The Ponoka Stampede is big money for this small Alberta town
Stampede officials estimate $20 million economic impact from annual event
This isn't Trevor Jones's first rodeo.
For 50 years, the family business of Jones Boys Saddlery and Western Wear in Ponoka, Alta., has been custom fitting cowboy hats and boots and outfitting locals and out-of-towners alike.
And starting today, things are about to get a lot more busy with the start of the 89th Ponoka Stampede.
Running until July 1, an estimated 100,000 rodeo fans are expected to flock to the town's biggest annual event.
"It's just like a buzz in the town, everybody is excited to be here," said Jones, who's the fourth generation in his family to sit on the stampede board.
"It's been a passion of mine since I was a little kid. I remember working up there, stocking boxes and bringing barrels out."
Ponoka, a town of about 7,500 people, is 100 kilometres south of Edmonton.
Jones said the stampede is a wild ride with boots, buckles and bandanas flying off the shelves in a week that "practically sets up our whole year."
"It's just lineups everywhere. Businesses are busy, all the hotels are booked, I think the whole town does very well with the stampede," said Jones.
Those include businesses you might not necessarily associate with rodeos, like Busted Ladies Lingerie.
Owner and professional bra fitter, Sherry Gummow, said three quarters of her clients come from outside of her postal code.
"We would not survive without our out-of-town customers," said Gummow.
She points to a map of Canada in the store covered in red pins from all over the country.
"We don't get Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, on a regular day," said Gummow.
"People come because of the Ponoka Stampede. It's a family holiday. So we've got grandma and mom and granddaughters and they all come and get fitted."
She figures the stampede represents a 40 per cent bump in business and as the president of the chamber of commerce she's had others tell her "the profit that they experience for a year, some of them earn it during the stampede, that's the gravy so to speak."
It's not just rodeo fans spending.
People come for the trade show, the midway, the country music concerts and the free camping which draws an estimated 4,500 RVs every year.
"It's amazing what it's grown into," says Ponoka Stampede board president Rick Wiresba.
His family has been involved since 1936 when there was a corral and a few benches, featuring local stock and prize money ranging from 50 cents to a whopping $6 per event.
"You go up there and look and you can't imagine that facility being there 90 years ago. It's probably one of the best venues for an outdoor rodeo, quite honestly for an outdoor rodeo. We're pretty proud of it."
Stampede officials estimate there is an economic impact of $20 million from the annual event. And that cash is not just going to local companies.
Chuckwagon teams vie for $450,000 in prize money and cowboys compete for $579,000.
Ponoka Stampede Championship titles come with $75,000 in prize money for riding events like the saddle bronc, and this year there is $90,000 on the line for bull riding, making it the richest pro rodeo in the regular season in Canada.
"There's also what I would call soft economics that goes on every year at the rodeo," Ponoka Mayor Kevin Ferguson said.
He said more than 800 volunteers from service groups and clubs throughout the region do everything from handing out programs to working the concession stands.
"For them, the big part of their seed money for the year, to make those clubs operate, comes out of the Ponoka Stampede," Ferguson said.
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