The upcoming fifth annual New Year’s Eve Bullarama and Dance in the North Thompson Agriplex has created quite a bit of excitement within the community of Barriere and surrounding areas. Tickets are quickly being scooped up, not just locally but as far away as Alberta, Fort St. John and Washington.
What is this Bullarama all about?
The New Year’s Eve Bullarama in Barriere is professional bullriding at its finest and is sanctioned by Canadian Bull Riders.
The rodeo event of bull riding is when a cowboy pits his riding ability and strength at trying to ride a 1,600 to 1,900 pound rodeo bull for eight seconds. The rides are judged and scored, not just on how well the cowboy rides, but also how well the bull bucks. The total of both the cowboy and the bull give the score for that ride.
The bulls of S&E Bucking Bulls in Kamloops will again be on hand for the 2016 New Year’s Eve event, and S&E partner Ed Lebourdais says he expects to have approximately 40 bulls on site. He notes the event will run with two go-rounds of 20 rides in each, with the champion cowboy of the evening taking home an added purse of $5,000.
Lebourdais says once a bull knows what is expected of him they get pretty excited when they see the cattle liner starting to load up for a rodeo event.
“We had one bull called Formula 51 who actually would jump out of six-foot high pens to get back into the pen where we were loading the bulls because he wanted to go so much. I could even take the trailer out and park in his pen and he would jump right in on his own.”
“Rodeo bulls teach you respect,” said the cowboy, “And in today’s market good bucking bulls aren’t worth thousands of dollars; they’re worth tens of thousands of dollars.”
Tickets for the New Year’s Eve Bullarama, which also features a dance in the heated Agriplex banquet hall, can be purchased in Barriere at Country Feeds or the North Thompson Star/Journal, in Clearwater at the Times office, and in Kamloops at The Horse Barn. You can also purchase online at: www.eventbrite.ca.
The event is presented by the North Thompson Fall Fair and Rodeo Association and is a fundraiser for the Farm Kids Scholarship Fund and the North Thompson Agriplex building fund.
Find out more about the North Thompson Agriplex on Facebook or go to www.fallfair-rodeo.com.