By Kevin J. Sabo
For the Advance
The Halkirk Elks Bull-a-rama performed for the 24th time on Aug. 24th.
The event managed to draw a crowd of over 500 people, and featured kids’ events, a money sandbox, a concession, and a beer garden along with the main events.
Main events included saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, and the ever-popular bull riding.
“Attendance was down this year, for a variety of reasons,” said Halkirk Elks member John Demos.
“Everything went well. It was a good event.”
Mother Nature did not help any, with rain settling in during the bareback event, and continuing sporadically until the second round, when the clouds cleared.
The action started early with the youth events, which featured mutton bustin’, wild-pony races and a foot race.
Stettler’s Ladies of the Heartland riding team opened the main event, as well as performing another couple times during brief breaks in the rodeo action.
Ten riders competed in the Saddle Bronc event with Casey Bertram of Piapot, SK winning the event, despite stiff competition from number one ranked Canadian Cowboy Association rider Colt Smith.
Nine riders took to the bareback event with Kyle Johnson of Bemidji, Minnesota, taking the event and the high-point saddle prize, with a 78-point first ride, and an 81-point second ride.
Australian Travis Heeb came in second place for the event.
Moving to the bull riding, eight competitors took part in the event with Quinten Taylor of Parkland winning the event for back to back years.
Chad Hartman, of Lancer, SK was the second rider in the finals, however, did not score for his second ride.
The format for the Halkirk Elks Bull-a-rama consists of two-rounds.
The first round for each event has all the competitors ride, then the second round sees the top from each event compete with each other for their final score.
The rider with the highest overall point total won a saddle sponsored by Greengate Power Corp.
The entertainment didn’t stop after the last ride, with a community dance and a fireworks show taking place in the evening after the main events.