Strathmore Stampede wraps, sets fifth straight attendance record

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Stampede has come to a close, setting an attendance record for the fifth straight year running, and was regarded by Ryan Schmidt, president and CEO of the Strathmore Agricultural Society, as possibly the most exciting iteration of the event ever. 

“The Running With the Bulls was amazing, and that is partially why there were only two heats. The bulls had been a little more tame the last few years and we thought maybe they were not energetic enough for the crowd,” he said. “This year we asked our contractor – we need to bring a little more game for these bulls – but when they showed up, the bulls that were in the last heat were so big and so mean that we actually called it (off) – we couldn’t let those bulls out in the ring like we thought; they might tear the entire place apart.”

Schmidt added the rodeo and chuckwagons had each fully sold out across the Saturday and Sunday. Additionally, the debut of the new infield suites he explained was a massive success. 

As usual, going forward the Strathmore Stampede team aims to keep coming up with new ideas to bring fun and interesting entertainment to the grounds for Stampede patrons. 

“You try certain things and some are a hit, like the mechanical bull has been so popular every year so we bring that back, but then we swap other things up,” he said. “Really, we are moving towards trying to do more of an agricultural theme in our general grounds, so kind of the Ag Faire look of things. We are always looking for new activities for kids and families on that front.”

Every year with an event of this scale, there is bound to be something that runs amiss. Schmidt explained there were complications with some of the generators sent out to the Ag Grounds which resulted in the loss of audio during the national anthem for Friday’s rodeo. 

“There are always things you can do in the background, but for us, as long as we put on a great show for our fans, they are not going to fuss too much about that stuff,” he added. “They want to see a great rodeo, great chuckwagons, listen to great music, and I think we delivered that this year.”

Similar to previous years, the Strathmore Stampede team had continued the trend of needing to go on a beer run mid event to resupply as they had sold out.

Schmidt also expressed his thanks to the greater than 400 volunteers who came out to help in making the Strathmore Stampede possible this year.