INDIANAPOLIS — Ringside for Riley isn't your conventional cattle competition.
"It's a fundraiser that I came up with when I was eleven," said 12-year-old Cadley Boocher.
Cadley had a rare heart defect at birth. She received life-saving care at Riley Hospital For Children.
"I was only six days old when I had my first surgery," Cadley shared. "It feels overwhelming of how scary it is, but it's also a miracle that I'm here today."
Cadley realized the significance of being a Riley kid, and she wanted to ensure other kids had the same access to care.
"I was in my doctor's office for my yearly check-up," Cadley explained. "I said I wanted to give back to Riley."
She looked to her love and knowledge of showing cattle as a fundraising option. She roped in the Indiana Beef Cattle Association.
In December, the association hosts the Hoosier Beef Congress at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
"It's a show that we put on for kids in Indiana. It's kind of our kickoff of our summer show series," said Brian Shuter, Executive Vice President of the Indiana Beef Cattle Association. "We'll have about 1000 head of cattle here this weekend."
Shuter was immediately on board to do a fundraiser for Riley when Cadley asked.
"We've always tried to have some sort of way to give back to the community during this event," Shuter said. "As we started talking around to other families in our industry and in our association, it's amazing how many kids were touched by the Riley Hospital."
Boocher and Shuter dreamed up a cattle showmanship competition for adults.
"We started thinking county fair, and thought, we have a platform here, where we can go big," Shuter continued. "So we brought it to the Hoosier Beef Congress."
There were already lots of people (and cattle) in town for the weekend of competition. Ringside for Riley was added as the fundraising event.
There are varying degrees of how seriously participants took the show.
For $5, you can nominate any adult to show, even if they have never shown cattle before.
Some adults were a little rusty, but excited to be nominated.
"Probably close to 15 years ago, I was in the ring," said Nathan Scherer.
Scherer was nominated by his young nephew.
"I was all up for it, 100%," said Scherer with a smile. "My brother, he's going to be showing too. So I have one goal today, and that's to make sure that I beat him."
If you're not up for the competition, you can get out of your nomination, but you have to donate $20.
"We had somebody the other day nominate somebody like 20 times for $200," recalled Cadley. "They had to pay $800 to get out."
Parts of the show look like a normal showmanship competition.
The show's judge was Andon Zehring, another Riley kid.
Cadley shared that she hopes to select a new Riley-kid to judge each year.
"So that almost everybody can have a chance to do it that wants to do it," Cadley said.
Other participants were there to entertain. Several people and cattle get dressed in costumes before going into the show ring.
While the event is entertaining, the focus is to make sure kids have access to Riley.
"Whether she understands or not, she's really making a difference in the lives of kids for many, many years to come," said Meghan Freeman with Riley Children's Foundation. "We could not be more grateful."
2024 was the first year for the contest, and over $12,000 was raised.
In 2025, the fundraiser brought in more than $15,000 for the Riley Children's Foundation.
"Every dollar that they raise here today is going to go toward our 'Every Child Deserves Riley' 300-million campaign," said Freeman. "That campaign really is to help kids like Cadley have a more healthy, have a healthier future."
"Kids like Cadley are rare and exceptional because this type of event, and an event at this scale, is really remarkable, and especially for someone her age," Freeman continued.
Cadley shared where she sees the event going in the future.
"I feel like we would have to take up two rings because it has gotten so big," Cadley said. "We are raising almost more money than we can imagine."
