Canadian Cowboys Association pulls rodeo out of Agribition

The Canadian Cowboys Association is pulling its rodeo out of the Canadian Western Agribition after this year.

This year’s Agribition will be the last one for one of its most popular events, the CCA’s rodeo finals. The association is moving the finals to Swift Current in 2016.
 
Shylo Claypool, the CCA’s president, said it’s about dollars and cents.
 
“(It) helps us be the feature act in a city, which will in turn give us a chance to expand our finals.”
 
Claypool said it will also allow them to have youth more involved, and they hope it will translate into more money coming in.
 
“It was definitely a tough decision,” said Claypool. He remarked that the ten-year relationship with Agribition has been a good one, but change is also good.
 
The CCA made the decision at the beginning of February and let the Canadian Western Agribition know before its annual convention at the beginning of February.
 
Marty Seymour, CEO of the CWA, said the partnership they’ve had with the CCA has been “outstanding” and they were surprised by the decision.
 
Seymour said rodeo is one of Agribition’s signature events, so there will still be rodeo at the show.
 
“There’s been lots of interest now that the word is out – people contacting us wanting to fill that space with some type of rodeo-type activity.”
 
But Seymour explained that Agribition is concentrating on the coming show in November right now, and will look into what will replace the finals later on in the year.

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