By Stephanie Stevens
The Calgary Stampede may be over, but the cowboys have arrived and the rodeo is just about to start in downtown Invermere.
The 24th annual Bull Riding in the Rockies starts up at 4:30 on Friday, July 19 and there will be plenty of bull riding, music, Indigenous dancers and tasty chow to make for a great evening for the entire family.
The event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Columbia Valley Rockies, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Junior A team, and president Brett Holt said despite a few early setbacks everything is absolutely on track.
“I am so proud of how the new board has come together so quickly to make sure Bull Riding in the Rockies happens tomorrow night”, said Holt. “We had a few significant challenges this year, including an engineering report which showed we needed to rebuild our bleachers. Suddenly we had a $50,000 plus expense we were not anticipating.”
But the bleachers are built, painted and in place, the chutes are ready to go, the stage is set up and the tent is ready for the musical main event — The Cole Malone Band.
Malone’s upbeat style of music combines contemporary with western influences, making for a high energy performance perfect for dancing.
Tryg Strand will open things up on stage at 4:30, followed by the Columbia River Headwater Dancers.
Tisha Tardif, language coordinator for the Shuswap Band, has stepped up to help arrange for the young dancers to showcase their skill at 5:30.
“Our youth have been working really hard on their skills and are so keen to dance for the community at the bull riding,” she said. “Dancing is a vital part of our culture and we adults and the kids take a lot of pride in their achievements.”
Vendors for the event include Cascading Mini Donuts, Columbia Valley Rockies Cookout, Smokehouse 93, Sweet Mountain Ice, Valley Dawgs, and Pizzeria Mercato. The Rockies will be flipping burgers and the sweet smell of mini doughnuts will also fill the air with those oh-so-rodeo aromas.
Mercato pizza by the slice will be available later in the evening.
The bulls and cowboys will take to the arena after the dancers at about 6:15 p.m. and continue until about 8:30 to 9 p.m., said Holt.
“The volunteers, coaches and players that stayed in the valley after the playoffs have worked really, really hard,” said Holt. “And the community support for the team continues to be phenomenal. We wouldn’t have a Junior A team here without it.”
Tickets were nearly sold out at press time but if you haven’t got yours, you can visit showpass.com and search for CV Rockies Bull Riding 2024.
