BURWELL, Neb. - A Nebraska town of just over 1,200 people is rallying after severe weather severely damaged county property that's about to host one of the State's biggest annual events.

Repairs are underway in Burwell, where just last week the old grandstands and several other buildings suffered extensive damage due to 90 mph wind gusts.

Years ago the town underwent an extremely similar situation in which another set of grandstands were destroyed by storms.

"It seems like we've been dealing with this for about four years," said Phil Simpson, President of the Garfield County Frontier Fair Association which oversees Nebraska's Big Rodeo. "In May of 2022, we had a storm come through and wipe out our historic north grandstand that was 101 years old when it got wiped out. And then this June we had another storm come in and took out the west grandstand. It's been a labor of love for a lot of people out here just maintaining them and keeping them up, but Mother Nature had a different decision," said Simpson.

They've almost completed the new grandstand, but are going to have to put those plans on pause in order to make some last minute repairs ahead of Nebraska's Big Rodeo.

"It'll look a little different around here. I mean, people, it's going to look a lot different. We're going to have this new facility, awesome, awesome facility here to the north of us. And then we're going to be missing part of the history that was here in the west grandstands this year. But we'll rebuild and we'll come back and we'll keep going along. This will be the 104th year of Nebraska's Big Rodeo, so we're hoping as board members we can just keep it going for another 100 years," said Simpson

The new north grandstand, built in partnership with FEMA and Nebraska Emergency Management, will also serve as a community-centered year-round, in addition to providing extra covered seating for the rodeo.

As a result of the lost grandstands, temporary seating will be brought in to support the large expected crowd. Ticketing will also be adjusted.

"Some of those reserved tickets, we will refund those, or they can get a little refund and just swap it for a general admission ticket if they want to do that. But we'll work that out with people that have made those reserved tickets. Our ticket office will actually open on the 1st of July. Come out to the concert, help support us, help raise some funds for our new rebuild. We're just finishing the one, now we're going to have another one," said Simpson

The Nebraska Big Rodeo will have its fundraising concert on Thursday, July 3rd, with the official Big Rodeo performances starting July 23rd and running until Saturday, the 26th.

For more on how to donate or get involved, you can visit Nebraska's Big Rodeo Facebook page or contact the Garfield County Frontier Fair Association directly.

Rodeo officials added that since they've been here before, they fully expect to make repairs in time for the event.

They also plan to not only make last minute improvements, but lasting ones that will continue to add to the unique atmosphere in Burwell.