The Rainmaker Rodeo is coming back to St. Albert this May after a two-year pandemic break.
St. Albert Kinsmen Rainmaker chairperson Landan Hughes confirmed this week that the Rainmaker Rodeo & Exhibition will go ahead as planned May 27-29.
The Rainmaker is St. Albert’s longest-running festival and was held for pretty much every year from 1965 to 2019, Hughes said. (It was cancelled at least once due to heavy snow.) The Kinsmen cancelled the event in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but green-lit this year’s festival about a month ago when the province removed most pandemic-related health restrictions.
“It’s been a rough two years of missing it for us and we’re excited to get this community event back on its feet,” Hughes said.
Hughes said this year’s Rainmaker will be a fairly traditional one, complete with a parade, pancake breakfast, concerts, and midway. About 70 riders will compete in various bull- and horse-related events during the rodeo for cash prizes and ranking points.
Manning the announcer’s table once again will be veteran rodeo commentator David Poulsen, who said he is very glad to see the Rainmaker return.
“The Rainmaker kicks off my [rodeo] season,” he said, and this will be his first time at the event since 2019.
Manning said he has been researching the riders and animals slated to compete at the Rainmaker so he can rattle off hours of informative commentary during the rodeo.
Hughes said volunteers are busy lining up vendors and performers for this year’s show and finalizing emergency plans with police to handle what could be an extra-large crowd.
“We’re expecting a very large turnout of viewers,” he said, with up to 20,000 people expected to pass through the rodeo grounds in Riel Recreation Park during the three-day festival.
Hughes said organizers are keeping a close eye on the province’s COVID-19 numbers and have developed backup plans in the event pandemic health measures return. Midway operators will be sanitizing rides between clients, and organizers will switch to audience-free web-casts of the rodeo and concerts should large public gatherings be banned.
Hughes said organizers hope to start online ticket sales for the Rainmaker in about two weeks. General admission tickets will be $15.
Visit stalbertkin.ca/rainmaker-rodeo for details.
