Kindersley’s own Clayton Strutt tries his best to stay on during his ride in the bareback division at last year’s rodeo.
Kevin McBain
of The Clarion
The countdown is on for the 27th annual Kindersley Indoor Rodeo!
We’re just one month away from one of the biggest events to happen in Kindersley this year.
There will be a lot of buckin’, a lot of horsepower and a whole lot of fun to be had, once again, at this year’s event.
Tyler Ritchie, president of the Kindersley Indoor Rodeo Association, says that plans are coming along well.
“Things are going pretty smoothly,” he said. “We should be wrapping up our sponsorship drive near the end of this month, then it is on to getting the dirt in the arena, which should start around the middle of May.”
Last year, the Kindersley event broke its own Canadian Cowboys Association record with more than 400 entries.
The 2018 event will feature all the normal rodeo events including saddle bronc, bareback, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, ladies’ barrel racing, junior girls’ barrel racing, team roping, novice saddle bronc and novice bareback, along with, of course, bull riding. Rodeo action will be held each night – May 24, 25, 26 beginning at 8 p.m. This year’s slack will take place Friday at 8 a.m.
Ritchie says that it should be a lot of fun.
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“We revamped the program a bit, tweaked things to make things run smoother,” he said. “Our goal is to try and get guys through a little faster and make the rodeo nights three hours or less each time.”
If the rodeo action wasn’t quite enough, back in the clown suit in Kindersley is veteran Dennis Halstead.
“We feel that he is one of the best clowns in the business,” he said. “I like that no matter when you see him, he is always
funny. He is very clean, interactive and he likes to blow things up.
“He is also very polished and very good to work with.”
This year’s main contractor of the animals is Big Country Rodeo, the best in the business.
“We have nothing but the highest regard for Big Country,” said Ritchie. “The competition is as good as the animals that are out there. We always trust them to supply us with the very best stock.
“It is not just how they perform in the ring, but also how they behave in the chute and how they do when the cowboy goes to get off at the end of his ride,” he added. “We are always really happy with them.”
This year, in addition, at Saturday’s rodeo barbecue (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) being held at the West Central Events Centre parking lot, there will be a celebrity buck-off on the mechanical bull. All proceeds from this will go to the Big Dippers aquatic fundraising committee.
There will also be face painting, bouncy houses, live music and you can get your chance at the bucking bull as well.
Thursday night is family night once again and all kids under 12 will get in free with a coupon.
That night there will also be a kids calf scramble for everyone under-12.
Friday, the annual downtown rodeo barbecue will be held from 11:30 am. to 2 p.m. on the corner of Third Avenue West and Main Street. During the rodeo, you will see some bullfighters take on the bulls mano-a-mano in the annual freestyle full fighting event.
Saturday’s events, along with the barbecue will also feature the kids’ on foot rodeo, run by a local 4H club. To close the weekend off, the annual indoor rodeo dance will take place at the Co-op arena pad.
Music will be supplied by Mitch Larock and the 4:54 band.
“They are a really good band,” said Ritchie. “We like to support the local guys and they are very good.”
He said that he can’t wait to get things going and would like to thank everyone for their support over the years to make it a success.
“The rodeo committee is very blessed to have the strong backing of our community and the sponsorship that we get each year is incredible,” he said. “Our sponsors show up every year no matter what. We would also like to thank all the fans for coming out and all of the volunteers who work so hard to put on a great weekend show for the competitors and the fans.”
The rodeo has been consistently one of the best in terms of the number of competitors and the money that is paid out.
“We are consistently one of the top rodeos in the CCA in regards to the payouts and numbers of competitors,” he said. “The more contestants, the more money that you can win. We are slotted in to a weekend where there are not a lot of events going on, plus we do allow professional riders to compete, which is a little different than most.”
The local committee adds $3,000 to the payout of every major event and $800 to the junior events – adding up to about $26,000 in additional money that the contestants can take home. This, of course, is in addition to the money put in the pot by the competitors.
Get your boots and hats ready for another exciting rodeo weekend.
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