Britteny Foster Miss Grande Prairie Stompede 2008  is crowned the new Miss Rodeo Canada for 2010. We can not say how happy we are for her. Allot of hard work has gone into this and we know she will do a great job as an ambassador for the sport of rodeo.

I will update the site and our facebook Miss Grande Prairie Stompede in the next few days

 “It was absolutely great,” he said. “We’re very pleased with the outcome.”

 Final attendance numbers weren’t yet calculated, but Acton said they looked to be up a bit from last year’s total of 25,000 to 27,000 fans.

 “We had big crowds tonight, the grandstands were full, but compared to Friday and Saturday, the stands were jammed on Saturday,” he said. “All the buckles were given out and it worked out really great. We’re really happy.”

 There were far too many highlights at this year’s Stompede to pick just one, but a few notables were the Dash for Cash – the work of the Chuckwagon Heritage Foundation and the entertainment, Acton said.

 “The Dash for Cash in all three wagon associations was great, especially the $50,000 Dash for Cash,” he said. “Of course, if you throw a little money at something, it makes it very exciting. I thought the heritage foundation did a great job this year and we’re looking forward to working with them for years to come. Also, our sponsors came to the table and we worked that in very well this year with those guys, so we’re very happy about that.”

There were some downsides to the event, which this year included the unfortunate death of four horses, Acton said.

 ‘NATURE OF THE SPORT’

“It’s the nature of the sport. Unfortunately, these things do happen from time to time,” he said. “We have over a thousand thoroughbreds go through that arena on a daily basis, not including bucking stock and handling stock, so it’s a very small percentage of animals that we lose. It’s not a regular occurrence but it does happen. It’s the nature of the sport and nobody’s happy about it.”

 Acton said the deaths won’t inspire any changes because it’s just the way the sport is, and that’s a part of why people watch it.

 “I think for some people, that’s part of the allure, the danger of it,” he said. “It seems to be that’s the exciting part.”

 A smaller issue arising this year was parking and admissions, something that will be improved upon for next year’s Stompede, Acton said.

“At the end of the day, Evergreen Park is our home and we’re working in conjunction with them to keep things running out here,” he said.

“It’s a big facility and we’re looking to find ways to upgrade it and make it viable to keep the Stompede here in the future. We’re very happy with the job they did this year.”

Acton said he thinks the event will continue to grow and expand and do bigger and better things in the future.

 “There’s that drive and enthusiasm, and we get new board members with new ideas, and that’s always healthy, so we’re looking forward to what happens in the future,” he said. “I can’t emphasize enough that I really appreciate the effort put forward by our many volunteers and the members of my committee, and secondly and not least, the sponsors and individuals who help sponsor the rodeo. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to put this show on.”

One person who definitely enjoyed the event was Leigha Rode, who was left smiling from ear-to-ear after being crowned Miss Stompede 2009 on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m speechless,” the 19-year-old from Sexsmith said. “It’s great to be rewarded for long, hard work. Now I get to begin my reign and serve our Grande Prairie Stompede, so I’m very excited.”

 Rode said the process was long and took a lot of preparation, but it was more than worth it.

 “This week, it was a long week, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The group of girls we were with was fantastic,” she said. “I’m looking forward to volunteering in our community, being able to go around with the crown and talk to everybody, teach them about rodeo and promote our rodeo.”

 The Stompede is very well run, which makes it that much more enjoyable of an event, Rode said.

 “We spent a lot of time behind the scenes and everybody is very well organized,” she said. “The Stompede is running very smoothly. The wind kind of put a damper on things today, but everyone’s in really high spirits. It’s going really well.”

 Rode will make a great ambassador for the event, Acton said.

 “I think she’s outstanding,” he said. “I think she’ll be a great representative of the Grande Prairie Stompede. We’re also looking forward to the reigning queen (Brittany Foster) who passed her crown on to Leigha, she’ll be running for Miss Rodeo Canada next year. I’m sure she’ll do us proud, as will Leigha next year.”

 Jason Glass, the 2009 Grande Prairie Stompede chuckwagon champion, who was on hand for the pancake breakfast at Grande Prairie Chrysler on Friday morning, said local events, such as the breakfast, are a great opportunity to thank sponsors and meet with fans.

 “It’s nice of these businesses; Dodge, they support us all summer and put all these breakfasts on, so we get some awareness of what we’re doing out here with chuckwagon racing,” he said. “It’s excellent.”

 The sport seems to get more fans every year, so it’s good to be able to interact with them and give something back, Glass said.

 “Driving chuckwagons and taking care of horses and thoroughbreds, and the lifestyle that we lead, we want to get awareness out there to the public that it’s a year-round job,” he said. “There’s a lot of work that goes into it and a lot of care for the horses – those horses are taken care of better than we take care of ourselves – so the more we can get that out to the public, I think the more fans we will attract. That’s why we need to get out and about and show our faces and talk to some people, and just get out into the public and I think it’ll help our sport.”

 Grande Prairie is one of the best stops on the chuckwagon tour, Glass said.

 “The facility we compete in is nicer than anywhere else we go; it’s an amazing facility and they work really hard there,” he said. “Last year we had great crowds and this year it seems like we’re having great crowds too, so it’s a big city and there are lots of people and lots of money out here.”

 Colby Wanchuk, the 12-year-old son of renowned rodeo clown Ricky Ticky Wanchuk, was also enjoying the pancake breakfast. He said the there’s plenty of work to be done, being a part of the show, and it can be dangerous, but it’s also exciting.

 “Sometimes, when we do the fire truck act, it gets going pretty fast and you’re up there high; if something breaks, you’re going to get hurt,” he said. “But it’s been really good. We get to travel all across Alberta, B.C., and Saskatchewan going to different places.”

 Everyone involved with the event, from cowboys, to fans, to volunteers definitely took the “Cowboy up!” challenge to heart, making the 2009 Grande Prairie Stompede a success.

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Transit staff recommended to the public works committee that the city charge a charter rate of $87 per hour for the service, which would be paid by the Grande Prairie Stompede Association.

The Stompede board has only asked for one bus so far, and the exact hours of service are still unknown, said Audra McKinley, transit co-ordinator.

“I’m going to find out the schedule with the Stompede board and I’m going to be going with their schedule,” she said.

The city bus would provide service for Midnight Madness, but not for the beer gardens because of safety concerns.

“It’s a real safety issue because you are taking people who are probably intoxicated out of an area that is well maintained by the RCMP and you are taking them to an area downtown, where they may have their car parked in a parking lot,” said McKinley.

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The auction brought in $176,000, down only 4% from last year’s total of $183,500. Emco made a high bid of $14,000 for the rights to Kirk Sutherland’s tarp.

The high bid was one of the few decreases from last year. The low bid remained at $1,750 and the median bid was $4,250, up from $4,000 a year ago.

The results came as a surprise, given the current economic climate.

“If you judge by what’s been going on with all the other auctions, I was thinking more in the 20 to 30% decrease, but it just didn’t happen,” said Stompede president Joel Acton.

The Stompede auction grossed the second-highest amount of the eight WPCA Dodge Pro Tour Satellite Auctions held on Tuesday. Bonnyville had the highest total and was the only auction to see an increase ($12,500) over last year.

The auction for the Battle of the North event in Dawson Creek saw the largest drop, with sales down $40,250 from last year.

While the Pro Tour tarp sales saw an overall decrease of 11% from last year, that number is still significantly better than the decrease in the numbers for the Calgary Stampede auction.

“I was surprised, I actually thought it (Stompede auction) would be quite a bit lower,” said Kelly Sutherland, who received a bid of $5,000 from Kay-Dee Ranching for his tarp.

“I thought it might be down in the neighborhood of around 30% because that’s where Calgary’s sales were, but the last two sales have actually been ahead of that, both the Edmonton and tour auctions.”

Of the monies raised through the tarp auction, 80% goes to the drivers and 20% goes towards the event.

The mild drop in sales is a positive for the Stompede, but Acton said the auction is just one part of what makes the event a success.

“It bodes well for what’s going to happen at the show, but there’s no guarantee that the weather isn’t crappy and no one comes to the show,” Acton said.

“There are many factors that make the show successful and profitable.”

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Indeed, the first chuckwagon race was reportedly held outside Calgary in 1923. Since then, races have become one of the most popular events at rodeos across western Canada and the United States.

In fact, while hockey is every bit as popular in this province as in the rest of the country, many consider chuckwagon racing to be Alberta’s true sport.

Some of the sport’s biggest names who compete in the Calgary-based World Professional Chuckwagon Association were born and bred here in the Peace Country.

These racers, among them Kelly Sutherland and Hugh Sinclair, have decided to create the Grande Prairie Chuckwagon Heritage Foundation, a non-profit group of volunteers that seeks to promote the sport locally.

“It is truly an Albertan sport,” said Sutherland, 57, a native of Grande Prairie and a 10-time Calgary Stampede winner and former world champion. “For me, there’s been numerous champions to come out of the Peace Country and I think it’s very important because it’s part of Alberta’s heritage, as well as the Peace Country’s heritage, to try to promote the sport and keep it active.”

“It’s pretty recognizable around here,” said Sinclair, the reigning Calgary Stampede champion. “You go pretty much any night at the (Grande Prairie) Stompede and it’s full. They do very well with it.”

The foundation was born last year when Justin Tidd, 34, and some of his associates learned that the purse for the Dash for Cash race at the Grande Prairie Stompede was $10,000.

“I thought that was pretty cheap,” recalled Tidd, who is the fledgling foundation’s president. “You have Calgary which is $150,000, you have Edmonton which is $100,000, you have Ponoka, (which is) $100,000. And I thought that wasn’t right.”

So Tidd and his friends decided to try to bump up the purse and he said they raised $20,000 in about 10 minutes. After approaching the WPCA with the money, it was decided the funds would be dispersed among the eight heats preceding the Dash for Cash.

Tidd, a native Nova Scotian, has lived in Grande Prairie for 11 years and said in his time here he’s seen what chuckwagon racing means to the community and thought racers should be compensated accordingly.

“These guys are literally getting nothing. I mean, you get your day money, you win a little bit of money here and there,” he said.

“They put on a crazy show that… I haven’t tried it. I’m a land lover, I like the solid ground,” he said laughing.

In addition to raising money for chuckwagon races at the Grande Prairie Stompede, the foundation’s volunteers hope to make the annual event a top tourism draw, as well as promoting the sport among the area’s youth, and eventually opening its very own museum.

“For 86 years this is something that has been going on in the Peace Country, and you don’t turn your back on it. You’re carrying on a tradition that’s bigger and older than all of us,” Tidd said.

But for chuckwagon racing to thrive well into the 21st century, more money will have to be raised, as youth are shying away from the sport due to its exorbitant costs. Sutherland estimates that prospective racers need about $300,000 or $400,000 worth of horses, equipment and land just to start up.

“There’s lots of interest, but the problem is finances,” he said.

“I think that’s one thing, we’re trying to preserve the heritage and raise some money so that people can make some money doing the sport in the Grande Prairie area.”

As the saying goes, timing is everything, and Tidd and the seven volunteers realize that with the economy in the throes of a recession at the moment, starting a foundation of this kind will pose certain challenges.

“People are saving money, they’re not spending. So what we do is, we’re a pretty big network. A lot of us are oilfield-tied, so we know who’s out (there) that are perennial sponsors, the ones that every year want to do a little something,” Tidd said.

“And instead of asking for larger dollars, maybe a business can throw in $1,000 and go that way and kind of tackle it so maybe the numbers aren’t as big,” he added. “Normally, if you wanted a $50,000 dash, you’d go to five companies for $10,000 and be done with it. Well, it’s not that easy this year, so maybe we’re going to have to get 50 companies at $1,000 a piece. That’s the way we’re looking at it.”

Whatever the challenges, Sinclair and Sutherland say they’re happy to be along for the ride.

“The sport has been extremely good to me, and anything I can put back into the sport to encourage the young people,” Sutherland said.

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