Rodeo season is set to kick and rear into action Friday when the 28th annual Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo rides into the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
Volunteers, stock contractors and competitors have been preparing for months and are all ready to hop into the saddle for what will be the first sanctioned BC Rodeo Association event of the year.
“It’s a big week,” said C+ Rodeos stock contractor manager Roy Call. “For us, this is the first time our stock’s been out for the season, so what we do here in Williams Lake since we’re so close to home, we bring everybody a fresh one. It makes for a big project, but makes it entertaining. You see a lot of different animals.”
The Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo begins Friday at 6 p.m., followed by two performances Saturday and Sunday, both at 1 p.m.
Williams Lake’s Ryan Jasper, a former indoor rodeo champion who missed last year’s event due to injury, is eager to compete in the bull riding event Sunday, where he’s drawn C+ Rodeo bull Little Nicky.
“He’s a great, big white bull and he’s probably one to win it on,” Jasper said. “It’ll be good. If I can hang on for the whistle a guy could win the rodeo.”
The atmosphere inside the CMRC, meanwhile, is what Jasper said he’s looking forward to most.
“There’s about 11 or 12 bull riders each day,” he said. “Here in town, riding in front of your hometown crowd is pretty awesome.
“Especially when a guy can make the whistle it’s pretty special — just the roar of the crowd. It definitely makes a guy love what he does.”
Jasper, 25, started riding bulls when he was 13 years old.
“I love it,” he said. “It’s definitely harder on your body than a lot of people think. Maybe that’s why at 25 I feel as old as I feel now, but I love every day of it. That’s why I keep doing it.”
It’s also a special weekend for Jasper’s family, as both his dad, Mike Jasper, and his uncle, Pat Jasper, are being inducted into the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame as working cowboys during Sunday’s rodeo at 1 p.m.
“It’s a pretty big deal for our family,” Jasper said. “It’s well deserved for my dad. He’s pretty well known around these parts and he’s been my biggest inspiration in my cowboy life since I was a kid. He taught me how to rope and do everything, but no one in my family has ever rode bulls before but he supported me through everything.
“He’s my idol, for sure.”
As for the competition at hand, Jasper said there are lots of good competitors to watch out for.
“Lane Cork from Quesnel is a guy to watch, and Ty Hamill from Kamloops — they’re pretty high favourites,” he said. “They’ll be the guys to beat, for sure.”
He said the Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo is one of his favourite times of the year.
“To me this rodeo and Stampede are really the best. This place is unreal — how many people come to watch. It’s quite the deal.”
Call, who is just coming off coaching the Williams Lake Midget Female Timberwolves hockey team to a provincial championship, echoed Jasper’s sentiments and said they’re looking forward to a fun weekend and the rodeo season ahead.
“It’s early in the year, people are happy to see people and it’s just a lot of fun,” Call said.
“We get to see a lot of people we don’t get to see all year, the rodeo people that stick their heads out of the snow, so it’s the perfect time to see them.”
There are other local competitors in bull riding who are sure to bring in a crowd.
Williams Lake teen Cordell Pinchbeck will be riding Friday night on C+ Rodeos bull Magic Mike. Pinchbeck is becoming more and more well known in the world of bull riding and has been honing his skills at bull riding clinics over the past few years. His dad, Aaron Pinchbeck, is also a former bull rider.
Willie Sellars, best known as a goaltender for the Williams Lake Stampeders and a councillor for the Williams Lake Indian Band, will be hopping on Ellis’s Holy Roller and will be sure to attract much fanfare.
Other competitors will be Michael Gulbransen (Friday), Pacen Setah (Friday), Justin William (Friday), Blaine Manuel (Saturday) and Colton Manuel (Sunday).
“Sunday we’ve got some nice bulls out there, so there should be some good bull riding for the fans,” Call said.
“Saturday we have some really, really tough bulls out. About eight of 11 of them are big, mean, hookin’, rotten bastards. I could see Sunday guys riding mid 80s. They’re a little more user friendly and a little nicer to be around.”
Rodeo events showcased throughout the weekend include bareback riding, saddlebronc riding, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, breakaway roping, junior steer riding, barrel racing, junior barrel racing, peewee barrel racing, junior breakaway roping and team roping.
Other rodeo activities at the complex during the weekend will include a Cowboy Carnival featuring rodeo activities for children from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday morning, live music beginning at 9 p.m. and a beer garden in rink two of the CMRC, followed by more entertainment and the annual barn dance Saturday, kicking off at 9 p.m. to the sounds of local band One in the Chamber.
A safe ride home from the barn dance will be provided by Adventure Charters.
Western-themed vendors will also be setup inside the lobby of the CMRC throughout the weekend.
For more visit the WLIR Facebook page at ‘Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo Association.’
