SUNDRE – “Everything seems to be falling nicely into place” for the 45th edition of the Sundre Pro Rodeo, which starts this evening and will this year be spread out over four days, said an organizer.
“We’re going to move to a fourth performance, which is something new for us this year,” said Scott Smith, vice-president of the Sundre Rodeo and Race Association.
Previously getting the show started on Friday evening, organizers opted to kick off the rodeo on Thursday night.
Additionally, contenders will be competing for the highest-ever cash prizes offered by the Sundre Pro Rodeo.
“Last year we were $8,000 for each event. This year, we’ve bumped that up to $10,000,” he said, adding Sundre was the fifth highest paying rodeo in Canada in 2024.
“That’s a big step up, which will continue to see Sundre attracts the top cowboys and cowgirls from around the world.”
Since registrations had not yet wrapped up at the time when he spoke with the Albertan, Smith could not say with certainty how many competitors were on the docket this year, but added there were more than 600 entries last year.
“And we’re expecting this year that we’ll have probably the same amount, if not more,” he said, later adding the growth in the number of contestants over the years was a major factor in deciding to spread the rodeo out over four days.
“We’ve had such demand from contestants trying to enter that our three performances became very long,” he said, adding there also used to be an afternoon and an evening performance on Saturday, which made for a long shift.
“What we found with our volunteers is that a lot of people just got burned out,” he said, adding organizers strove to strike a balance between seeking to ensure volunteers remained engaged while also making room for contenders.
“We don’t want to turn away professional cowboys and cowgirls that want to come to Sundre,” he said.
So having two evening performances on Thursday and Friday followed by two afternoon shows on Saturday and Sunday “gives us the ability to take and allow for more contestants to enter, but it’s also easier for our volunteers and our committee members to spread things out.”
Endeavouring to deliver fast-paced performances also drove the decision not to include any contract acts like trick riders this year, he said.
“We were trying to shorten our performances,” he said. “A lot of feedback that we got was that our performances were really long. So we’re trying to tighten things up.”
Providing some entertainment throughout the performances will be rodeo clown Ash “Crash” Cooper.
“This is his first visit to Sundre. He’s been at Ponoka for many years. So we’re pretty excited to welcome him this year.”
And there will of course be some live music with Dane von Hagen performing Friday night at the Wildhorse Saloon and Drew Gregory taking to the stage on Saturday night during the cabaret.
Weather permitting and depending on fire restrictions or bans, the annual fireworks show is scheduled for Friday night at dusk.
Smith said that as much as the committee loves the rodeo, organizers also want to support Sundre.
“Having the rodeo in town means that people are coming. They’re spending money,” he said.
“It’s helping the local economy and that’s equally as important as it is having the rodeo in Sundre.”
