Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair is an annual rodeo and fair located in the town of Cloverdale in Surrey, British Columbia. It is held annually at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds during the Victoria Day holiday weekend, from the Friday to Monday.
Attendance in 2006 was over 20,000.[ citation needed ]
The fair was first held in September 1888 in the Surrey Municipal Hall and grounds. In 1938, the fair was moved to its current location at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.
The rodeo was first held in 1945 and proved so popular that it was taken over by the Lower Fraser Valley Agricultural Association in 1947.
In 1962, the fair was taken over by the Fraser Valley Exhibition Society, and in 1994, the fair and rodeo were renamed the Cloverdale Rodeo & Exhibition Association.
In 1996, the 109-year-old annual fall fair was incorporated into the May rodeo weekend.
In 2007, after controversy over the death of a calf, the rodeo announced that it would drop four timed events, thus disqualifying itself from the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) circuit.
There was no fair and rodeo from 1917 to 1918 because of World War I and from 1942 to 1944 because of World War II. It was cancelled again from 2020 to 2022 because of COVID-19 restrictions. It returned in 2023.
There are cooking, baking and canning competitions, arts and crafts displays and horticulture and livestock exhibits.
Since 1977, on the Thursday before the Fair, there has been a bed race in downtown Cloverdale, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. The races went virtual in 2020–21.
A parade is held on the Saturday of the Fair, and a midway hosts games and rides.
For children, there are 4H club displays and children's entertainers.
The rodeo is an annual target of animal rights activists, who allege that bucking straps, electric prods, spurs and physical abuse are used to terrorize the animals into action. [1] For the past several years, animal right activists have moved their protests into the arena, using banners and handcuffing themselves to the gates of bucking chutes.
In 2007, activists from Vancouver, British Columbia animal rights group Liberation BC entered the rodeo ring to protest the death of a calf in a roping event at the previous day's show. [2] Pamela Anderson targeted the Cloverdale Rodeo that same year by writing a letter urging corporate sponsors to end their partnership with the rodeo, stating that "the calf roping event is particularly cruel". [3] Following this controversy the Cloverdale Rodeo announced that it would cut ties with the professional circuit by dropping four timed events including: tie-down roping, team roping, cowboy cow milking and steer wrestling. [4] Cowboy cow milking was discontinued as a Canadian Professional Rodeo Association event after 2009.
Rodeo is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States, western Canada, and northern Mexico. Today, it is a sporting event that involves horses and other livestock, designed to test the skill and speed of the cowboys and cowgirls. American-style professional rodeos generally comprise the following events: tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding, bareback bronc riding, bull riding and barrel racing. The events are divided into two basic categories: the timed events and the roughstock events. Depending on sanctioning organization and region, other events such as steer roping, goat tying, and pole bending may also be a part of some rodeos. The "world's first public cowboy contest" was held on July 4, 1883, in Pecos, Texas, between cattle driver Trav Windham and roper Morg Livingston.
Calf roping, also known as tie-down roping, is a rodeo event that features a calf and a rider mounted on a horse. The goal of this timed event is for the rider to catch the calf by throwing a loop of rope from a lariat around its neck, dismount from the horse, run to the calf, and restrain it by tying three legs together, in as short a time as possible. A variant on the sport, with fewer animal welfare controversies, is breakaway roping, where the calf is roped, but not tied.
Steer roping, also known as steer tripping or steer jerking, is a rodeo event that features a steer and one mounted cowboy.
Rodeos have long been a popular competitor and spectator sport in Australia, but were not run on an organised basis until the 1880s.
The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) is the premier championship rodeo of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It showcases the talents of the PRCA's top 15 money winners in the season for each event.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) is the largest rodeo organization in the world. It sanctions events in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with members from said countries, as well as others. Its championship event is the National Finals Rodeo (NFR). The PRCA is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States.
Cloverdale is a town centre in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, a southeastern suburb of Greater Vancouver, located just west of the City of Langley. The town centre was initially founded as a small farm community in 1870 for its fertile land and temperate climate. Cloverdale eventually amalgamated into Surrey as one of its six town centres.
The International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA), founded in 1985, is the sanctioning body for gay rodeos held throughout the United States and Canada. They are the largest group coordinating rodeo events specifically welcoming lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) as well as heterosexual participants and spectators. IGRA is composed of many regional gay rodeo associations, and sanctions a season of rodeo events which culminates in an annual World Gay Rodeo Finals. IGRA events are intended to allow all competitors, regardless of sexual and gender identity, to compete in rodeo sports without discrimination. The organization helps spread appreciation for Western culture and the sport of rodeo, while serving as a fundraising vehicle benefiting many charitable organizations.
The Cloverdale Fairgrounds are located in the town of Cloverdale in Surrey, British Columbia. Since 1938, it has been the host site of one of Canada's largests rodeos, the Cloverdale Rodeo.
Stetson Bowl is a stadium in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada built in 1988. Originally constructed as a temporary facility for the RCMP Musical Ride during Expo 86 in Vancouver, BC, the structure was purchased by the City of Surrey, moved and reassembled in the Cloverdale Fairgrounds to house events during the Cloverdale Rodeo. The facility was reconfigured and upgraded to host AA minor league baseball and was the home field of the Surrey Glaciers of the Western Baseball League for the 1995 season. As a ballpark, the Stetson Bowl had a capacity of 5,000 people.
The Raymond Stampede is an annual rodeo held in the town of Raymond, Alberta, Canada on July 1. It is recognized as Alberta's oldest rodeo and Canada's oldest professional rodeo, predating the famous Calgary Stampede by ten years.
Steer riding is a rodeo youth event that is an introductory form of bull riding for younger riders, usually between the ages of seven and fourteen. Instead of bucking bulls, the children ride steers that buck. Steers are used because they are known to have a less volatile temperament than bulls and many breeds weigh less than bulls, which makes them a perfect stepping stone to junior bulls. The steers usually weigh between 500 and 1,000 pounds. Steer riding usually follows mutton busting and calf riding as the participant ages and grows. Many young and aspiring bull riders who train in steer riding compete in the National Junior Bullriders Association.
Liberation BC is a non-profit animal rights organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 2004. It is run entirely by volunteers, including the board of directors, and has an e-mail network of nearly 4000 supporters. The stated mission of Liberation BC is "to expose animal exploitation through outreach and education, to promote a vegan lifestyle as the most effective and attainable way to protect animals, and to build and provide support for a strong community of effective animal advocates."
Bovine sports are sports that involve cattle, commonly a bull, ox, steer, cow or calf.
A stock contractor is an individual or business that provides animals for rodeo competition. Stock contractors supply rough stock - bucking horses for saddle bronc and bareback bronc riding and bucking bulls for bull riding, plus steers for steer wrestling and team roping, plus calves for calf roping and breakaway roping events. The use of stock contractors who specialize in providing these animals has produced a more uniform range of bucking stock which is also quieter to handle.
The Heart of the North Rodeo is located in Spooner, Wisconsin, United States. The rodeo takes place the first full weekend in July every year since 1954, except 2020. It is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). Fans from all over come to watch the professional cowboys and cowgirls compete in the seven main events of rodeo, and even some up-and-coming little cowboys and cowgirls.
A ranch rodeo is a traditional type of rodeo in which teams of cowboys or cowgirls from different ranches compete against each other in events based on the type of work they do every day.
Wild cow milking is a rodeo event seen at mainstream and ranch rodeos. A team-based competition, the goal is to catch and milk a "wild" cow in as short a time as possible. The competition dates back at least to the early 20th century, with competitions at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo photographed as far back as 1924.
The Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) is the governing body of professional rodeo in Canada. Its championship event is the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) held every autumn.