The cancellation of the annual Nicola Valley Pro Rodeo doesn’t mean that the volunteers of the Rodeo Association haven’t been hard at work to ensure next year is bigger and better than ever.

“This year obviously, with COVID, we realized that we could not be hosting the rodeo,” explained Nicola Valley Rodeo Association President, Haley Rutherford.

“At first we were thinking that there was a chance, so we didn’t come out as early with the cancellation of the rodeo as some others did, but after (Provincial Health Officer) Bonnie Henry announced how they were going to reopen the province we realized that it wasn’t viable.”

In lieu of a rodeo, the Association worked to put together more COVID-19-friendly events, and to come up with new fundraising ideas, including two nights of drive-in movies in partnership with FreshAirCinema.

“We’ve been trying to host other things like clinics, the movie nights, using the year to maybe do some capital upgrades to the grounds, do some strategic planning, along with rodeo planning for next year,” said Rutherford.

“We kicked off with a colt starting clinic where there were some feral horses that were rehomed to some kids, and then we had a couple clinicians come in and teach how to gentle them and ride them, it was just a really good win-win, for the horses and for the kids and for the community at large, I think. The movie night was a completely different demographic, not that we’re really trying to target a specific demographic, but anyone could come and I think a lot of people that had never been to the grounds, it gave them a chance to get there, and enjoy it.”

Rutherford believes that the grounds are important for the community, whether they are involved with the rodeo or not, and this year the Association has taken the opportunity presented with fewer events to do some improvements to the premises, noting that there has been tremendous support from businesses, sponsors and the community.

“We hired a guy with a Bobcat to come in and completely redo the grounds, so that we’ve got everything nice and level as far as our arena footing goes,” said Rutherford.

“We’ve got a couple big, key things… some grants that came through TNRD, and working with the Fall Fair. We’ve really made some good strides in repairing our relationship with the Fall Fair and trying to take the grounds as a whole to the next level.”

Secretary and Rodeo Chair Mary MacGregor feels that strengthening the partnership between the Rodeo and the Fall Fair will help improve the events for all involved.

“Within the past couple months, we got an agreement worked out with the Fall Fair Association and from our point of view it’s the advent of a new relationship with them, which we welcome,” said MacGregor.

“We are really looking forward to doing things with them. The Rodeo Association wants to promote the Fall Fair, because we want people to come for the weekend and experience the whole thing, so we’re trying to do things to make that easier. We’re very optimistic about the future of our working relationship with the Fall Fair Association. That was something that we accomplished this year that I think is a huge milestone. The original breach was down to the personalities of the people of the day, but that was 40 years ago, or more, so I think it’s well time that we can start to move forward together, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Moving forward included a recent meet up with Kynan Vyne, who manages the western events at the Calgary Stampede. Vyne spent a day and a half in discussion with the Rodeo Association, looking over the grounds and providing advice on areas of improvement.

“The other thing that we wanted to do this year is get advice about the actual layout of the Rodeo Association arena and how functional they were,” said MacGregor.

“He’s been out here looking at our grounds, talking about what would work, what doesn’t work, and he’s going to be giving us a report about changes that we can make to our grounds that will make them more functional and attractive, and a variety of ideas that would advance the rodeo and make it more fun, more entertaining.”

Part of the grant funding from the TNRD has gone towards hiring a landscape architect who will help “reimagine the grounds”, which includes all 20 acres of land owned collectively by the Fall Fair Association and the Rodeo Association, as well as all of the buildings and arenas.

The end goal will be a step by step approach that will work towards a Master Plan that is currently in the works.

“That work is ongoing, but that will give us a focus into the future,” MacGregor explained.

While large events that are open to the public have been postponed, both Rutherford and MacGregor want to keep the grounds accessible and ready for events that can still take place, such as a High School Rodeo, Little Britches Rodeo and a Miles Kingdon clinic in the fall. For each of these events the participating group will need to present a COVID-19 compliance plan.

“We still have a really committed core group of volunteers… we have some really awesome people that have kept working very hard,” Rutherford said.

“But we always need more!” she joked.

MacGregor agreed, citing that many events would not have happened this year without the ingenuity of the directors.

“I’m so proud of the directors,” said MacGregor.

“They just stepped up to the plate this year and figured out how we can generate some revenue, because we have some significant annual costs, like insurance. They’ve been innovated and dedicated and driven, and just worked their tails off getting stuff to happen.”

To keep up to date with events hosted by the Nicola Valley Rodeo Association, you can follow their Facebook page or visit their website, where you can also submit an application to become a volunteer.