Nanton resident Lakota Bird at a breakaway roping event. (Covy Moore/CovyMoore.com)

By Alessia Proietti

November 2-6

“A crown jewel event”: Canadian Finals Rodeo expects 30,000 visitors in Red Deer

Nov 1, 2022 | 4:22 PM

With some calling it the rodeo “Grey Cup” and “Super Bowl”, the 48^th edition of the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) is back in Red Deer on Wednesday.

From November 2-6, the CFR will be held at the Peavey Mart Centrium and Westerner Park for a lengthy list of rodeo entertainment, live music performances, and free events for the whole family.

“I think this is a crown jewel event,” said Denny Phipps, Acting General Manager of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA), sanctioning body of the CFR. “This event has never been outside of Alberta and I think it’s just a really big part of Alberta’s heritage, as rodeo is.”

“There’s going to be probably over 30,000 people go through the doors at Westerner this weekend and that’s just into the Centrium and doesn’t count all the peripheral events.”

Phipps, a former CFR bareback competitor and high school teacher, says the event is very important for the cowboys and cowgirls as they competed in roughly 56 CPRA events throughout the year, with each dollar won representing a point in their final standings. He says the payout is the largest of the year, and is one of top five prize moneys in the world, with some potentially walking away this weekend with up to $60,000.

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“Truthfully, the thing I’m most excited about is to see some of the CFR rookies that have never made the Canadian Finals before and seeing how they handle the first time jitters, seeing who rises to the occasion and see who struggles,” he said.

Westerner Park’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Olesen says the event is not just profitable for contestants, but for the local economy.

“Our community will experience an economic impact over $35 million over this period and I think you’ll mostly see that through the retail sector and certainly hotels and restaurants reaping the benefits as quite a few people are coming to town,” he said.

The CFR Trade Show will be open to the public each day, with vendors in the agricultural, western fashion, and regional lifestyle experience sectors such as sports and RVs. At the same time, Kody Lamb will be performing live until Saturday at the CFR Trade Show Stage alongside the Miss Rodeo Canada competition until Friday.

With free admission to the Cowboy Sh*t Watch Party held from Wednesday to Saturday, there is also the SweetPro Plaza Tailgate Party, with a different featured artist every day until Sunday, for guests to enjoy with fire pits and games before heading to the arena for the main rodeo.

CFR rodeo events and their 2022 qualifiers include:

• Ladies Barrel Racing
• Bareback Riding
• Steer Wrestling
• Novice Saddle & Bareback
• Junior Steer Riding
• Team Roping
• Saddle Bronc
• Tie Down Roping
• Breakaway Roping
• Bull Riding

Full daily schedules can be found on the CFR website.

Each day will consist of different themes with Albertan performers during halftime shows:

• Wednesday, November 2: Plaid for Dad – Honoring First Nations, the halftime show features World Champion Hoop Dancer Dallas Arcand Jr, and dancer Alicia Chevonnec, to the music of one of the top First Nations DJs in the country.
• Thursday, November 3: Buckles & Bling – Twelve-year-old roman rider Piper Yule and Canadian County Music Association’s (CCMA) Hall of Famer Fiddle Player Tyler Vollarth.
• Friday, November 4: Vintage – Multi-award winning fiddle players Tyler Vollarth and Allison Granger
• Saturday, November 5: Canadian Tuxedo – CCMA and Western Canadian Music Awards Winner Nice Horse performs with Canadian Trick Riding Champions Shelby Pierson and Bella Da Costa

Following each rodeo, the live “Cabaret Coral” country music lineup includes Garrett Gregory, Brettyn Rose, Drew Gregory, and Ben Chase, respectively each day until Saturday.

READ: 2022 Canadian Finals Rodeo “Cabaret Corral” live music lineup announced

While rodeo events take place from 6 – 8:30 p.m. from Nov. 2-5, an additional event will take place on Saturday from 12 – 2:30 p.m. with an H Bar Auctions Horse Sale at 3 p.m.

On Sunday, with the theme of Championship Gold & Red, the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys will host a Cowboy Church at 11 a.m., and the CFR Championship Performance will take place from 12-2:30 p.m. before final presentations.

Phipps says many of the peripheral events are either new to this year’s CFR or reborn from pre-2020 CFR’s. A secondary arena will be open at the Stockmens Pavilion where there will be children’s dummy roping and Professional Bullfighter Brett Monea teaching kids the Ultimate Bull Fighting Experience.

Olesen also says, following the pandemic, he is excited to show how adaptable Westerner Park’s facilities are to the public to deliver a world class event to central Alberta and the world.

“Nothing could have been more frustrating last year where we had no time at all [to plan] and you’re really just trying to pull it off,” he said.

“What I’m excited for, for our team and the army behind it, is they really had a fair chance to plan this year which then gives us the best chance to deliver a product that meets our own expectations which would be as high as anyone.”

While many activities are free, tickets for the rodeo events are available online. More activities are also found on the CFR website.

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