Ag Society CEO reports another successful year for Strathmore Stampede

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Praising his team for their hard work and dedication to the event, Strathmore and District Agricultural Society CEO, Doug Raycroft, explained he is excited to see this year’s event as another smash hit. 

“Everything came together; luckily we have had great weather, the stands have been full all Saturday and Sunday – we completely sold out; we are having really great performances on the rodeo and chuckwagons, so everything is going great,” he said. 

To a similar extent, the Running With the Bulls sold out of spots for participants for both days of its operation and attracted thousands to the grandstand to watch.

Around the grounds, Raycroft added they decided to make no small use of the curling arena for its air conditioning and wine cellar, which turned into a popular asset. This was also utilized to host the Premier’s brunch while Danielle Smith and her team were in town. 

Between the rodeos and chuckwagon races, he emphasized the presence of activities, games and the food trucks around the heritage village to keep attendees occupied and fed. 

“I felt like things were going pretty smoothly; our rodeo committee works really hard; last year they had a lot of weather that delayed them in a lot of their preparation … at least this year, they did a great job again, but they were a bit ahead of schedule,” said Raycroft. “It is a big event; there are obviously lots of things to learn, but we are doing great. We have a great team. Strathmore is an amazing place; we have over 300 volunteers that basically make this place run.”

Raycroft added the over 75 sponsors also play a tremendous role in being able to host an event of this scale, which, by and large, is not an inexpensive endeavor. 

He joked however, that unlike in several previous years, the team was not required to do any emergency beer runs and felt better prepared to handle demand.