Rodeo sells out for 1st time ever

Times Reporter 

 

Success. That’s the main word being tossed around by organizers of the 2013 Strathmore Stampede. There were of course a few growing pains, especially with the inception of reserved rush seating, but all in all things seemed to run smoothly. 

“Our biggest problem, if you can call it a problem, is that we didn’t anticipate so many people coming to the rodeo, we kind of got overwhelmed with spectators which is the best problem you can have. We’ll be a little more ready for them next year,” said Jim Cammaert, chief executive officer for the Strathmore and District Agricultural Society. 

The main problem was not enough seats, and trying to find spots where people could see still see the rodeo. 

“We sold the rodeo out, which was the first time ever in the history (of the rodeo), on Saturday,” said Cammaert. 

There are 6,000 seats available for spectators, but with those standing to watch the show Cammaert is sure there were a lot more people than that at Saturdays event. In addition to running out of seats, extra parking also had to be opened up.

“It would be nice if I could take to the credit for it but I can’t, it’s nothing to do with me, it’s got to do with the overall production and then the weather had a lot to do with it. The weather was semi-perfect for Saturday and Sunday and then the product that we offer is obviously what people are wanting to see,” said Cammaert about why he thinks so many people came out this year. 

“There are a few things that are a little different that they can’t see anywhere else. There’s a big attraction for some people, the adrenaline of Running With the Bulls and that sort of thing.” 

He said it’s kind of a nice feeling that they want to come out and see what the Strathmore Stampede has to offer. There were extra bleachers brought in for Sunday’s event, and Cammaert said they plan to make more seats available for next year’s show. The Ag. Society plans to work on people flow; said Cammaert, when there are that many people coming at one time there is kind of a bottleneck for tickets.

“I think we’re going to look at maybe a way that we can speed up the ticket buying process. That was probably the biggest frustration for people was that they couldn’t get in, in a timely manner, that there wasn’t enough seats,” said Cammaert.

“Which of all things to have happen when you put on a show that’s the best kind of problem to have is too many people. From the people’s standpoint it’s not so good because it kind of overwhelms our systems, we’ll prepare for more people next year and hopefully the weather will bring them.

“Overall it was a big success this year.”