After a 2-year absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a longtime Williams Lake event is coming back.
Court Smith, President of the Williams Lake Stampede Association said they are excited to announce that the World Famous Williams Lake Stampede will once again bust out of the chute starting June 30th.
Smith said they’re not sure what to expect when it comes to rodeo cowboys attending so they had to make some adjustments.
“We’re normally a four professional day rodeo, this year we cut it back to three just so we can see what happens after COVID. Last Fall we were going to do a Bull Riding Canada’s Sanctioned Bull Riding in September but that, unfortunately, got canceled because of COVID so we’ve approached them again this year and they’re happy to come and do their event on Sunday, July third. Along with that, we’re going to have our Local Ranch Rodeo. We’re also going to have preliminary Ranch Rodeo on the Saturday.”
We asked Smith if the Stampede can be back to full capacity to accommodate all the rodeo fans who have missed this event over the last two years.
“The way we understand it right now is that with venues under five thousand we can run at 100 percent capacity.” Smith said, “We will change whatever needs to be changed as we go forward but we’re so hopeful that we can pull this off and the restrictions continue to diminish and we can proceed as normal.”
Smith added that they are planning to have a Let ‘Er Buck and the Bronc Buster Trade Fair so we’re trying to get it back as normal as possible.
Smith also noted that they’re already getting people from around the world asking about tickets for the Williams Lake Stampede which he hopes will go on sale starting April first.