Despite some early hiccups over the venue, the Jasper Heritage Rodeo Association will welcome cowboys and girls to the Jasper Arena next week for the 88th annual heritage rodeo.
Equipment was brought in over the weekend and set up has begun, so—if you haven’t already—it’s time to dust off your cowboy hat and Wranglers for four days of western-style fun.
Rodeo Week kicks off on Wednesday, Aug. 13 with the stick pony parade at 10 a.m. With their cowboy hats on and their handmade stick ponies tucked between their legs, Jasper’s youth will gallop their way around town, beginning and ending at the Jasper Activity Centre.
The professional rodeo events will begin that evening at 7 p.m. and carry on each night through to Saturday, Aug. 16.
Each night, rodeo-goers will see seven professional events, including bareback, tie down roping, team roping, ladies barrels, saddle bronc, steer wrestling and bull riding.
On Saturday, the Jasper Volunteer Fire Brigade is hosting its annual pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at the Emergency Services Building, with proceeds going toward the Alberta Hospital Burn Unit.
Following the breakfast, is the Li’l Britches Corral, which is making a comeback after a one-year hiatus. From 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. families are invited to the Jasper Arena to meet the rodeo clown, as well as the rodeo queen and princess. At the event, there will be all kinds of interactive activities for kids, including a mobile display provided by ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric.
The week will wrap up that evening with the rodeo dance in the curling arena. Canadian country star Blake Berglund is back for a second year to provide the entertainment, after he burned the barn down last year with his energetic performance.
Rodeo tickets will be on sale Wednesday through Saturday.
They’ll be available in the lobby of the Athabasca Hotel from noon until 4 p.m., and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the door.
This is the Jasper Heritage Rodeo’s 24th year as a professional rodeo, and its 88th year in existence.
Originally, the rodeo was held outdoors at what is now the Whistlers Campground. According to the Jasper Heritage Rodeo website, the event made the move indoors in 1977 when the Jasper Curling Club took it over.
The Jasper Lions Club became involved in 1985 and in 1991 the rodeo became a professional event.
The purpose of the rodeo has been to generate funds for other groups and community organizations, but in recent years it has struggled to make ends meet, let alone give out grants.
Part of that struggle was an increase in the rental fee for the Jasper Arena. That increase came after the municipality did a Services and Structural Review, which showed it had been undercharging for years.
Things were further complicated for the rodeo association when the arena caught fire Jan. 26. That fire created a significant amount of fire damage and required a top-to-bottom commercial cleaning of the facility.
Now that it’s spick and span, the municipality is keen to keep it that way and administration advised council that that is impossible as long as the rodeo continues to operate in the facility under its current contract. So, this year additional cleaning was added to deal with the dust that’s kicked up over the four-day event.
Council has also asked the rodeo association to pursue an outdoor venue for future rodeos, to alleviate the issue all together. The rodeo association is working with Parks Canada to make that a reality for 2015.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
