For the first time in its long storied past, there will be no Annual Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo this year.
“It was a very informed and hard decision we had to make,” said President of the Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo Association Kelly Walls. “With the ban that is on with an event of 250 people, our safety, the safety of the public, the competitors and our volunteers is of the utmost importance to us.”
Walls added, “there are always new challenges when organizing any event, but this a unique one”.
The Board will be making the best use of the additional time they have this year to grow and improve the event.
“Next year is going to be, as we said at our Directors meeting, is we want to make it better than ever,” Walls said, “We’ve contacted a lot of our contracts and they’re coming back, they totally understand what’s going on”.
Part of the event is the annual barn dance.
“We’ve proudly sponsored the ‘Safe Ride Home’ program for several years,” said Janna Gertzen, Owner of Adventure Charters Inter-City Bus Service. “We certainly understand why the rodeo had to be canceled this year, but it’s sad and a definite loss for the region.”
Over the past 29-years, the annual spring rodeo has never been canceled before and Walls said pretty close to 3,000 people take in this annual spring rodeo.