NEW UNDERWOOD - From his perch behind the town's community center, New Underwood school president David Flint can point to the house where he grew up. He has more to say, but with a splash, he falls into the dunk tank that will keep him soaking wet for the next few hours.

Putting his drenched black ball cap back on, he looks at the teenage boy that just put him down with a hard-thrown softball.

"Don't let him throw anymore," he said to a bystander.

He's kidding, of course. His dunk-filled afternoon is far from over. It couldn't be a better day for it, though. The mercury is rising past 95 degrees, and there isn't a cloud in the sky on the Saturday afternoon of New Underwood's centennial celebration, which runs through Labor Day.

New Underwood got its name because of a friendship. Isaac Humphrey sold the railroad company right-of-way on his land provided they name the depot for his friend, John Underwood, according to a short history of the town published for the town's 1983 diamond jubilee.

The nearby town, then called Pennington, was renamed Underwood shortly afterward, and a New was added to the name to avoid confusion with a town of the same name in the Black Hills. It was 1908.

One hundred years later on the town's rodeo grounds, it's not just the thermometer that is heating up. The New Underwood Roping Club's Annual Youth Jackpot Rodeo is in full swing, with boys and girls of many ages roping calves and racing around barrels.

Cole Byrne trots out atop a pony. A rider in the 8-and-under boys category, he aims to snatch a ribbon off a small goat in front of the grandstand. Despite a headlong tumble from the saddle, he runs toward the bleating goat and snags the green ribbon off the goat's tail. He holds it up for the timer and the crowd's applause.

"I think you ran as far as your horse did," the announcer booms over the loudspeakers.

Nearby, a quartet of young horsewomen rides together, each preparing to enter the arena. While they talk, one types a text message into her cell phone.

Togetherness kept New Underwood alive during hard times, including floods and fires. A large livery barn was built soon after the town's founding, and over time it was converted into an automotive repair shop, only to be destroyed by a 1921 fire that whipped through the wooden structure.

The buildings next door were "miraculously saved," the town's history book recorded, by a bucket brigade, which drew water from the railroad depot's well. They next year, the town purchased its volunteer firefighters a Victor Chemical Engine for $560.

The town has changed in the 38 years Alma Crosbie has lived on a ranch nearby with her husband Gene, but the spirit of togetherness continues.

"They're kind people; they all work together," she said.

Crosbie stands next to a display of antique farm implements and barbed wire in the town museum on Main Street. Next to her is a 1947 New Underwood Bank calendar. In the calendar's featured photo, three 2-year-old girls, triplets, sit in a custom-made three-seat high chair and eat cereal. A hand-made sign underneath asks: "Can you guess who the girls are eating their Cheerios?"

"One of them is me," Crosbie said.

A town resident walks by and looks at the photo. It doesn't take her only a moment to guess the right answer. There's a basket nearby with entry slips so people can submit their answer. Nobody has yet, and it's doubtful anyone will.

"I taught here for 35 years, so they know me," Crosbie said.

Back at the fairgrounds, a string of spectators watch from the east side of the arena fence, opposite the grandstand bleachers. The rodeo is an annual affair for Tanya Larive and daughter Shania, 6, and son Gunnar Foss, 17. The family lives east of Sturgis, but makes the trek to New Underwood each year to compete in the rodeo, among a number of other trips on the holiday weekend.

Attendance at the rodeo seems lower, Larive said, a fact she blames on the high price of gasoline. But that doesn't mean the journeys will end for her family and friends. There's something here that keeps them coming back.

"We'll have lots of years at New Underwood, I'm sure," she said.

Contact Jeremy Fugleberg at 394-8421 or jeremy.fugleberg@rapidcityjournal.com

If you go

Sunday:

8 a.m. Horseshoe tournament

9 a.m. Church services

12 p.m. Cub Scout hot dog stand

1 p.m. New Underwood Melodrama

2 p.m. Pet parade

3 p.m. Time capsule

6 p.m. Beef feed

7 p.m. Ranch rodeo finals

9:30 p.m. Fireworks

Monday:

8 a.m. Horseshoe tournament

9:30 a.m. Parade

11 a.m. Old car, tractor show

12 p.m. Steamburger & watermelon feed

1 p.m. Jackpot roping

1:30 p.m. Gun raffle drawing and honoring of old timers

2 p.m. Cowboy poetry