The new rodeo grounds are coming together, with the arena nearly complete and the bleachers set to arrive in the next few weeks.
The new setup, located at the municipal snow dump, adjacent to Whistlers Campground, was approved by Parks Canada in the spring, allowing the 89-year-old Jasper Heritage Rodeo to return to its roots.
For the past 37 years, the rodeo was held in the Jasper Arena. But, prior to that, it was held outdoors, where the Whistlers Campground is now.
“It’s extremely exciting to see it back outside,” said Dallas Klassen, chair of the rodeo association. “It’s all slowly starting to fall into place.”
Construction of the rodeo grounds began last month and has been moving quickly, with three-quarters of the arena complete.
Klassen said he’s waiting for permits to start building an announcers stand and for the bleachers to arrive, so they can be built and put into place.
He thanked all of the volunteers that have helped to date and said the association could use the community’s continued support in the coming weeks, as it puts the finishing touches on the grounds.
This year the rodeo runs from Aug. 12–15.
On Aug. 11, there will be an open house, allowing people to check out the new setup and tour the chutes.
The rodeo association has long wanted to move the event outdoors, but it took a structure fire at the Jasper Arena for the ball to finally start rolling in that direction.
In January 2014, there was a fire in the Zamboni room, resulting in a significant amount of smoke damage and, consequently, a large-scale commercial cleaning of the facility—the first to happen in the arena’s 50-year existence.
Following that cleaning, the municipality was concerned about the dust and dirt that gets kicked up over the four-day rodeo and made a push to move the event outdoors, passing a motion to contribute $10,000 to the rodeo association’s efforts to find an outdoor location. But, that motion was passed too late, leaving the association with little time to work with Parks before its August event.
So, the 2014 rodeo was held in the arena—on the condition that the association seek out a new outdoor venue for 2015.
A few locations were considered before Parks settled on the snow dump, where the rodeo association already has a small leasehold where it stores its dirt and steel pens year-round.
The majority of the arena fits on that leasehold, and the rodeo association hopes that it will be able to leave it up all year, reducing the amount of set-up that’s required each summer.
Anyone interested in volunteering with the heritage rodeo association, either during setup or the event, is encouraged to contact Klassen at 780-931-6210.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
