One of the biggest LGBT events in Western Canada, the Bud Light Canadian Rockies International Rodeo rides into its 15th year this June 27th – 29th. ARGRA celebrates this huge milestone by continuing to offer its winning formula.
“I am extremely proud of ARGRA and the fact that we have made it to this milestone. I thought the ten-year was incredible, and it feels like it was just yesterday. Meeting the 15-year milestone is exciting for an organization that I think is still growing. Who knows where we will be at 20 years?” ARGRA trustee Pierre Cadieux told us.
As always, ARGRA has a huge party planned, including the Friday Night cabaret with Aaron Pritchett and the legendary Budweiser Barn Burner dance on the Saturday night.
“We are pleased to have Aaron Pritchett playing at our Friday cabaret. That will be an exciting and energy packed event. I am looking forward to seeing Aaron performing again, he was with us a couple of years ago and had really high energy, and it was a good concert. Then we have one of the best - if not the best - dances all year to celebrate the first day of competition. We have a BBQ dinner catered by Symon’s Valley. Come out and have some dinner and stay for dancing and socializing. It is a huge, huge event.”
Huge is an understatement, as anyone who has attended can attest. Organizers estimate up to 3000 will fill the dance hall this year, many of whom only make rare appearances at community events. It allows old friends to meet and catch up.
“I think it is an absolutely wonderful thing. In some ways we are the country and western lifestyle outlet in our community. There are members of our community that would never come out that often. This allows them to come out to the dance, socialize with people they see only at the event every year. Some people make it an annual camping and party for themselves. I think it is great that they come out every year and feel like they are part of a family, part of something bigger. We make up for the fact that we unfortunately do not have a country & western bar in Calgary, as ARGRA has become the outlet for staying in touch with our country and western roots.”
Many participants and attendees are also from out of town.
“We have a lot of people that come from Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer. The bulk of the membership comes from Alberta. We have members right across our province and we are proud of that,” says Cadieux, adding that he is expecting a few new faces from south of the border as well. “For a number of years we were doubled up with another gay rodeo that was held in Minnesota. This year they are holding it the weekend after ours, so we are the only rodeo happening on the international gay rodeo circuit that weekend. Obviously the Canadian dollar and price of fuel has deterred some people, but I think we will have a number of American competitors coming up. We already have entries from Arizona, California and Colorado.”
The rodeo also benefited from BUMP!, the LGBT travel show which taped an episode at the 2007 rodeo.
“Yes we have gotten way more e-mails of interest asking for travel requirements and general information about traveling to Calgary, because of BUMP! We see a lot of interest from overseas: Australia, Germany, Poland, from people wanting to travel here to check out the rodeo. We send them to the website because we have a lot of great information there.”
ARGRA encourages its out of town visitors to spend time in Calgary after the rodeo; it’s no coincidence that it ends only days before the Calgary Stampede starts.
“When we pick our dates we stay constant with the end of June, the weekend just before Stampede starts. If people come to visit Calgary, it is a warm-up to the Stampede. We say to come out to the Bud Light Canadian Rockies International Rodeo and stay through the next weekend for Stampede, make it a trip. We have really encouraged our American friends to make a mini-vacation out of it.”
While the dance and cabaret are the primary social aspect, there is plenty going on throughout the weekend – starting each morning with a pancake breakfast. The rodeo itself features standard events like bull riding and steer roping, as well as non-traditional events like wild drag and goat dressing. There is prize money and awards not only for the events, but attendees as well.
”The competitors come out to definitely look at winning their event, the coveted prize being the buckle. To change it up just a little bit we have prizes for best-decorated campsite in day and night categories. It is something anybody can do, get creative and try to have some fun and make it a more social atmosphere. We also have a prize for the best wild drag race team outfit. We want the whole team to have a theme. That really encourages people to go above and beyond the rules and make it really colorful … and the spectators get the experience of how much fun it is.”
Running an event of this magnitude is not without its challenges. Although after 15 years the ARGRA board has things down to a science, staffing can still be difficult.
“The biggest challenge we face at the moment is recruiting volunteers. We aren’t in dire straits but we’re working hard to make this go off without a hitch. We are volunteer based - without them we couldn’t do this and we appreciate every hour of labour they are willing to donate to us. Finding enough volunteers to pull off an event of this magnitude continues to be our biggest challenge. It takes hundreds of volunteer hours to bring it together, and it is a wonderful thing to see people band together. Even if someone can only give us an hour, every hour counts towards making this successful.”
Also important in their success is the involvement of sponsors, without whom ARGRA and the rodeo would not exist.
“We have a number of different gold and platinum sponsors, and our title sponsor Bud Light. At the end of the day, sponsorship is crucial to us being successful, without them we would have a harder time paying the bills. Their generous sponsorship allows us to keep pricing in line and allows us to bring an event to our community at the lowest cost possible while gaining a bit of funds that we can donate back to charity. Without these sponsors we couldn’t do this, so whenever possible use our sponsors products and services.”
ARGRA’s existence has paralleled an important time period in LGBT history. When the first rodeo took place in 1993, losing one’s job for gay was a real possibility, and gay marriage was only a fantasy. While the event itself hasn’t changed, people are a lot more comfortable with themselves.
“We have always provided a safe environment to have a good time and experience country and western lifestyle. The biggest change is acceptance. 15 years ago we hardly had any media on site - even people like yourself - because people were so scared to be photographed and outed, and we still ask that the media respect the wishes of those who they are filming or taking pictures of. But it has become less and less of a concern because people don’t have to worry as much about losing their jobs or being outed to their families and all that kind of stuff. Being gay has become so much more socially accepted, even in the province of Alberta where we are still a long ways behind some parts of the world. We have a much stronger working relationship with all forms of media, gay and straight, than we ever had before.”
While most of the events take place on site at the gorgeous Symon’s Valley Ranch, there are things happening around town as well. Money-pennies hosts the Prairie Fire Warm-Up on June 26th and the official survivor party on Monday the 30th, while the Calgary Eagle features a Wet Jockey contest on the 26th and “The Last Stand” Party on the Monday. Once again there will be buses from downtown out to the rodeo grounds for those who don’t drive, or don’t want to.
So what are you waiting for? Catch up with old friends, make some new ones, and just have a great time!
The Bud Light Canadian Rockies International Rodeo
June 27th – 29th, 2008
www.argra.org
