Most years across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, the spring and summer are filled with rodeo events over the weekend. In 2020, rodeos all across Canada were cancelled due to Covid-19.
For the first time in over 100 years, the Calgary Stampede was cancelled as a result of the pandemic, but for the time being it鈥檚 set to take place in 2021. Along with the Stampede, other rodeos could be back this year too.
The Canadian Cowboys Association is Canada鈥檚 largest semi-pro and pro rodeo association and has been around since 1963, promoting rodeos鈥攊t consists of 900 members. It sanctions events across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia鈥攊ncluding seven major events and five optional, novice, and junior events per year鈥攁nd draws over 850,000 spectators from the Western U.S., Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and all over Canada.
In 2020, it had to cancel its entire slate of events鈥攖he Canadian Cowboys Association sanctions over 50 rodeo events in prairie communities. Every fall it hosts its Championship Finals in Swift Current and has thousands of spectators.
The unknowns around what comes next with the pandemic and provincial guidelines will mean nothing is set in stone, but the Canadian Cowboys Association is preparing as if there will be a season and remains hopeful events can run, even if they鈥檙e at a lesser extent.
鈥淲e鈥檙e being hopeful that rodeos will happen this year and what we鈥檙e looking at is if rodeos will be able to run as outdoor events with spectators,鈥� said Lenora Bells of the Canadian Cowboys Association. 鈥淲ith the rodeos that are indoors, we鈥檙e looking at the possibility of switching them to outdoors so that they can have spectators.
鈥淭his is all of course only if the Covid-19 guidelines will allow us to hold these outdoors. We鈥檙e being cautiously optimistic. We鈥檝e been in touch with our rodeo communities鈥攚e have about 50 of them鈥攁nd we鈥檝e been communicating with the committees that are in charge of the rodeo events.
鈥淎bout half of them have gotten back to us that they plan to go ahead with an outdoor venue as long as they can have at least 100 spectators and they鈥檙e hoping that the government and the health authority will look into increasing that. We鈥檙e just hoping that there will be more flexibility for the outdoor events.
鈥淩ight now the decision for the seven months is coming from the health authority hopefully before the end of February and we鈥檒l go from there. I know that the communities, and even us as an association, are looking at our partnerships and sponsorships in anticipation of rodeos going ahead and we鈥檙e also planning to go ahead with the finals in October in Swift Current.鈥�
The importance of rodeo events across communities in the prairies cannot be underestimated, they help the local economy by driving more business into town.
Bells says they鈥檙e working to ensure all communities are able to host some sort of event as long as the guidelines allow and they鈥檙e ready to adjust venues and shift dates if need be.
鈥淥ur board has met a couple times already over this and we just continue to plan for having rodeos,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t would be great to have all of them happen. We have two that happen in April that are indoors and they鈥檙e looking at just rescheduling to a different date later in the summer.
鈥淪o there might be some rescheduling happening too so the communities can have rodeos and some kind of festival to gather the community together. They鈥檙e definitely big for these communities鈥攐ur subcontractors, our judges, our pickup men, our secretaries, everybody is just chomping at the bit to get out there.鈥�
Bells thinks it鈥檚 important for the Canadian Cowboys Association to try and do something this year if they鈥檙e able to because even if it鈥檚 a smaller rodeo, it鈥檚 better than nothing and people haven鈥檛 been able to look forward to local events in a long time. She says some communities have even begun prepping for their yearly rodeo as they remain hopeful the spring and summer will bring a safer atmosphere.
鈥淪ome of the communities are already selling, not tickets to the rodeo, but they鈥檙e having fundraisers,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome of the communities are doing that where you can buy a raffle ticket and win something. I know some communities are starting to do that. We鈥檙e keeping in touch with the communities and we have social media to keep up with.
鈥淲e encourage all our communities and members to follow our social media鈥攚e have over 600 cowgirl and cowboy members, subcontractors, etc.鈥攁nd this can keep everybody up to date. So we encourage everybody to keep an eye on that and continue to be optimistic that even if it鈥檚 at a smaller scale, we can still plan on something happening. Everybody is ready to get together, but in a safe way so that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e figuring out.鈥�
It鈥檚 not an easy task for the Canadian Cowboys Association to plan rodeos and guide communities in four different provinces through this because of the unknowns ahead. There鈥檚 a few months until the season begins, but there鈥檚 no way of knowing what travel restrictions and numbers for gatherings will look like for each province.
Still, Bells doesn鈥檛 think it would do any good to wait around to hear what they might be able to do in the coming months, they鈥檇 rather plan and ensure if they can do something then they will. She says for those in the rodeo community, communication is key as they move forward and encourages people to stay posted for updates through their social media channels.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing is planning like we鈥檙e having a season so the planning process is happening,鈥� she said.
鈥淔or the dates of the rodeos, we鈥檒l be going from last season鈥檚 dates鈥攚hich now would be the 2019 dates鈥攚e鈥檒l be posting those again on our website so people can see where the rodeos might be happening. If people want to look at that previous schedule, they can judge where and when rodeos might be happening.鈥�
