DIDSBURY - Despite smoky conditions caused by wildfires in B.C., the Didsbury rodeo and parade were both successful.
The Didsbury Fair and Rodeo was held on Friday and Saturday at the Didsbury Ag Grounds and was put on by the Didsbury Ag Society. The pancake breakfast and parade were held Saturday morning through town and were put on by the Didsbury Elks Club.
Shelley Fakir, co-chair of the parade, said the event went very well and they had over 30 entries.
"It went over pretty good," said Fakir. "I don't think the crowds were as good as they have been in the past. We had some people comment that the smoke was a deterrent. Overall, we still had a good crowd and a good turnout for the pancake breakfast as well."
There were six parade categories in total. One of the highlights was the winner of best commercial float, which was the Grasse Lumber replica of the Didsbury Museum.
"The parade theme this year was 'The Didsbury Museum – 40 years preserving our history,'" she said. "A lot of the floats try and decorate according to the theme. Grasse Lumber, in conjunction with the museum, did a replica of the museum."
The rodeo saw hundreds of entrants from all over Alberta, as well as neighbouring provinces and even a few visiting participants from Australia.
Craig Anderson, Didsbury Ag Society president, said the event went very well.
"It was good," said Anderson. "We had a decent turnout of people. It's just too bad we didn't have the fireworks. They were cancelled because of the fire ban."
The Didsbury Rodeo featured all the usual FCA (Foothills Cowboys Association) categories such as steer riding, broncs, team roping, calf roping and barrel racing, he said.
"We have our added ones such as wild cow milking," he said. "This year we have the wild pony racing for the kids, mutton bustin', of course. We also added another one, catch and keep. It was a game for the kids. We had some pigs, sheep and goats. We released these animals into this mob of kids and whatever they catch, they keep and take home to mom. It was a big hit. I didn't know there were that many kids in Didsbury."
Anderson said that other than the smoke, conditions were good at the rodeo grounds.
"We had lots of people there and the kids seemed to enjoy it," he said. "The weather was nice. We didn't get rained out and it wasn't sweltering hot."
Category winners: steer riding -- Dusty Golden; bareback -- Nathan Garlick; novice horse riding -- Blake Link; calf roping -- Luke Skocdopole; steer wrestling -- Wyatt Dillman; saddle bronc -- Jeremy Russell; ladies barrel -- Joanne Long; junior barrels -- Amy Shuckburgh; team roping -- Daniel Kaiser and Bobby Louis; bull riding -- Quinten Taylor; Junior bulls -- Jeff Lambert; wild cow milking -- Clark Dixon and Paul Lees; wild pony -- Joseph Rimmer, Slade Bales and Gus Whitlow.
