SUNDRE – For the first and possibly only time ever, the annual community parade will be embarking along a new, temporary route.
The parade’s procession, which always runs on the Saturday of the annual Sundre Pro Rodeo, has historically made its way east on the Highway 27-Main Avenue corridor from a staging area on the west side of town near the municipal office before looping back around to the starting point along Myron Thompson Avenue, or 1st Avenue NW.
But construction crews contracted by Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors are currently hard at work on the $11-plus million Highway 27 overhaul, leaving the road in no condition to safely accommodate the parade.
So parade organizers have since last October been working alongside the rodeo committee to determine a suitable alternate route and planned accordingly.
“The only way we can do it is on 12th Avenue (NE) coming right around and going back up to James River Road,” said Moe Fahey, Sundre’s events and festivals coordinator.
The procession will go down 2nd Street NE all the way to 5th Avenue NE before coming up Centre Street and heading back to the staging area.
“It’s 2.5 kilometres – it’s the same distance as the original route,” said Fahey.
The staging area will be situated immediately north of town where Centre Street becomes James River Road.
“James River Road will be blocked off from (Township Road) 332,” she said.
Including all of the dignitaries as well as royalty from various other rodeos, there are dozens of entries in the parade, which takes place Saturday, June 21.
“We got over 60 entries. It’s awesome,” she said, adding that on the docket are the Red Deer Royals concert and marching band as well as the Calgary show wagon and horses.
Fahey said she’s already got some more bands lined up for 2026.
“Next year we’ll have more bands,” she said. “The bands are coming back to Sundre.”
While this year’s parade was changed up on account of construction, the annual pancake breakfast will still be held over at Freson Bros. starting at 7 a.m. since hauling everything over to the Myron Thompson Health Centre was logistically speaking too cumbersome, she said.
But the parade doesn’t get started until 10 a.m., so people have plenty of time to make their way over to the northeast to find a spot from which to watch.
“There’s ample parking over there,” she said.
Facilitating the whole effort are four senior volunteers in charge of the parade’s staging area.
“You give them a task to do, and they fulfill it,” she said.
“The volunteers are just phenomenal,” she said. “They’re a lot of fun.”
They will have a list of numbers corresponding with all the entries.
“They’ll make sure everybody’s in line,” she said.
“Nothing better than having a senior putting somebody in line,” she said with a laugh.
And in case anyone’s wondering, this year’s revised route was the exception to the rule.
“Next year, it’s back where it normally is.”
