The Barrhead and District Agricultural Society has gone to great effort to make sure this year’s annual Blue Heron Fair Days has something for everyone, but president Randy Schmidt said at the heart of the event is the rodeo.
The Blue Heron Fair Days Rodeo runs Aug. 10 and 11, with action beginning at 1 p.m. each day. In addition to the main rodeo on Aug. 11, there will be a slack competition for the overflow competitors that couldn’t make it in the main event.
Although Schmidt said the rodeo has always been able to attract some of the area’s best rodeo-ers, organizers have upped the ante.
“For the first time, the Blue Heron Fair Days rodeo is sanctioned or approved by the Wildrose Rodeo Association (WRA) and the Lakeland Rodeo Association (LRA),” he said.
What this means, is that carded-athletes from both associations are not only able to compete in the rodeo, but gain points towards their prospective championships.
“We are hoping this change will attract some high-quality LRA competitors,” Schmidt said.
He added the organizers have also added to the pot of prize money for each event, which organizers hope will increase the number of participants.
In the past, prize money for the rodeo consisted of the participant’s entry fee plus a stipend provided by the organizers or sponsors. The top finishers in each event, in addition to receiving championship points, receive a percentage of the pot. For example, in a “four-holer” event the winner would receive 40 per cent of the pot.
This year the organizers have increased their contribution to $1,000, up from $750.
“That might not sound like a lot, but consider many of the cowboys that come to these rodeos enter into more than one event,” Schmidt said.
The organizers believe that these additions, along with the Miller Rodeo Company’s reputation for providing some of the best and competitive stock animals, will mean a substantial increase in competitors.
“So far it seems to be working,” he said, noting he received a significant number of calls from people wishing to enter.
However, Schmidt said perhaps the most popular events at the rodeo involve children.
Children’s events include a boot and calf scramble, wild pony races and mutton busting or sheep riding.
The boot scramble is where children take off their shoes, put them in the middle of the rodeo arena in a large pile where they are mixed up, and then race to find them and put them on. The winner gets a new pair of cowboy boots.
The calf scramble is where a large group of children chase a calf around the arena in an attempt to be first to grab a ribbon from its tail. The winner gets a new bicycle. The wild pony race is a timed event where a group of three children help coral a pony to allow a rider to mount it. Sheep riding is similar to saddle bronc riding in that that the goal is for the rider to stay on their steed for eight seconds.
As a memento for competing, each child receives a special belt buckle.
“As we say, when the kids come, we will have something for them to get into the dirt,” he said.
Schmidt concluded by encouraging people to attend the Ag. Society’s concert “Boot Bash” featuring country music performers Donny Lee and Abbey Powell.
The net proceeds of the concert will go towards helping pay for the renovations at the Bablitz Exhibition Hall which was named after long-time Town of Barrhead councillor and Ag. society president Adolf Bablitz.
“He was a great supporter of not only the society but the fair, and if it were not for him, it wouldn’t be what it is today,” he said.
