By Sheldon Spackman

CFR 45 Red Deer receives cash boost from province

Aug 26, 2018 | 2:39 PM

A cash boost from the province and a new brand for the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) were announced at Red Deer’s Westerner Park on Saturday

With the CFR to be held in Red Deer for the first time ever this fall and for the next 10 years, the new CFR 45 Red Deer brand and logo comes with a new start in a new location for Canada’s top rodeo following 44 years in the city of Edmonton.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Ricardo Miranda announced through Red Deer MLAs Barb Miller and Kim Schreiner that the Westerner Exposition Association will receive $250,000 in grant money from the Major Fairs Program to help make the event a success.

It’s expected the investment will help attract over 75,000 rodeo fans and visitors to the region and generate more than $25 million in economic activity.

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Ben Antifaiff, CEO of Westerner Park, says they’re very grateful for the level of support the Government of Alberta has provided.

“That level of funding helps us with the programming as part of CFR,” says Antifaiff. “We have strong agricultural roots in this community and CFR fits within the portfolio of those types of activities and the funding helps us with that level of programming.”

He says the money will specifically go towards expenses directly associated with the large scale event.

“As you can imagine, there’s a lot of infrastructure and equipment that we need in order to execute an event of this stature within our community,” he adds. “So it will be well-used towards those types of expenditures.”

MLA Miller says the government is very pleased to help support the event.

“I think it’s important for the government to get involved with this because it’s showing that we support sports and we support culture,” she says. “Rodeos are the lifeblood of a lot of rural Alberta families and we support everyone.”

MLA Schreiner says she’s been impressed with the vision and planning of this event from everyone involved.

“This is something that I know that Red Deerians and central Albertans were vying for,” says Schreiner. “We’re just so thrilled that we’re going to be having at least 10 years of CFR right here in our own backyard. We’re Alberta’s third largest city, we are ready for this and it’s just such an amazing event for not only Red Deer but all of central Alberta.”

In terms of planning, Antifaiff says things are going according to schedule with a volunteer campaign to be announced in the coming days as well.

“That’s a big component of the CFR that we require here to help execute the event,” he explains. “That will be a big initiative on our part and we’re excited to hear the number of off-site events that will be happening during rodeo week in our community.”

As for the new branding, Antifaiff says CFR 45 Red Deer is meant to honour the event’s past while bringing something new for its future.

“The focus is on the athletes and those are both the two-legged and four-legged competitors,” he says. “The materials and the marketing that you’ll see coming out in the next few weeks will be heavily focused on that. We’ll do profiles on both the livestock and the competitors and really bring it home as to why those competitors are here and hopefully make it a more intimate experience.”

Westerner Park was also the site of the wild card Rising Stars Junior Canadian Finals Rodeo on Saturday. It featured 140 young athletes from throughout western Canada taking part in seven different rodeo events in hopes of earning the right to compete at the CFR this fall.

Those winners include barrel racer Macy Auclair from Ponoka, AB, tie down roper Jason Smith from Wimborne, AB, steer wrestler Pacean Deleeuw from Athabasca, AB, team ropers Kyle Wanchuk from Sherwood Park, AB and Wylee Square from Clyde, AB.

Others include bareback rider Blake Link of Maple Creek, SK, saddle bronc rider Tyrel Roberts from Charlie Lake, BC and bull rider Blake Smith of Abbey , SK.

In addition, Sylvan Lake’s Brett Gardiner has been named one of two announcers for the upcoming CFR for the next five years.

CFR 45 Red Deer will take place at Westerner Park October 30-November 4, 2018.

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