Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Days hits a home run

By Miriam Ostermann, Times Associate Editor

Cowboy hats, boots and belt buckles made up a larger-than-ever sea of patrons at Strathmore’s largest annual community event, made possible due to hundreds of volunteers, committee heads and staff logging countless hours of overtime.
Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Days once again had a favourable attendance record with patrons coming from all over the world, according to the Strathmore and District Agricultural Society.
While the weekend featured all the regular expectations, such as the food trucks, entertainment, a tradeshow and children’s activities, the event also introduced their first ever lip sync contest while bringing back the monster trucks and a single header rodeo format.
“We think that was positive and enabled us to attract a strong contingent of cowboys and cowgirls, and so the best times and scores went out and that enabled us to have cowboys here that maybe wouldn’t have otherwise,” said Herb McLane, general manager with the Strathmore and District Agricultural Society and general manager of the Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Days.
“The one thing that we also worked on very diligently was the communication internally with all the stakeholders. I think this is very important for the success of an event like this that has many moving parts to it, and have good transparent discussions about the program and what’s working and what’s not working. Overall we are really gratified by the response of not only the community but the rodeo community.”
McLane added that a high caliber of cowboy and cowgirl athletes, putting more resources into ground management, drawing awareness to the changes – such as the rodeo format – and participating weather likely had an impact on the turnout of the event.
Last year’s unfortunate rainy weather resulted in the cancellation of the fan-favourite Running with the Bulls event. That returned this year with much fervor as a total of 121 brave contestants stepped into the arena and took the bulls by the horns – some of them literally.
Strathmore and area’s local cowboys and cowgirls, including Tate Hartell, Scott Schiffner, Kristen Gjerde, Riley Sibbet, Denver Johnson and Riley Roy, took to the arena to compete in bareback, bull riding, ladies barrel racing, steer riding and team roping.
“It’s a huge economic shot in the arm from the fans that come to Strathmore to watch this event, whether it’d be gas stations, hotels, restaurants or other service providers,” said McLane. “It’s a welcome economic boost for all of those folks to benefit from visitors to the community.”
The grounds also featured hypnotist Colin Christopher, the Little Buckaroos, a kids tractor pull, the Superdogs, Cobb’s Travelling Adventure Park, a capella group HOJA, Running of the Dachshunds and the magic of Aaron Matthews.
Members of the Strathmore town council and the Siksika Nation chief and council could also be spotted together in a booth in the grandstands taking in the excitement of the rodeo and chuckwagons.
“I think it went very well and the crowd seemed to be a bit larger… they seemed to be enjoying the rodeo and chuckwagons, so that’s good to see,” said Mayor Michael Ell. “It’s very important to have a successful event, and the agricultural society in turn provided a full range of entertainment for everybody that came to the grounds.”
The Strathmore Heritage Days Rodeo and annual fair came into conception in 1966. It turned professional when it was sanctioned by the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association in 1985 and added the World Professional Chuckwagon Association in 1988. Then, 14 years ago, Strathmore introduced the Running with the Bulls – an adaptation of the infamous Pamplona event in Spain.
Well before the last horse trailer left the grounds, the Strathmore and District Agricultural Society already began planning for next year’s event.