The weather smiled on St. Albert this weekend sparing the Rainmaker Rodeo of any of the wet stuff.
More than 20,000 people attended Rainmaker Rodeo, the annual three-day event that is the major fundraiser for the St. Albert Kinsmen Club and its projects.
Chris Tremblay, past president of the Kinsmen Club St. Albert, said this year brought out more people than last year's attendance of 18,000. The increase was largely in part due to the warm and sunny weather conditions throughout the weekend.
"I think the event went great. The weather couldn't have been better and I think everyone was happy, it went awesome," he said.
Teo Zanetic, one of the Kinsmen Club St. Albert organizers of the event, said it takes an entire year to plan the event.
"There's a lot of work that goes into planning the event," he said. "But the weekend has been great, people have been having an amazing time."
The event kicked off on Friday with rodeo events, amusement park rides and music concerts.
Barbara Olekszyk from St. Albert and friend Shane Wolokoff from Edmonton say their favourite part of the event is the rodeo.
"This is one of my favourite years," says Olekszyk. "The weather has been beautiful."
Zanetic says the event couldn't have happened without the time and dedication of volunteers.
"There's a lot of pride and joy to see all the volunteer support. When you take a step back you realize, wow, this is really great," he said.
In total around 300 volunteers from around eight different groups put their time in to make sure the event ran smoothly.
Saturday morning kicked off with a pancake breakfast, sponsored by the St. Albert Gazette, where about 3,500 flapjacks were handed out to about 1,600 people.
After breakfast, residents lined the streets and watched about 105 entries drive past during the annual Rainmaker parade.
Julia Sellenberg, Edmonton resident, and her husband and three children attended the rodeo on Sunday. She said the family makes it out every year to watch the Rainmaker rodeo unfold.
"The girls are crazy about the horses," she says. "I really like the ladies barrel racing. It's fast, it's interesting and exciting, I like the fast pace."
Unofficial rodeo results
Ryley Gilbertson from Lloydminster, Alta. came in first place for bareback riding at 73 points. Vance Kremp from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. followed at second place with 64 points.
Kolby Wanchuk from Sherwood Park, Alta. took first place in the saddle bronc event with 76 points. Dawson Dahm from Duffield, Alta. and Kole Ashbacher from Arrowwood, Alta. tied in close second with 74 points each.
Coy Robbins from Camrose, Alta. took a huge lead with his first place win in the bull-riding event with 84 points. Dawson Shannon from Drayton Valley, Alta. took second place with 75 points.
Marvin Branden from Barrhead, Alta. secured first place in calf roping, scoring the lowest time at 9.3 seconds. JT Robinson from Big Valley, Alta. came in second at 10.1 seconds.
Jordan Ness from Drayton Valley, Alta. took first place in steer wrestling at 4.4 seconds. Troy Pollitt from Bentley, Alta. came in close second at 4.5 seconds.
Justine Gilliot from Wainwright, Alta. barrelled her way to first place in ladies barrel racing at 15.918 seconds. Tammy Braithwaite from Box 20 R.R. 3, Alta. took second place at 16.219 seconds.
Murdock Keith from Clyde, Alta. and Steve Horricks from Sherwood Park, Alta. took first place in team roping at 6.2 seconds. Rolly Thompson from Botha, Alta. and Mark Flynn from Camrose, Alta. came in second at 6.7 seconds.
Hayden Ouellette from Lashburn, Sask. came in first in the junior bull-riding event with 65 points. Denny McKinney from New Sarepta, Alta. and Klayton Lakevold from Provost, Alta. tied for second with 64 points.
