COULEE CITY - Coulee City's 62nd annual Last Stand Rodeo will have a new event this year.

The WBRA/WPRA Barrel Race for Breast Cancer will be held before the Last Stand Main Street Parade Saturday morning, May 24, at 10:30 a.m.

The event was organized by Maria Pearson who is a breast cancer survivor and is currently undergoing treatment at Seattle Cancer Care.

"I decided to put the race on because last year when I got diagnosed everybody was so good and kind of rallied up," she said. "They had benefit dinners for me and actually had two big benefit barrel races just for me and my idea of having it originally came from just wanting to give back to so many people."

Pearson also decided to make the race a benefit to help raise funds for breast cancer research.

"I wanted to give the money to research because I'm on a new research drug that has totally saved my life," she said.

Pearson said there will be about 100 entries and several sponsors have provided the purse money and nine champion buckles.

The Coulee City Rodeo kicks off May 23 with the Last Stand Bull-A-Rama and runs through Memorial Day Weekend, concluding May 25 with the PRCA Last Stand Rodeo.