The largest rodeo on the BCRA circuit is in Prince George this weekend.
The top amateur riders and ropers in Western Canada will gather at Exhibition Park rodeo grounds at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for the Huber Equipment Rodeo Prince George.
Sanctioned by the B.C. Rodeo Association, Bull Riders Canada and the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association novice program, this is the third annual rodeo event for Prince George and the sixth stop on the 15-event BCRA schedule.
Close to 450 contestants are registered for the weekend.
“It’s the biggest BCRA rodeo in the province, we’ve got almost 40 bull riders in two days and another 16 steer riders on top of that, we call them baby bull riders, so there will be lots of rough stock,” said Kevin Cunin, president of the Prince George Western Heritage Society.
“Most rodeos so far this rear have averaged two or there bareback riders and we have eight in the two days (four per day), just like the saddle broncs. There’s just not a lot of those boys out there, there’s not a lot of opportunities.”
Dwayne Sorken of Grande Prairie is supplying the rough stock. The timed event cattle is coming from Quesnel contractor Gary Nickolson.
The rodeo features bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, novice bull riding, junior steer riding, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, junior and open breakaway roping, team roping, peewee/novice/open barrel racing.
“We’re excited, with the rain this week we’ve worked the arena and the moisture is just about perfect,” said Cunin. “It makes for really good safe ground and fast runs.”
Dom St. Amand and Jonathan Cole will be the co-announcers behind the mic.
Tickets are available online. Day passes range in price from $17.13-$45.69 or a two-day pass ranges from $22.84-$85.66. Kids five and under are admitted free.
Cunin says there’s not a bad seat in the house, especially now that the size of the video screen is significantly bigger than it was last year.
A Saturday night dance featuring Mungo Park Records artist Cole Malone is happening at Kin 2 starting at 8:30 p.m. Cunin anticipates a crowd close to 1,000 for the dance.
Country mega artist Clint Black is in town as well, performing in Prince George for the first time ever Saturday starting at 7:30 p.m. at CN Centre.
