HORSESHOE BEND, Idaho — Horseshoe Bend has seen some difficult times when their sawmill closed down and this poor rural community lost it's identity.
The town is working to build a new identity last year they created Woods Veterans Memorial Park to honor the 400 veterans from this small community who have served our country dating back to the Mexican-American War.
Hundreds showed up for Freedom Fight Night and the money raised will go towards adding more amenities to their new park.
"This means a lot," said Kimberly Welsch of the Horseshoe Bend Chamber of Commerce. "This means we will be able to raise the money necessary to make this Woods Veterans Memorial Park into something that the entire community can cherish."
Professional MMA fighter Ricky Steele of SBG Boise put together the card giving many fighters their first opportunity to fight, that included Ryan Marty who defeated Isaac Garcia in Muay Thai for his first win.
"Walking into that cage was the most nervous and most excited I’ve ever been in my life, but the second that bell rang it all faded away," said Marty. "All the training, all the prep work I did just took over and it was a great fight."
The card featured several different disciplines from several different gyms and it was such a success that Horseshoe Bend hopes to bring it back next year.
"It has been a long slow rebuild and Horseshoe Bend is back baby," said Welsch. "Horseshoe Bend Freedom Fight Night is going to happen every year we hope, this was an absolute blowout."
For Ryan Marty it was a thrill to fight in front of a big crowd which included his parents. The fighter tells us he really enjoys being a part of SBG Boise.
"It’s a great environment, it’s one tribe one vibe," said Marty. "It is something you don’t think about at first until you really get into it and you learn it is the absolute truth.”
We don't know how much income this event generated for Horseshoe Bend, but we've heard that building a paved parking lot, putting in an antique trestle bridge, fishing docks and floating docks are all possibilities. However, it also depends on what the community wants.
