Vauxhall Cowboy Days returns this August

By Nicole Shelstad
Taber Times

Mosey on up to Vauxhall’s 3rd annual Cowboy Days at the Vauxhall Rodeo Grounds featuring barrel racing, horse roping, and mutton busting. 

This year, they offer free camping with admission, so pack your tent and plan to stay a while. This event goes from Friday, August 1, to Sunday, August 3, for a whole weekend of rodeo fun. They boast beer gardens on site, along with food trucks in attendance. 

This year, there will be two new trucks in attendance, Piggyback Poutinerie and a local ice cream truck. Fluff’n’Stuff Cotton Candy will be there for all the rodeo days. Be sure to check out their vendor market as well. Cash prizes along with trophy buckles are being offered for all major events including Bronc Riding, Junior Bulls, and Ranch Bronc Riding. This year will be their third time running and they keep adding more and more with each year. Cowboy Breakfast is being offered for a small fee on the final day at 10 A.M. All proceeds from the breakfast are going towards their new building on the rodeo grounds. 

Judy Leeson took time out of her busy schedule to talk with us regarding her involvement. Leeson has taken on many roles on behalf of Vauxhall Cowboy Days. She is the treasurer, secretary, and main organizer of this event. Her enthusiasm for this event can be felt through her words during our phone call late one evening. 

Leeson stated, “We’re just glad that we can bring this back to the community, because we hadn’t had a rodeo for over 20 years, other than one high school rodeo. We’re just happy to put something on, and we’re very excited to see the increase in traffic from year to year, and hope to keep building and make it a big thing that somebody looks forward to coming to every year.” Leeson added that bringing in traffic was a goal, to benefit the town and local businesses. 

Al Bouchard is the founder of Cowboy Days. He started this event by approaching smaller towns to see if there was interest in starting up a local rodeo. He has his hands full with Vauxhall, Drumheller, Vulcan, and Manyberries, all kicking up with their rodeo plans for 2025. 

Bouchard has a history with rodeos, coming from a professional background in team roping. He made it to the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) in his roping career. His passion for these events runs deep, and he hopes to reignite the passion across Alberta from within these smaller communities. Last year’s favourites such as Monkey on a Rope, will still be running, along with mutton busting and calf riding. Mama’s goat milking will not be returning due to timing constraints. Their volunteer-run breakfast will send you on your way full of golden goodness for their final event of the weekend, the Team Roping and Team Tying Jackpot. 

Leeson wanted to emphasize her appreciation to the local sponsors. 

“We’ve got guys that were with us from the start, and we’ve had people approach us and say, ‘we want to donate.’ So I really, really want to thank the people that are backing us up to continue with this and move forward with it. It’s been tremendous amounts of support, and it’s a good feeling.”

The committee hopes that this rodeo and the new building will bring more and more interest to the town, and that the future building can be used for other events, not just the rodeo, in the coming years. You’re invited along to enjoy the summer sun with like-minded folk and support your community.