Sundre rodeo 2001 promises to be one of best ever
By Linda Burrell,
President Sundre Rodeo and Race Association
Years ago the Sundre Rodeo and Race Association was established by a group of dedicated volunteers to promote professional rodeo in Sundre. This year sees the Sundre Pro Rodeo celebrating the 32nd Anniversary of providing professional rodeo to our community.
Rodeo developed into competition status many years ago based on the normal hard work performing ranching and livestock industry work. Work that continues today.
Our rural municipality, Mountain View County, a municipality dedicated to preserving the agricultural way of life along with dealing with growth pressures to ensure a great living and meaningful co-existence for those of all walks of life will be celebrating their 50th year of incorporation in 2011.
Let's help our council and all our residents acknowledge and celebrate this momentous achievement for this great municipality we live in.
The Sundre Pro Rodeo continues to grow and improve on an annual basis, and every year the committee strives to produce the best rodeo we possibly can.
2010 witnessed the biggest and best ever pro rodeo in Sundre, so 2011 should be something as we continue with providing the community with this outstanding weekend.
You will see the best cowboys in the world competing at this rodeo, and the numbers of contestant entries also continues to grow annually. In excess of 500 professional competitors entered the Sundre Pro Rodeo in 2011.
If you're into rodeo or competition of any nature that sees the best two legged and four legged athletes in the world in competition, professional rodeo is a great and inexpensive value for your entertainment dollar.
Our mission is to promote and produce a rodeo for this community and rodeo fans with the utmost professionalism and safety for the people and animals involved.
We strive to continually improve in all facets of rodeo production. The grounds are improved annually for the comfort of our stock and visiting cowboys and fans.
Sundre is fortunate in that most of our rodeo fans are extremely knowledgeable about the sport of rodeo. It is incumbent upon this committee, therefore, to be aware of this and produce a rodeo that we can all be proud of.
The committee has many ideas to improve the 2011 version, and we think both fans and competitors will appreciate the improvements to the show. One of the additions is the reintroduction of the wild horse event, an event inspired from our past, and an action packed event sure to keep the fans on the edge of their seats.
This is a professional rodeo and the committee's concentration is focused on professionalism, but we also incorporate events in the pre-rodeo section where local residents can be involved.
The pre-rodeo section will see local talent participating in events such as the junior barrel race and mutton bustin'. The youngsters competing in these events appreciate your attendance and support, and it is great to watch the youngsters of the community in these events.
It might not be too long before we see these young people competing in a professional capacity. Sundre is a community, and we know from the comments we have received the pre-rodeo section is appreciated.
The Sundre Professional Rodeo boasts 4 performances, which will be held this year over a 3 day weekend beginning on Friday, June 24th and concluding on Sunday, June 26th.
The Friday evening performance begins at 6:30 with the pre-rodeo performance, immediately followed at 7 p.m. with the professional rodeo. Saturday afternoon begins with the pre-rodeo entertainment at 12:30 with professional rodeo kicking off at 1 p.m.
The Saturday evening performance goes right into professional rodeo at 7 p.m. Sunday afternoon starts with the pre-rodeo at 12:30 p.m. and professional rodeo at 1 p.m.
We will be adding the horse race this year, and that event is always exciting to watch.
Don't forget the overrun performance, or “slack”, which takes place at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning. Admission to the slack performance is free.
The Friday evening performance is Family Day, as well as “Wear Red to Support our Troops”. Sundre was the first pro-rodeo to bring “wear red Friday's” to professional rodeo to honor our armed forces.
Saturday is “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” day in support and awareness of cancer.
The ever popular BS Bingo will be held again. Our local Sobey's hosts the Saturday morning pancake breakfast and the Sundre Chamber of Commerce hosts Saturday morning's big parade. Follow up Saturday's 2 rodeo performances by kicking up your heels at the Cowboy Cabaret at the arena.
There will be a beer garden at the rodeo grounds along with free parking and RV camping for those that choose to stay the whole weekend. Let's not forget to celebrate Mountain View County's 50th birthday this weekend, too.
The drill team, our own Go Wild! Go West! Riders have been working since late winter and early spring honing their skills in preparation for the rodeo.
Thanks to these gals and the committee rep assisting them. The crowning of Sundre royalty will also take place Friday evening at the rodeo.
Thanks to Jo Lawes for continuing to work with this committee and exhibiting the professionalism our Sundre royalty competitors have become well known for. One of our own girls, and a past Miss Rodeo Sundre, Arleta Bowhay, will be putting Sundre on the map this year as she vies for the crown of Miss Rodeo Canada this November.
We know Arleta will do very well; she is a true cowgirl, great gal, and has been so willing to assist with various community events over the course of her young life. Arleta will be a wonderful ambassador for both the rodeo world and this community.
Franklin Rodeo Company Ltd. is Sundre's major stock contractor and brings with him North America's top animal athletes.
Outlaw Buckers Corporation rodeo contractors are assisting in providing additional world class stock. Pengelly provides the stock for our novice bareback and bronc riders.
Raymond Havens, and Chute 9 provide the timed event stock. Local cattlemen are also involved with Bruce Burrell providing the cow milking stock. Top cowboys from North America compete at the Sundre Rodeo to take home the gold and those great Gist buckles.
Professional rodeo announcer, Wes Cummings, will keep you informed and entertained throughout the rodeo. The comments we heard from rodeo fans by providing a scoreboard at last year's rodeo with the capability of replay was well received, and we will again have Riata Creek Scoreboards providing this technology in 2011.
Sundre Professional Rodeo is definitely a community event. On behalf of our committee, I would like to say special thanks to our sponsors, for without you, we could not showcase professional rodeo in our community.
Your willingness to assist year after year to produce the biggest annual event in Sundre is crucial for the committee to ensure we have this weekend.
To rodeo committee members, thank you, and thank you again. Preparation for next year's rodeo begins the moment we close the final performance of this one.
Your hard work, dedication and volunteer efforts do not go unnoticed. I think everyone notices the annual facility upgrades that occur at these rodeo grounds and we're all very proud of that. There are also many service clubs and organizations in the Sundre community that assist in presenting this weekend to you, along with multitudes of other volunteers. Thank you to those people.
Rodeo is part of our western heritage, and, thank goodness, it is alive and well. The biggest thanks are reserved for the rodeo fans, thank you for your support by attending, and thank you for providing us with your comments that help us to continually improve.
The committee will be making some enhancements near the main grandstand this year that will make it easier for our fans to enjoy this great show. Please join us in making the 32nd edition of the Sundre Pro Rodeo the best ever! Hang onto your hats and be prepared to Go Wild! Go West!
