Town of Bonnyville approves $5000 for virtual rodeo

Elected Officials from the Town of Bonnyville recently approved $5000 to support the Bonnyville Agricultural Society virtual rodeo.

A letter was received by the council from Katrina Reid, Office Manager of the Bonnyville Agricultural Society originally requesting a donation from the town for $20,000.00. Reid also requested funding from the M.D. of Bonnyville for $20,000.00 and proposes to fundraise or contribute another $20,000.00 to cover the event budget of $60,000.

Mayor Gene Sobolewski says that the economic spin-off from such an event could benefit the Town of Bonnyville.

“With the rodeos and the chuckwagons and those types of events you get a lot of a lot of people coming in and they use the services in the community,” Mayor Sobolewski said.

The Bonnyville Agricultural Society says they would like to host the virtual Rodeo in the Town of Bonnyville this summer on June 18 and 19.

They are proposing to do this while conforming to Alberta Health Services Protocols. Elected Officials say it is unclear if organizers have requested AHS approval for the event, or even if approval is something that could be obtained given the recent move back to Stage 1 pandemic restrictions, which limit outdoor gatherings to ten.

The original request was for $20,000 in funding from the Town of Bonnyville for the event however Mayor Sobolewski says after deliberations of the Council, elected officials were focused on the net value return that the rodeo would provide to Bonnyville businesses.

“The town eventually made a motion to provide $5,000 from the $20,000 requested,” Mayor Sobolewski said.