Way to go, Williams Lake Stampede organizers — this year’s rodeo was phenomenal!
The rodeo, which began Thursday and wrapped up Sunday, kept us editorial folk well entertained as we snapped thousands of pictures of all of the exciting events, right from the opening ceremonies to rodeo events such as bareback, tie-down roping, saddle bronc, the mountain race, steer wrestling, ladies’ barrel racing, the wild horse race, the pony express race, boys’ steer riding, team roping and bull riding, as well as other entertaining moments such as the clown and dog acts.
For the most part, the rain stayed at bay (though Sunday was pretty wet) and no one was seriously injured, though there were a few scary moments, especially during the mountain races.
Kudos to the first-aid crews who diligently attended the sore and bruised cowboys and cowgirls and who kindly shared their lookout point with us shutterbugs.
Other events taking place during Stampede season were also enjoyable and included the Canada Day celebrations in Boitanio Park, the skate board competition at the Nathan Matthews Memorial Skate Park, arm wrestling, the Street Party, Rustlers Rugby tournament, Thunder Mountain Speedway racing events, and, of course, the Stampede Parade.
Organizers of those events also proved they worked hard this year making sure everything went smoothly.
As noted in the story on the front page, this year’s Stampede attendance broke records, with more than 15,000 people showing up to watch the 85th Annual World Famous Williams Lake Stampede.
It just goes to show that this event just gets better and better.