Manyberries Rodeo greatly exceeds the highest expectations

Courier/Commentator Photo By Ryan Dahlman. SADDLE UP: Nevaeh Jager from Etzikom scored 21.035 seconds in ladies barrel racing Aug. 22.

By Ryan Dahlman
Southern Alberta Newspaper

Anyone who was near Manyberries saw it — an impressive influx of people all celebrating one of Alberta’s favourite pastimes – rodeo.

After a 25-year hiatus, the Manyberries Rodeo was back with a vengeance, strong as a bucking bull. 

Pearl Jones, Rodeo Committee Secretary and Fundraising Chair, said they had absolutely no idea how popular the event would be.

“It was nothing short of spectacular. We were just blown away,” explained Jones. “The crowds came out, the cowboys, you know, did their thing and brought us the entertainment we needed for the crowd. And, you know, we just, I’m not very eloquent when I talk about it yet, because I’m just … we’re all still just stunned by the weekend…we really didn’t know what to expect. We knew there was a ton of excitement built up. We had tried to get organized enough to be able to sell tickets ahead of time and get an idea of how many people were coming in. The website gave us some grief, and we kind of just had to eventually say it’s just going to be at the gate only. So we kind of were trying to just gage and guess, and we didn’t know what to expect.

“Even the rodeo photographer, who goes to all of these rodeos, she said herself, she was blown away by the crowd on Friday night. Usually Fridays are slower, and it was just an absolutely unbelievable crowd. For her to have seen that many rodeos and be impressed with that turnout, it really fills our hearts for sure.”

While it was the first time in 25 years that the rodeo was in Manyberries, that didn’t mean there was inexperience amongst the organizing committee. Jones noted they started meeting in July 2024, and got organized with sponsors, organizers and put it out to the community they were looking at hosting a rodeo in 2025. 

“Once people started hearing about it, had them reach out to us and ask if they could sponsor because they had memories of the past, and now they were perhaps in a position where they could sponsor themselves,“ explains Jones. “The most exciting part about all of it was to just see how the local farms, ranches and people in the community stepped up to sponsor us. We saw this theme running right from the start, that while we had some amazing corporate sponsorship, it was the people who who wanted to help too.

“Chairman (Bear Lightbown) is no stranger to rodeo. He rodeoed in his younger years, and he’s currently a judge for the PBR so, I mean, he goes to these events. He knows what needs to happen. He’s he’s been he’s never planned one before, but he’s certainly been around it all of his life. And then we have a couple people on our committee that are just really good organizers. There were a lot of us that had attended it when we were younger, but you know, not all of us were old enough to remember all the details. Then there’s some that do remember, so we had kind of a good range of the younger memories, the people who were there was some involved that were involved again. And of course, Al (Bouchard, from Scandia) is from Rugged Rodeo and is the stock contractor and the production guy that we hired. He, of course, does all of these small town rodeos. He does Dunmore and Patricia and Vauxhall, and so he was a guide for us as well.”

The pasture roping event was described by many of the competitors as the most enjoyable riding event they had participated in and that this event will “explode” in popularity. 

“When you get endorsements like that, that many endorsements like that, you’re gonna that’s gonna attract a lot of people that you never even heard of before,” said Jones who added that the flagman for the event travelled all the way from Idaho. Following the rodeos, there was talk on how to make sure the new hit Pasture Team Roping event happens again.

There was eight roles in the seven-person main committee and there were another 13 members. All told, Jones indicated about 30 volunteers.

Besides the rodeo competition there were the Diamond Cowgirls Trickriding Team as well as a dance each the Friday and Saturday with the band Kickin’ Dort playing both nights. 

Overall, Jones says there were a few very minor issues but nothing that can’t be easily fixed. There will be upcoming discussions buy the main takeaway is that there will not be a 25-year gap between Manyberries’ rodeos.  

Jones acknowledged the rodeo’s organizing committee wanted to put out one prepared statement, “After more than two decades away, this weekend reminded us of the spirit, grit and heart that define our community. From the dust-hardened cowboys in the arena to the families in the stands, it was clear the rodeo never really left our hearts. It was more than just an event; it was a homecoming.”

To see more, visit: http://www.manyberriesrodeo.com online and follow Manyberries Rodeo 2025 on Facebook