Staff Photo By: Darcie Thom

Staff Photo By: Darcie Thom

By: Darcie Thom

Another exciting and successful rodeo event brought many by-standers and on-lookers to the stands at the Kennedy rodeo grounds this past weekend. The 76th Annual Moose Mountain Professional Rodeo showcased riders and performers in a two-day schedule of events on Saturday, July 19th and Sunday, July 20th.

Events such as Bareback, Saddlebronc, Steer Wrestling, Muttin’ Bustin’, Tie Down Roping, boys Steer Riding, Team Roping, Trick Riding, Ladies Barrel Racing, Bull Riding were available and performed for Sunday’s large crowd.

The weather may have had a play in the attendance on Saturday. Due to wet weather, the stands were not as full as they may have been without the rain. However Sunday’s events welcomed a full house of performers and audience members.

Saturday night’s cabaret entertained people from Kennedy, surrounding areas and from far off provinces and countries with the Vern Michaels Band.

On Sunday afternoon, Lawrence Hutchison, a champion bull rider in 1957 and 1962, received an award and was inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame for his performances throughout the years.

There were many highlighted locals that performed for the Kennedy Rodeo including Bullfighter Curtis Smyth, Trick Rider Laura Lausen, Tie Down Roper Jarid Berglund and Steer Rider Cody Floyd to name a few.

Jarid Berglund, a Kennedy local in the Tie Down Roping event, made his best efforts for his hometown. He is presently working with two horses in his events in hopes that he will be able to build his 10-year-old to become as consistent as his 15-year-old gelding, Scat Man, a horse that has been recognized as Horse of the Year in the CCA in 2006 and 2007. “Wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, I just had some bad luck with my horse, the calf wasn’t as good as some of the others today, but we’ll just chalk it up to another rodeo,” Berglund says about his 12.4 score. Berglund will be going to Swan River and Austin to compete in rodeo events along with many of the competitors at the Kennedy Rodeo. “If you want to rope, get a horse and come out and rope, every guy in the rodeo wants people to start, we want the competition,” says Berglund.

When asked about his take on Cody and his performances, Berglund says ” Cody is going to be impressive, he will do well in the rodeo, he’s doing really good.”

Cody Floyd, a talented young steer rider, recently returned from Gallup, New Mexico after competing in a rodeo event in Gallup. Floyd, who recently placed second at the Wood Mountain Rodeo, recalls the fun that he had in New Mexico by stating that “Gallup was pretty good, on the Wednesday, I got on a big black bull and stayed on for six seconds, I got stuck and ended up staying on another 10 seconds, it seemed like a long time.”

Cody recalled a few months back when he was visiting Jarid Berglund’s farm, “It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of chores too,” but was honoured when he was able to ride Willy, Berglund’s 10-year-old gelding.

The rodeo couldn’t have been complete without the entertainment by Coppertown Clown and the Muttley Crew, his family of dogs that he saved from an animal shelter. Coppertown Clown kept the crowd laughing and rolling their eyes to some of his ‘lame’ jokes, lost his boot in a hit and run with a wild steer (I believe it was a steer), and lost his pants a few times throughout the day.

The talented Laura Lausen gave quite the performance on her horse during her Trick Riding event, demonstrating some very hard but agile trick positions.

Children six years and under did their best to hold on to the sheep during the Muttin’ Bustin’ event. Most of these youngsters had a hard time holding on to the sheep during their ride, but there were the few that were able to hold on for more than a few seconds and make it halfway through the riding area.

The Demolition Derby seemed to be a success, with the station wagon (Old Brownie #2) winning all four of the Demo Derby Heats. The Old Brownie has had some history in Kennedy, being a favorite at the Demo Derby. Riley Levai won the first heat, Dustin Rapp won the mechanic’s heat and Donna Rapp won the Powderpuff.

The crowd was looking forward to a mouthwatering KFC supper, but were sadly let down when they heard that the supper had been canceled, due to a disgruntled KFC employee (so the story goes).

There was no “major” injuries reported, a lot of riders were a little put off on their performance, but in a whole, there was a lot of fun had by all, crowd and performers alike.