Jasper’s rodeo is a rubber stamp away from moving outdoors.
Parks Canada has approved a location in principle and has drafted a three-year contract that would see the Jasper Heritage Rodeo move to the “snow dump”—the piece of land adjacent to Whistlers Campground, where the municipality deposits its snow each winter.
“It’s been finalized that that’s where we’re going, but nothing’s been signed yet,” said Dallas Klassen, president of the rodeo association. “They’re working out the fine details of the paperwork now.”
Parks is just waiting on some additional information from the Jasper Heritage Rodeo Association before it makes its final decision, said Parks representative Kavitha Palanisamy.
The rodeo association already has a leasehold on a small piece of that land, where it stores its dirt and steel pens. Klassen said the association hopes to build the outdoor arena on that leasehold so that it can stay up year-round, reducing the amount of set-up that’s required each summer.
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 started outdoors and it was outdoors for many years. We’re going back to our roots,” said Klassen.
Although the association long hoped to return the event to the outdoors, it took a structure fire to finally get the ball rolling.
In January 2014, there was a fire in the arena, 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 allowing the rodeo to continue operating in the space because of the dust and dirt that gets kicked up over the four-day event.
So, in an effort to keep the facility clean, council passed 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, despite council’s efforts, the 2014 rodeo was held in the arena, but on the condition that the association complete additional cleaning and seek out a new outdoor venue for 2015.
Klassen said now that a location has been selected, a weight has been lifted and the association is eager to get to work setting up the site and purchasing the necessary infrastructure to create an outdoor arena.
“It’s going to be a lot of work out there this year,” he said, noting that volunteers will have to create a venue from scratch—everything from the announcers booth to the arena, bleachers, parking stalls and concession stands. “So, we’re going to be looking for a lot of volunteers.”
The next step is waiting for all of the snow to melt, so a site plan can be completed and set-up can begin.
Anyone interested in volunteering with the heritage rodeo association or sponsoring this year’s event is encouraged to email [email protected].
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
A previous version of this story did not include a statement from Parks Canada. The comment was made after the Fitzhugh's press deadline and was added April 9.
