The Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair is around the corner.
One of town’s biggest events of the year will take place on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds on May long weekend, May 17 – 20.
This year’s theme, “An Original Kind of Country,” embodies both the rodeo and town spirit, says Kathy Sheppard, president of the Cloverdale Rodeo Association.
“We look forward to welcoming everyone to rodeo,” Sheppard told the Cloverdale Reporter. “And we’re very proud of our theme this year as it speaks to the deep history of our rodeo and country fair, but also to the myriad of ways Cloverdale has put its unique stamp on the event.”
As for the nuts of bolts of organizing the big-time event, Sheppard said they’re almost there.
“Preparations are going very well,” she noted. “We are full steam ahead. The ’grounds are looking great, the city has been putting a lot of work in. And our volunteers are busy putting the final touches on a lot of things.”
In one month, the 76th incarnation of the Cloverdale Rodeo and the 133rd edition of the Country Fair will be held on “Rodeo Weekend” on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.
The weekend’s unofficial kick-off event is the Cloverdale Bed Races. Hosted by the Cloverdale BIA, the running of the beds will take place Thursday, May 16, in the early evening.
Sheppard also noted 85 per cent of all rodeo contestants have been booked.
SEE ALSO: Kathy Sheppard looks ahead to the 2024 Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair
“We have champions from our event last year and previous years,” explained Sheppard. “We have CFR and NFR champions and contestants. And we have new contestants too.”
Sheppard said the Rodeo Association has a veritable army of volunteers ready to be unleashed upon the Fairgrounds on Rodeo Weekend. She said they have about 275 volunteers signed up and trained up and ready to go.
For Sheppard—as this isn’t her first rodeo, that was last year—she plans to soak in the atmosphere a little more than she did in 2023, calling last year “a whirlwind.”
“I’m looking forward to spending more time on the Fairgrounds,” noted Sheppard. She said last year she didn’t slow down enough. “Just walking around, talking to our patrons, seeing all the happy families enjoying our event.”
She’s also looking forward to taking in some of the long list of musical acts booked for 2024.
“We have a massive lineup of entertainment ready to go,” she added. “We have a huge amount of performers booked, more than 50 artists, and not just the ones featured in the Longhorn (Saloon). Our Longhorn is a long-established, and well-renowned venue in North America—everyone talks about the big red barn in Cloverdale—but this year we’ve got so many bands and entertainers booked on the outside stages, the Lordco Stage and the Indigenous Village stage, that there is something for everyone.”
Country music’s Chris Buck Band will be the rodeo’s musical headliner on Sunday night in the Longhorn, while Canadian music legends 54•40 will headline the Lordco Stage.
SEE ALSO: 54•40, Chris Buck Band to headline Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair
The ticket to the grounds, $12 (children 12 and under are free), gets fair-goers access to all stages except for the Longhorn Saloon, which requires a separate entry ticket.
Rodeo Weekend also promises visitors a whole slate of other events too, including: other live entertainment, food trucks, midway rides & games, along with a multitude of other feature attractions.
Sheppard said all of the events from last year’s Country Fair are returning and several more have been added, including pig races and the Extreme Dog Show.
She said the West Coast Lumberjack show is returning, along with the livestock display, the freestyle skateboarding competition, the Indigenous Village, All Star Wrestling, and the Buckaroo Barn for kids, which included a lego area called the Brick Corral.
She added the chili cook off, which was not held in 2023, may return this year, but several details still need to be worked out before that event gets greenlit.
The Cloverdale Rodeo is the second-biggest rodeo in Western Canada after the Calgary Stampede. It’s known as a “jackpot rodeo” as none of the events garner any of the cowboys or cowgirls points toward their rodeo seasons as the event is not sanctioned by the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. So the prize money is higher than it would be for sanctioned rodeos so as to attract top cowboys and cowgirls.
The rodeo will feature roughstock events—bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding—along with ladies barrel racing, specialty acts, mutton bustin’, and rodeo clown acts. Cloverdale will host 96 cowboys and cowgirls. The athletes will participate in five rodeo performances over the weekend.
There will be five rodeo performances for the 2024 rodeo: May 17, 7:30 p.m.; May 18, 2 p.m.; May 18, 7:30 p.m.; May 19, 2 p.m.; May 20, 2 p.m. (rodeo finals).
Rodeo events scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday performances include: Bareback Riding, Ladies Barrel Racing, Special performance by BCCMA artists Courtney Hunt and Annika Catharina, Saddle Bronc Riding, Mutton Bustin’, Ladies Barrel Racing, Rodeo Clown Act, and Bull Riding.
Rodeo events scheduled for Monday’s rodeo finals include: Bareback Riding with winner presentation, special performance by BCCMA artists Courtney Hunt and Annika Catharina, Saddle Bronc Riding with winner presentation, Rodeo Clown Act, Ladies Barrel Racing with winner presentation, Mutton Bustin’, and Bull Riding with winner presentation.
The rodeo parade will be held May 18 at 10 a.m. and will include floats, marching bands, dance groups, clowns, cowboys and cowgirls on horses, and some classic automobiles.
This year will be the second Rodeo and Country Fair in a row after cancellations because of COVID (2020 and 2021) and because of structural problems with the Stetson Bowl (2022).
The first Cloverdale Rodeo was held in 1945 and the first Country Fair was held in 1888. The rodeo was postponed once. In 1995, Surrey city workers went on strike and the rodeo was moved to Labour Day weekend. The date change was estimated to cost the rodeo close to $150,000.
Tickets for the Cloverdale Rodeo & Country Fair are available online or at the gate. Visit showpass.com and search “Cloverdale Rodeo” to find tickets.
For more info on the rodeo, visit cloverdalerodeo.com, or visit their Facebook page @facebook.com/CloverdaleRodeo.