41ST ANNUAL LEDUC BLACK GOLD PRO RODEO KICKS OFF TODAY
April 30 , 2010

The town of Leduc, Alta. is gearing up for the 41st annual Leduc Black Gold Pro Rodeo, kicking off April 30.

For Dave Rock, President of the Leduc Black Gold Rodeo Association, every year is a new opportunity to try new things and improve the grounds, while still putting on one heck of a rodeo.

Rock, who received the Committee Member of the Year Award from the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association last year for all his hard work and dedication, says the biggest ideas for what to develop usually happen following each rodeo. So, for now, Rock, and the rest of the talented folks that make the Black Gold Rodeo a reality each spring, are concentrating their efforts on the next three days.

Just hours before the rodeo’s first performance, Rock was busy putting the final touches on some pen repairs before fixing up the rodeo office, “just running around trying to keep ahead of everything,” and was happy to announce, “the sun is shining today!”

According to Rock, the rodeo office was inundated with phone calls prior to the Thursday morning slack performance, after a brutal storm tangled things up in parts of the province, wreaking havoc on highways and affecting power in many areas.

“We had lots of people phoning and saying they heard slack was cancelled,” he revealed.

“But nothing was cancelled,” he said, sounding relieved.

It was business as usual, and now that most of the snow has disappeared and fans and contestants are rolling into town, things are definitely looking up. And, according to Rock, a volunteer that has spent more than 20 years working for the Black Gold Rodeo, his only hope “is that everybody has a good time.”

The doors to the first rodeo performance swing open at 5:30 p.m. at the Leduc Recreation Centre, and the rodeo starts at 7 p.m.

Saturday’s rodeo performance also starts at 7 p.m., with the third and final performance on Sunday at 2 p.m.