GALLERY: Bonnyville Ag Society Rodeo and Chuckwagons a success

Four days of fast-paced wagons and rodeo action delighted Bonnyville last weekend.

With great weather and support from the community, the event was well-attended from Thursday to Sunday. Chanse Vigen driving the KUDO Energy Services outfit won the Victor Ringuette Memorial Championship Final heat and the 2022 Bonnyville Chuckwagon Championship.

“The Bonnyville Ag Society were very pleased with the success of the event,” said president Michelle Dargis.

“We felt it went really well. We’re very thankful to all our sponsors, the participants, the fans, and our volunteers, which without our volunteers, we can’t put on such a wonderful show. The weather was wonderful, the racing was great. And the rodeo had 363 contestants, so we were very happy with the turnout.”

“We’re thankful for the community of Bonnyville and how they supported our event and we’re looking forward to putting on the Fall Fair on September 10 of this year, and we can’t wait to see everybody on the grounds again.”

“For us we drove a different outfit every night, we got a deep barn this year,” said Dash for Cash winner Chanse Vigen. “We got three outfits that are clicking.  Good competition out there. Tonight we ended up on the three barrel, we went back to the short barrel outfit that we drove on Saturday. And it was a little messy for us in the barrels. But luckily we got the job done,” he said.

“We came in here this year on a mission to take it back. And we did that and I’m proud of the guys. I’m proud of the horses. I’m proud of the advertisers and everybody that supports this group. We got a good team.”

Sponsored by KUDO Energy Services, Kurt Richard said as a friend of Vigen, it was great to see him represent so well.

“Chance is a good buddy of Don and mine, and we like to help him out when we can here and there. And being in our backyard, it was an opportunity to make sure we had a tarp on him,” said Richard. “We find there’s a lot of value, and it’s very important to ensure that those chuckwagon drivers have some sponsorship, and they’ve got people behind them,” he said.

“We’re real proud to see him run over the finish line in first place all four days.”

The Bonnyville & District Chamber of Commerce Corporate Chili Cookoff got the main festivities rolling in downtown on Friday afternoon, selling over 700 bowls of chili.

Winners included:

• Team Spirit: H.E.B Middle School
• Most Unusual: Cashco Financial
• Tastiest: Lakeland Co-op
• Hot Stuff: Dove Centre
• People’s Choice: Canadian Natural Resources Limited
• and the “Sense”ational winner for the best overall is Town of Bonnyville