Once again the 100 Mile Outriders Arena will host a very special event in honour of a local bull rider.
The fourth Annual Logan Parent Memorial Bulls and Barrels amateur rodeo will get underway today and tomorrow (June 13 & 14).
Logan’s mom Cindy said the event features a combination of bull riding and barrel racing.
“This is our only event that the Logan Parent Foundation puts on to raise money and bring awareness towards chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and mental health. We unfortunately lost Logan October 6 2020 and the cause of that was mental health and CTE. So myself, his sister, his dad and his friends wanted to create a foundation. We try to focus on the amateur sports as we feel there is some support and education regarding CTE in professional sports.”
Cindy said to help bring awareness they are bringing in Samantha Bureau from Concussion Legacy Foundation to hold an education session on concussions and CTE.
“It will be held Saturday (June 14) I believe at 1 at the South Cariboo Rec Centre. It’s open to the public and the participants in the Bulls and Barrels event. We’re hoping that we can have some people attend to ask the questions they may have about concussions.”
Cindy said they try to keep the money raised over the two day event local.
“In the past we have donated to the Cariboo Family Enrichment Centre to help provide counseling and that type of support to anyone who may require it. We’ve helped out family members who have gone through similar situations as we have with Logan. We also want to work side by side with the Concussion Legacy Foundation as they’re on the front lines of doing the research of CTE. They provide hot lines for anyone who may be having some mental health struggles and we feel what they do really align with what our goals are.”
When the first Memorial Bull and Barrels event was held, Logan’s sister Sienna said they didn’t know what to expect as far as attendance or what it was going to look like.
“We were hoping for 200-250 people but people just kept coming and I think we hit a total of 700 for each performance. It really blew us away the support we got from the community and that support hasn’t wavered ever since. The bull riders who come out, the majority of them are from the Cariboo, 100 Mile, Williams Lake and Quesnel. We have 1 from from Fort St John this year, a couple from Merritt, and last year we actually had someone from Mexico which was cool. So the majority are from the Cariboo and lots of them are people who knew Logan and riding in his honour.”
Sienna remembered how Logan got into the sport of bull riding.
“He was hauling hay one Summer, went out and bought some cowboy boots and that weekend he decided he was getting on some practice bulls. He got into High School Rodeo for the last 2 years of school, graduated and got into the BCRA, then ended up getting a full ride scholarship up at Northern Lights College to be a part of their rodeo team. But COVID hit and he never got to ride at the College level. It all just came out of the blue but that is where he really found himself”.
Something going on in the Cariboo you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
