated the fundraiser, said it was a fitting tribute to woman who loved horses and drafting.
"After she passed away, her brother, her daughter and I were on the verandah, looking at all these hats," she said.
"That's when Ted said 'maybe we should do Cowboy Hats for Kate', and that's how it started.
"I thought we were just going to have a little event, then it kept getting bigger and bigger ... it was a lot of work, but it feels really good."
"She had her ups and downs, but she kept going," Ms Withers said.
"Just going home to their place, and you expect her to walk out the door, but she's not there."
Last year, Cowboy Hats for Kate were able to raise just over $64, 000 for The Brain Cancer Research Centre, in part through auctioning donated stud services at the event. Cowboy Hats for Kate has also raised funds through selling merchandise - primarily hats.
"We've got stubby holders, caps ... we were doing cowboy hats, but we can't get them into the country at the moment," she said.
"One of my daughters is making hatbands though."
"One is called the Panuara, because that's where Kate and John lived. The other is called the Trentham, because she had a property down at Trentham in Victoria.
Ms Withers said while they don't expect to raise as much money this year, she thinks it will still be a weekend Kate would have liked, and a nice way for family and friends to commemorate the life of someone they loved so much.
"Everyone wants to do this every year after last year," she said.
"It's just a thing now - that's Kate's weekend."
The Cowboy Hats for Kate Team Yarding and Sorting Event runs 6pm 9 June to 4pm 11 June at Richard Webb in Illabo. Admission is free.
More information is available here.
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