Mother Nature did its part to make attendees at the Airdrie Pro Rodeo miserable on Canada Day.
The Airdrie Pro Rodeo went ahead as planned on July 1 with a lot of excitement building toward the final day after two solid days of high octane rodeo events. And at the beginning of the final day, you couldn't have drawn it up any better. In the early afternoon the morning rains cleared and a warm sun beat down. The event looked near sold out at the kick-off of the Junior Rodeo at 3 p.m.
And, similarly, organizers could not have drawn it up any better. The crowd, many with children of their own, were excited to watch these young cowboys take part in events such as barrel riding, mutton busting and ribbon chase, where kids, as the name implies, chase after sheep or calves with orange ribbons tied around their necks.
There weren't really any losers of the Junior Rodeo as everyone both in the arena and in the stands had fun under sunny skies.
But then the rains came in with unfortunate timing. Just as the grand opening ceremony began for the professional rodeo at 4 p.m. torrential rains blew in. While organizers pressed ahead with the in arena rodeo events, most in the stands found themselves getting soaked to skin, and forced to retreat back to their cars on the grassy hillside which served as a general parking area.
That's when the nightmare for many began as the field quickly turned into a muddy quagmire. Many cars not of the four-wheel drive variety that had come in from Airdrie carrying families to enjoy the rodeo found found themselves unable to leave, as their vehicles got stuck and bogged down on the steeper areas of the hillside parking lot.