ESTEVAN - The Estevan Exhibition Association (EEA) is going to have a rodeo this year.
The association recently announced on its Facebook page that events will be happening from Sept. 3-5, as part of the Kakeyow Cowboys Rodeo Association (KCRA) rodeo tour.
EEA president Tamera Huber said the annual parade is scheduled for Sept. 3. The rodeo will begin with a slack performance in the morning of Sept. 4, and there will be rodeo performances in the evening of Sept. 4 and 5, starting at 5 p.m. each day.
“We are trying to pull this off in just a few weeks, so we are nailing down the details right now,” Huber told the Mercury.
There will also be a rodeo cabaret on Sept. 4, with Third Degree Birnz performing. Beer gardens will be on site each day, and they hope to have food trucks.
The KCRA is a more family-friendly rodeo, she said, so there’s going to be more kids around, and she also expects to have more competitors.
“They had a vacant spot on the September long weekend, so we decided to try this,” she said.
Huber hopes the rodeo will give Estevan a taste of what to expect from the KCRA, as it will be the rodeo circuit for Estevan moving forward.
The EEA felt confident it could have a rodeo because the public health restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have been lifted in Saskatchewan. The rodeo and the Estevan Fair are the association’s biggest fundraisers of the year, and they haven’t had any fundraisers since the pandemic hit nearly 17 months ago.
“It will keep us alive. Our volunteers are itching to do something, and we just wanted to bring some entertainment into this city,” she said.
The EEA has been around for over 100 years, and the people of Estevan and the surrounding areas have supported the organization throughout its history.
“This year, I feel like it’s more important than ever to support us, and we look forward to seeing everybody. We miss everybody,” said Huber.
She’s not sure how big this year’s rodeo will be, because people want to get out and do something, and they could see a lot of competitors, because they’re eager to perform.
There will not be a midway as part of the rodeo weekend, because they are committed to West Coast Amusements, which has been the midway provider for more than 20 years. And West Coast Amusements is committed to Estevan moving forward, she said.
“We enjoy working with them and it just wasn’t going to work for them (this year). It’s costly to run a midway,” said Huber.
The Domestics Show, which is always a big part of the fair days, won’t be happening because the exhibition hall was previously rented out.
They have discussed other ideas for the rodeo weekend, and Huber asks people to appreciate what the EEA is doing.
The EEA previously announced its intention to have the Estevan Fair and Rodeo together for the first time in more than 20 years at an event called the Energy City Ex., with West Coast Amusements supplying the midway and the KCRA bringing the rodeo.
But the pandemic forced the cancellation of the Energy City Ex. in 2020 and 2021.
