Ponoka Stampede grounds. (rdnewsNOW / Sheldon Spackman)

By Sheldon Spackman

Looking For A Later Date

Ponoka Stampede postponed

Jun 3, 2021 | 10:23 AM

With the uncertainty surrounding the current COVID-19 pandemic and its related public health restrictions, officials with the Ponoka Stampede have made the difficult decision to postpone the 2021 Ponoka Stampede.

As a result, the Ponoka Stampede Board of Directors will now be working with their key stakeholders to possibly establish later dates in 2021.

The Ponoka Stampede was originally set to run June 28 to July 4, with a kickoff barbecue on June 22.

The provincial government, however, has said all restrictions could be lifted by early July.

Stampede officials say ticket holders will be contacted by mid-June.

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Bruce Harbin, President, Board of Directors for the Ponoka Stampede Association, says they waited until past the 11th hour to make a decision on this year’s event.

“We were all hoping for a miracle, but I think the timeline is just too compressed,” says Harbin. “I think the consensus now is to try to build on some kind of bedrock. With the restrictions being lifted shortly, and the vaccination rates going up, when all that comes to fruition, there should be a clear open field that we can run a full-on event in.”

Harbin hopes to see the event go ahead sometime before the end of September.

“The biggest things are, are that the restrictions are over and society is getting back to normal, the American border being open allowing contestants to travel,” he explains. “And then an available weekend or set of dates that’s not going to conflict with any already planned rodeo or event, and the ability for your stock contractors to not be elsewhere and to be able to come for a secondary set of dates for Ponoka.”

Harbin says having no event in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, had a major impact on the community and the area’s economy.

“A lot of our local clubs and businesses were missing the revenue created by Stampede,” says Harbin. “I think it would be a great generator of revenue for the local clubs, the hockey clubs, the baseball clubs etcetera that help out at the Stampede. And I think the local businesses could appreciate the revenue as well.”

“There’s been studies done that show for every ticket dollar spent at the Ponoka Stampede, there’s $80 that goes into the community,” adds Harbin. “It”s probably right at $10 million. We can count on 80,000 people annually through our gates.”

Harbin says he’s grateful for Ponoka being a strong, supportive, and resilient community.

“I think we’re getting closer and closer to the end of COVID-19 and I look forward to the day where we can look at it in the rearview mirror, he remarks. “When we find all the criteria that we need to go forward, when that all lines up, it will be full-on.”