It has been 17 years since the sounds of the gates crashing open, and hooves pounding the ground for eight seconds until the horn blast, have been heard at the Drumheller and District AG Society, but this summer rodeo is back.
The Drumheller and Morrin Lions have partnered with the Ag Society and will be hosting Dino Days Stampede on June 20- 21. This is a full slate evening rodeo that includes bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, junior bull riding, all the roping events and barrel racing.
Rodeo performances are at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with slack on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Al Bouchard, president of Rugged Rodeo is producing the show.
“It looks like it is going to be a good event, it’s going the right way,” said Bouchard.
This is an open Rodeo, and Rugged Rodeo does about six events a year. They have been growing and returning to many areas like Drumheller that once had rodeos. COVID took a toll on events, but Bouchard said they are slowly regrowing the sport.
“We’re trying to add three new events a year,” he explains. “I used to come to Drumheller when it was a pro rodeo and compete, and it was a really good event. I could never figure out why it came to an end. Drumheller is a rodeo town.”
He says the organizers are working hard to make preparations for the event build sponsorship and set up volunteers.
“It’s a lot of work. The Drumheller Lions Club, Morrin Lions Club and the Ag Society, there are a lot of people working on this thing to make it happen. It is a lot of people wanting to do something good for the community,” said Bouchard.
The funds raised by the rodeo will go back to the community.
President of the Drumheller Lions Kat Mundell says she is feeling enthusiasm as the word spreads. Right now they have just begun its sponsorship drive and will also be looking for volunteers to help with the event. There will also be a lot of work to get the venue in shape.
For more information or to learn about sponsorship opportunities contact 403-823-8543 or email drumhellerlionsrodeo@gmail.com.

Members of the Town of Drumheller’s Emergency and Protective Services department, along with Drumheller Fire Department and Drumheller RCMP, participated in a full-scale functional exercise in the Newcastle community early Wednesday morning, March 12.
The exercise focused on responding to a high water event and included a staged evacuation of an area in the Newcastle community.
“The Town facilitates simulated emergency responses at least once per year; however, this exercise was at a much larger scale,” shares Town Communications officer Erica Crocker.
To ensure key personnel were engaged in the scenario, participants also practiced the activation of the Town’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and establishing an Incident Command Post. Ms. Crocker notes the staged evacuation also helped to determine coordination between the various departments, and execution of procedures during an evacuation.
Although the Town, as well as the provincial and federal governments, have invested funding to build berms throughout the Drumheller Valley to protect the community, the berms constructed are designed to withstand a flow rate of 1,850 cubic metres per second (cms); the exercise used a 1:200 year flood with flow rates of 2,100 cms.
“This is about preparation for the potential of real events, so while we are protecting the community to 1,850 CMS, we need to plan if the water was higher and faster,” explains Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Darryl Drohomerski. “In addition, not all areas will be protected, so this gives internal and external teams the ability to plan for ‘what-if’ scenarios.”
CAO Drohomerski adds every municipality is required by the province to have an Emergency Management Plan in place and conduct exercises to ensure key individuals know what to do in the event of an emergency. He also notes while many of the berm projects have been completed to date, construction on the Nacmine and Rosedale berms has not yet started, which prompted the Town to choose the date for the scenario.
“The team did very well for being thrown into the scenario without any advance knowledge,” says Drohomerski. “The biggest takeaway is the need to practice the plan more, so the people get comfortable in the Incident Command Structure that Alberta has adopted to respond to all emergencies.”