Gooseberry Lake Rodeo Action

Nestled in the Neutral Hills in East Central Alberta, and ten minutes north of Consort, Alta., is the Gooseberry Lake Rodeo grounds. Celebrating its 50th Anniversary just last year, Gooseberry Lake is known as the largest amateur rodeo in Canada. Held every year over Father\’s Day weekend, Gooseberry has welcomed cowboys and cowgirls from the Lakeland Rodeo Assoc, the Wildrose Rodeo Assoc and the Foothills Cowboy Assoc. With big money and large number of contestants, Gooseberry Lake always hosts an action packed weekend.

This year was no different for the large rodeo. Lines of campers and horse trailers filled the dirt road to the rodeo grounds. Although entires were down from 650 to just over 500, the weekend was still deemed a success by the rodeo committee. This years drop in competitors was attributed to the number of other rodeos happening the same weekend this year, including the Alberta High School Rodeo Finals which took away a large number of young amateur entries.

Along with the traditional rodeo events, fun competitions like the Bet Your Boots competitors foot race, wild pony race, kids mutton busting, calf scramble and the ladies calf tying all added to a fun filled weekend. The Double Tree Ranch rough stock also provided tough competition in the rough stock events. The junior bulls even beat the cowboys ending the weekend with no qualified rides.

This year\’s unofficial winners were:

Bareback: Brandon Stuart, 73 points

Saddle Bronc: Kelsey Koening, 73 points

Bull Riding: Mark Doerksen, 82 points

Tie Down Roping: Aaron Miller, 9.5 seconds

Steer Wrestling: Troy Pollitt, 4.3 seconds

Ladies Barrel Racing: Stacey Ruzicka, 16.276 seconds

Team Roping: Cole Robertson & Denver Johnson, 5.4 seconds

Novice Horse Riding: Wyatt Shaver, 70 points

Jr. Steer Riding: Cameron Brown, 75 points

Jr. Barrel Racing: Taylor Babcook, 16.756 seconds

Pee Wee Barrel Racing: Kelli Acreman, 16.978 seconds

For more results visit the Lakeland Rodeo Website.