Moosomin rodeo coming up this weekend
July 5, 2016, 2:09 am
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Moosomin’s Rodeo Weekend is coming up this weekend—July 8 and 9—and is shaping up to be a busy weekend in Moosomin.
The weekend will kick off with the Town of Moosomin barbecue over the lunch hour on Friday.
The town will be donating the proceeds to Elks Senior Housing, which provides low-cost senior housing in Moosomin.
July 8 and 9 will be the 23rd annual Moosomin Rodeo Weekend.
Friday will feature rodeo action at 6:30 p.m., and the Back 40 Drifters will perform in the beer gardens following the rodeo.
Saturday morning will kick off with a pancake breakfast at the fire hall starting at 7 a.m. hosted by the Moosomin Fire Department.
After the pancake breakfast on Saturday morning will be the Chamber of Commerce Rodeo Parade.
Parade participants will meet in the parking lot of McNaughton High School at 9 a.m. and the parade will begin at 10 a.m.
The parade will be followed by the chamber’s pingpong ball drop in downtown Moosomin at 11:15 a.m. where pingpong balls will be dropped from a lift.
Each pingpong ball will be good for a special or offer at a local business or various prizes. One will be worth $1,000 in Moosomin Bucks. There are many other prizes. For example, one pingpong ball can be exchanged for an autographed photo of Graeme McDowell.
Following the pingpong ball drop, the Shrine Band participating in the parade will be putting on a short performance, and then the international community will put on a program in the parking lot behind the Moosomin Family Practice Centre.
A stage will be set up and different communities will offer a taste of their cultures.
The Filipino, South African, Korean, Latin American and Ukranian communities will all participate.
The different international communities got together to come up with a plan to try to share a little bit of their culture.
The event is being planned to give the public a bit of an insight into the cultures of some of the newcomers to Moosomin over the last few years.
Back at the Rodeo grounds, there will be a bucking bull futurity at 1 p.m. Saturday, Moosomin Rodeo Idol at 2:30, and the second rodeo performance at 6:30 p.m. The weekend will wrap up with a Saturday night cabaret featuring Fenton Martens.
This weekend will be particularly busy in the Moosomin area as, besides the rodeo events, the Fleming Jets and the Predators will both be hosting tournaments.
Derek Smart, president of the Moosomin Rodeo Committee says a lot of work goes into the event each year, but over the years the rodeo has been able to make some major improvements at the rodeo grounds, which is a big help.
“Most of the work has been getting the infrastructure set up,” he says. “In the past the committee has had to take a week off to do things like set up a tent and to do all the work at the grounds. Since we have the rough stock panels at the north end of the arena and we’ve redone our timed event on the south end, and now that we’ve got the beer gardens shelters set up a couple years ago, it took a little extra work from a couple of us, but we were able to get it all done, and now we do two or three work bees. As far as the work on site, it’s pretty easy now. Le Kamagra est disponible économiquement. Vous pouvez acheter Kamagra en ligne sans ordonnance en France depuis peu https://pilemeds.com/commander-kamagra-moins-cher.html .
“The biggest thing is mostly planning. It’s just logistics, lining everyone up.
“Our biggest thing now is the bleachers, the bigger ones are worse for wear. We’re renting a couple this year but we’re trying to get some donations from some corporations and see if we can get some money raised for that.”
Smart says adding some new rodeo committee members who have a background in rodeo has also added to the event in recent years.
“They’ve been able to bring in some expertise and advice on how we’re able to better the rodeo and make it more attractive.
“We’ve done some things to encourage more contestants as well as add novice bull riding to try and help get the younger generation in it as well.”
A core committee of volunteers makes the event happen each year, but community members are called on to also help out.
“Our main committee consists of 12-14 people and we’ve got another 8-10 who are at the work bees the week and a half or the week before, and to work the gates or beer gardens we call on the community and we are able to fill 50-60 spots there,” says Smart.
Why do the volunteers do it each year?
“I think a big thing is making it fun. People enjoy wanting to be a part of the group and we try to make it as enjoyable as possible and I think that really helps.
“As well, I think people want to see Moosomin as a community succeed and rodeo and the fireworks seem to be two of the main flagship events that go on in our area. We seem to get calls every year about people having class reunions and things like that and having them on the same weekend, so there seems to be a lot of community support, and that all kind of helps make it what it is.”
