Top rodeo credits volunteers and sponsors

There are a few good reasons why Richer Rough Stock Rodeo was named the Heartland Rodeo Association (HRA) rodeo of the year for 2025. And those reasons also explain why this is their ninth award in 11 years.

“I think southeastern Manitoba is a hotbed for rodeo,” Richer Rough Stock Rodeo president Pat Stolwyk said. “There’s no doubt about it with Grunthal being close and also Beausejour. We’re also very close to Winnipeg so that helps.”

It’s typically western Manitoba that people would associate with belt buckles, cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and horses.

But the Southeast continues to supply competitors and fans for a variety of rodeos, including those hosted by the HRA.

The award was presented to Richer organizers at the league’s finals in Grunthal last month.

Chosen by the competitors who are also HRA members, the award is important to organizers.

“Our organizers, all the people on the committee and also our volunteers… their attention to detail is topnotch,” Stolwyk said.

While it’s the action on the corral that many come to see, Stolwyk said they’ve always had another priority.

“The focus has always been to pay attention to the children and make sure the kids are taken care of, and make sure they have something to look forward to,” he said. “Because let’s face it. If the children are taken care of, then the parents are going to come.”

It’s no mystery why the Richer event is recognized for its organization.

The committee starts early and works late.

They’ve already been planning next year’s rodeo.

“We start our meetings the first Tuesday after the rodeo and we start planning for next year,” he said. “We meet once a month leading up to it and the in the last two months we meet every week.”

“There’s a lot of detail. There’s a lot of moving parts,” he added. “You have to make sure you’re on top of all that.”

After 11 years of hosting rodeos, Stolwyk said some things are becoming turnkey. He attributes that to having people in place that know exactly what they’re doing.

It’s not hard to see why the community feels so much ownership over the annual event.

With a Statistics Canada estimate of over 600 people in Richer, and 130 volunteers, that means more than one in five residents is a volunteer.

In fact, Richer’s challenge is not in finding volunteers but in finding roles for everyone.

“We get constant asks leading up to that, so we try not to turn anybody away,” he said. “We try to find something for everybody to do because we want them to feel like they’re part of it.”

Every small-town festival, fair or rodeo requires something often said to be just as important as those willing to lend a hand, and that’s sponsors.

That too is something that has made Richer’s event a major success.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how southeast Manitoba has got behind the Richer Rodeo and all the local businesses,” he said. “It’s very humbling. It really, really is. Without the support of volunteers and also sponsors it just doesn’t happen. It’s that simple.”

With dedication comes success, and with success comes an event that people will travel home for.

That was the goal Stolwyk said he and his wife discussed when they first decided to help with what was then a new event.

“I wanted to create an event that my kids, no matter where they are in this country, will come back at least for that week and spend it with us an enjoy an event in their community,” he said. “I want people to plan their holidays around that event.”

“And now that’s happening because I hear that from a lot of people,” he said.

During the event Stolwyk said he likes to take a moment to see people having fun. And when he takes in the evening social where organizers and volunteers gather, the reasons for their success become apparent once again.

“They’re all in it for the same reason and that’s for our future and it’s for the kids,” he said,

Three decades of excellence

HRA President Claude Potvin was the founding president of the association in 1995 when he said a group of rodeo enthusiasts sipped tea around a coffee table and came up with the idea for Heartland.

“We were travelling to three, sometimes four rodeos a weekend to try and make finals and lot of the rodeos were in Saskatchewan,” he said.

He recalls some of the most challenging trips that saw them compete in Thunder Bay, Ont. and travel to Saskatchewan the same weekend.

“We sat down and said why are we doing this?” he said. “Why are we travelling so far.”

Hearland Rodeo Association was founded on the premise of inclusion, allowing families to take part and focus on one rodeo per weekend, though that can be changed for long weekends.

“Our constitution states we cannot have overlapping dates,” he said. “It not only benefits the contestants that are going, it benefits the community that’s hosting the rodeo.”

Competitors who focus on one rodeo will take in the other events, support the local canteen and get gas and other supplies as needed.

HRA has come a long way since those early days. Formed in December of 1995, their first season was the following summer where they had six events.

Eleven are tentatively scheduled for next year’s season, though Potvin said there are talks going on with other communities who are also interested.

“Heartland is as strong as its ever been,” he said.

From the start they’ve also been family oriented, featuring events that allow children to take part.

“We have grandchildren roping with their grandparents,” he said.

In Peewee barrel racing for example, there are kids as young as four or five who take part.

Potvin is a former competitor as well, having taken part in saddle bronc and steer wrestling at rodeos in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the U.S.

He said Richer does a lot of things very well.

“Richer has strong support from the community,” he said. “They’ve gone over and above to better their grounds.”

HRA judging director Rob Manchester said they are facing challenges as well but added that Richer is an example of what works.

He too credited the volunteers.

“They have the best phenomenal group of volunteers,” he said. “They’re willing to step up.”

HRA generally hosts about 11 rodeos per season.

Higher costs mean entrants consider each trip carefully, deciding whether it’s worth the gas and the entry fees.

Larger rodeos like Richer’s can also boast larger payouts, and that combined with a larger enthusiastic crowd makes it a desired location for competitors Manchester said.

A lack of entrants has become a challenge in some areas.

“We still have a lot of barrel racers, and we still have a lot of team ropers, calf ropers but it’s really tough to get the rough stock riders like your bronc riders and your bareback riders,” he said. “When I started it was not uncommon to get six or seven at every event. Now we’re lucky if we get two or three.”

That’s why the HRA added a ranch-bronc riding category.

This event uses a normal saddle and allows competitors to use both hands.

“It’s really made a difference because now some guys are willing to ride because they can use two hands and they’re used to riding a bucking horse,” he said.

A former competitor in calf roping and team roping, the now 60-year-old explained the various rodeo associations that compete.

The Canadian Pro Rodeo Association is what the describes as the NHL of rodeo.

The Manitoba Rodeo Cowboys Association would be considered semi professional, kind of like seniors’ leagues in hockey.

And Heartland itself? It’s more like beer league, he said.

“It’s more family oriented, more like the weekend warriors, not the professional cowboys because all of us still make a living,” he said. “It’s more of an amateur type association.”

While individual rodeos such as Richer are doing well at attracting and keeping sponsors, Manchester said it remains a challenge for the HRA.

“I think every association, be it rodeo, be it hockey, anything, it’s getting tough because the dollars are tough to get out there,” he said. “We really do our best when someone does sponsor us to really pump their name, their product because it’s getting really hard to get sponsorships now.”

And while there are always challenges, HRA’s website tagline is something many attendees at any of their events will agree with.

“Time spent at the rodeo is never wasted,” it states.