The 34th annual Sundre Pro Rodeo only attracted about a third of the cowboys and cowgirls that were registered for June, after it was postponed for the first time in history as a result of overland flooding in town.
The Sundre Rodeo & Race Association is now paying its bills and seeing where it is financially, before planning for next year's big 35th anniversary, according to Scott Smith, president of the association.
Despite the decreased number of entries, Smith is still pleased with how the rodeo weekend went and says the warm weather helped contribute to the attendance at the performances.
“Our entries were definitely down and we made the most of it and I think it was still a very good and successful rodeo,” said Smith, adding that the number of entries was 577 in June.
“I think overall, under the circumstances, we were pleased with the result. There was a lot of people obviously that are away on family holidays and were probably working to get some baling finished off and a few things around the farm, so under the circumstances, we were happy with the attendance we received,” he said.
Dedicated in memory of Linda Burrell, the rodeo attracted hundreds of rodeo enthusiasts over the weekend and delivered four rodeo performances.
The performances included bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding and tie-down roping. They also included barrel racing, bull riding, novice saddle bronc, novice bareback, junior steer riding and mutton bustin' for children.
The three thrilling days of rodeo also brought additional events to the table, including Friday's BS bingo, with Big Sky Market winning the prize, and there was also a fireworks display at dusk.
On Saturday morning, Sundre's chamber of commerce put on a parade and Sobeys hosted its annual free pancake breakfast. Both events filled the streets with people anxiously awaiting hot pancakes and to see what kind of floats would be in the parade. Children collected bags full of candies, as people on the floats threw an assortment into the crowd.
On Saturday evening, a cowboy cabaret attracted hundreds to the Sundre Arena for some dancing and drinks.
Sunday's rodeo performance included a special presentation of Gina McDougall-Cohoe being inducted into the Canadian Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame.
Guests were commenting on how “awesome” the Sundre Pro Rodeo is to have the committee come together and still put on a successful show after its devastation in June.
Most of the stakeholders were back on board to put on the rodeo over the weekend, except for the midway contractor, which had another commitment. Regardless of that and the decreased number of entries, the rodeo went on and brought smiles to hundreds of cowboys, cowgirls and rodeo enthusiasts.
According to the results on the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association's website, Cole Neely took first place in saddle bronc, Kyle Bowers placed first in bareback riding and Ty Patten placed first in bull riding.
Jason Schaffer placed first in tie-down roping, while Trygve Pugh placed first in steer wrestling. Bennett Little placed first in ladies barrel racing.
Steele DePaoli and Kasper Roy placed first in team roping and Zeke Thurston placed first in novice saddle bronc. Danton Bertsch placed first in novice bareback and Chad Hartman placed first in steer riding.
