DAWSON CREEK S PRING BREAKUP PARTY CELEBRATES NEW DECADE WITH RENEWED FOCUS
April 16 , 2009

CALGARY, ALTA. – The Dawson Creek Spring Breakup Party is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and you’re invited!

The action stampedes into the EnCana Events Centre in Dawson Creek, B.C. April 17 at 7 p.m. and features some of the best saddle bronc and boys steer riders from the 2008 Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) season.

“I didn’t think we would get as many good guys as we got, you know, everybody on that list has got some credentials,” said organizer Terry Cooke. “I would drive quite a ways to watch this.”

Fortunately, he doesn’t have far to go. Cooke and his wife Kimeal have been organizing the Dawson Creek Spring Breakup Party in their hometown since 1999.

But this is the first year the event has featured bronc riding.

“We’ve always had bull riding,” Cooke offered, noting that the event was sanctioned by the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) for its first nine years.

“There’s so many bull riding events on that to try and find dates – and then when we found out that PBR was putting a big two-day bull riding event on in Prince Albert the same date as ours, I said, ‘Let’s try something else,’ and we decided to go with the professional bronc riding,” he said.

And the response to the change has been great.

“We live in a country up here were there’s a lot of older bronc riding fans. The bull riding was great and we had good crowds, but so far we’re happy that we went with the bronc riding,” Cooke said. “The lineup of horses we got, and the lineup of guys, is set up to be an awful good bronc ride.”

The top 24 saddle bronc riders were selected from all entries received, based on the 2008 Canadian standings, and on Friday they’ll ride head-to-head on horses supplied by the Calgary Stampede and Outlaw Buckers Rodeo Corp.

As if that weren’t excitement enough, 14 steer riders will take their turn in the dust for a chance to win one of the richest boys steer riding pots in the country.

Money earned at this event will qualify towards the 2009 Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR).

Tickets are available at the Tiger Box Office Plus at the Encana Events Centre, Dawson Co-Op High Performance Ticket Outlet in the Dawson Co-op Mall, or by calling 1-877-339-8499.