The Oxford Dictionary defines fun as “light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement; boisterous joviality or merrymaking; entertainment.” I’m enjoying a refreshing Hazy Pale Ale with my pal Jon, wondering if we’re having fun ourselves. Our kids, ranging from 3 to 13, are exploring with the moms, and we have a brief Dad moment to reflect. A country music artist is on stage, and the air emits a sweet-smoky tang from busy rib trucks down the lane. Fun for an adult is undoubtedly different than fun for a kid, but as I’ve learned during the 13 years chasing the Canadian Bucket List, if kids are having fun, their parents are usually having fun too. For now, fun is enjoying a craft beer on a warm, sunny spring day. Fun is in the eye (or in the case, the belly) of the beholder.
There’s a lot of fun to be had at Canada’s second largest rodeo, although before we get started, it’s best to address some of the BS. As a celebration of agricultural lifestyle, modern rodeo is an athletic discipline involving rider and horse (or bull), and there’s no bull when I say you should read up on how a rodeo actually works before racing to judgement. Animals are not beaten, mistreated or violated, and ironically, much of the anti-rodeo lobby comes from well-meaning if misguided activists living in cities who rarely deal with animals and have never bothered to learn what’s actually going on. Read my myth-busting post, and let’s move on, because a rodeo also drives a community celebration of music, art, culture, food, performance and family-friendly fun. Fun is on my mind all day at the Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair in Surrey, B.C. Between the rides, the music, the animals, the candy floss and guys doing somersaults on motorbikes, my kids are having an absolute bucket of it.
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The Cloverdale Rodeo, the largest in British Columbia, dates back to 1945, when two local residents were inspired by a rodeo in BC Interior to create a community event back home. Their first rodeo was a very smooth ride, quickly growing into a two-day affair featuring bronc and bull riding, barrel races, chuckwagon races, Roman chariot races, and a best-dressed cowboy contest. Under the direction of the Cloverdale Rodeo & Exhibition Association, the event grew to national acclaim, eclipsing similar events across the country. Today, the Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair attracts about 70,000 people over the long weekend, and features dozens of food trucks, carnival rides, an Indigenous Village, hundreds of different vendors, and over 100 artists performing across seven stages.
Ninety-six of the world’s best cowboys and cowgirls competed this year for a prize pool of more than $300,000, and while it’s not my family’s first rodeo, it is for the others. Watching spirited broncs and speedy barrel racing to the roar of a sold-out crowd is something to experience. You have to feel for the knees, hips and backs of the riders. As for their competitor, some of the healthiest farm animals you will ever see work a rodeo. But there’s so much else to see.
We park ourselves unnervingly close to the landing pad of the stunt bike riders, and peruse vendors selling clothing, novelties, homemade snacks and tchotchkes. Sometimes we do this at the same time. The girls cuddle reptiles in the Farm Friendz hall, where they learn about chicken, goat, llama, turkey and cattle farming, while the boys pet horses and ponies (my son has grown attached to horses since our wonderful visit last summer to the Flying U, Canada’s oldest guest ranch. I sing a few lines with the Duelling Pianos in the Lasso Lounge, and the 3-year-old cheers on Ace’s Flying Pigs (with names like Amy Swinehouse, Snoop Hoggy Hog). As smoked meat enthusiasts, pleasure and enjoyment truly kick in for the dads with a full rack of beef ribs from Boss Hog’s BBQ, one of three award-winning rib trucks at the event’s popular rib fest. All ages appear to enjoy an appetite for destruction, so we take our seats for the Demolition Derby.
I’ve never seen a Demolition Derby before, and if you haven’t either, prepare for mayhem. Old, beaten up and bashed cars that have no right to motion enter an arena and proceed to race around two tractor tires, crash or smash each other into immobile wrecks. A ramping car spun out of control and literally hit one of the support organizers, flipping the poor bald fellow in the air. He was fine. I’m sorry I laughed. It’s destructive and weird and trashy and fun, packing the stands with cheers and whoas and all-round havoc. Naturally, the kids (and adults) enjoyed it immensely.
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Over four days, Cloverdale brings in top-class bands for the Main Stage, along with folk artists, country singers, impersonators, buskers and DJs. There’s a Roll-a-Rama, circus acts, a lumberjack show, dog tricks and a drone show. Plenty of cowboy boots and hats, yahoos and yeehas, and for singles of all ages in the BC’s Lower Mainland, 139-acres of stadiums, dancehalls, halls and arenas to lasso a little love. Fun for everyone then, however you want to define it.
For more info, visit the Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair.
