It wasn’t their first rodeo.
The population of Fort Assiniboine ballooned on Aug. 19 - 21 when hundreds of people descended on the quaint little town for the annual Hamlet Hoedown and Rodeo.
“The rodeo’s been going on for almost 10 years now, and we put on one hell of a show in a friendly little town. The campsite west of town is full, and look at the people in here. We’re full. It’s amazing,” said Dale Kluin.
Budding rodeo stars competed at the Walsh Park Rodeo Ring in a bid to rack up as many points as possible in their hunt to compete in Barrhead Sept. 15 - 18 for the Wildrose Rodeo Association finals at the Agrena.
“I haven’t been here to the Fort in years. I used to compete as a jr. barrel racer, and now I’m back to compete in the ladies barrel racing. I’m trying to make the WRA finals in Barrhead. It’s the end of the year, so we’re trying to pick up a few extra points,” said Rebecca Paradis from Sangudo.
Paradis finished first in her event with a time of 16.180 seconds.
The rodeo kicked off with an event that really excited the crowd. New this year was the Kids Wild Pony Racing, and it had the crowd hooting and hollering.
“This is such a cute event. I love watching the kids try and control the pony while trying to jump on it. It always makes me laugh,” said Rob Forrester.
Calf roping, bareback, jr. steer riding, steer wrestling, ladies barrels, jr. barrels, peewee barrels, jr. breakaway roping, saddle bronc, team troping and bull riding rounded out the events for opening night of the Hoedown.
“Last year, we probably had more than 600 people come out, and this year it looks as though we’ve gone beyond that. It’s really great to see all these people coming to our great little town,” said Kluin.
The intent of the Fort Assiniboine and District Agricultural Society is to create an atmosphere of fun and friendliness at the rodeo.
“We try and make it as friendly as possible. For instance, we have a lot of free stuff for the kids to do, becasue we don’t want them to have to pay for anything. They have a hoot,” said Kluin.
The action in the ring was tense at times as the crowd spurred on local and out-of-town talent under a sapphire blue sky. The animals were far from friendly, though. The bulls were mean, the horses used for bareback riding were fired up and the crowd loved every minute of it.
“Millers out of Athabasca supplied us with the best stock they can. These people who come here go to a lot of rodeos, and they know when they’re getting a good deal or not. They want to see the best animals,” said Kluin.
The top 10 season finalists in each event will compete to become their event champion at the Barrhead Agrena for the WRA finals.
