Donkey Madness is coming back to Montgomery County High School.

The school will hold the second annual R-II Donkey Basketball Fundraiser at 4 p.m. on April 6 at Ballew & Snell Court as a fundraiser for the Bright Light Scholarship. Tickets are $9 in advance and $13 at the door.

Last year’s event was a successful one as it raised over $5,000 and it went directly to fund the $16,000 in scholarships the Bright Light Scholarship Foundation was able to provide the MCHS graduates in 2024. A total of 13 students received scholarships.

“MC R-II Bright Light is so excited to have Donkey Basketball back to Montgomery County High School,” said Kista River, one of the Bright Light committee members. “We had such a great turnout last year, with so many members of the community involved – either as riders or audience members cheering them on. It was a great way for us to raise money to support the local graduates with scholarships.”

In the donkey basketball event, participants ride donkeys on the MCHS gymnasium floor with helmets on and attempt to shoot a mini-basketball through the hoop. There were four teams in last year’s event – two high school teams andt two adult teams. There were eight donkeys, all of them came from the Dairyland Donkey Basketball Show of Chippewa Falls, Wis.

River said she expects new riders to participate in this year’s event.

“We have not yet signed up all of our teams this year,” River said. “But, we know we are going to have a team made up of middle school teachers which should be a ton of fun. And we should also have a group of brave students who are willing to ride.”

River said anyone who wants to participate will have to fill out the form: https://tinyurl.com/2025MoCoDonkeyBBall.

“Whether they have a full team of 8-12 or would like us to find them a spot on the team, they just need to reach out and fill out that form,” River said. “We would love to help everyone who wants to participate find a team.”

River, Stacy Carroz, Courtney Cothren, Jill Dunlap, Joe and Pat Garrett, Rachel Hans, Audra Heimer, Sydney Peak, Taylor Peters, Anna Powell and JoAnn Schlanker make up the Bright Light Board. The Bright Light Foundation was formed as a community led and sponsored scholarship to help build brighter futures for MCHS graduates.

The Bright Light committee ran a soup, chili and cinnamon roll supper in the afternoon of Feb. 15 at the MCHS cafeteria.

“We are so thankful for the community support of Bright Light,” said River, who is the principal at Montgomery County Middle School. “We were really able to show that together we can do great things for our kids in this community. We had a very successful soup and chili supper, with lots of local support on what proved to be a very busy night of basketball. The cinnamon rolls were a huge hit! That event made over $2,000.”

Anyone who is interested in joining the Bright Light Foundation can contact mcriibrightlightscholarship@gmail.com.

“We have several membership levels available,” River said. “We also have opportunities to create a named scholarship or to become a corporate sponsor of our fundraising events.”