Belated Happy New Year to our members, volunteers, and sponsors. We hope you have all had a pleasant Christmas holiday and that you are looking forward to 2025 … after all, we’ve finally got our Voght Street Bridge replaced! Our aim with this Newsletter, as periodic as it is, is to try to keep our community informed as to our activities and future plans. And there’s lots to report on in this edition.
YOU ARE INVITED – SOCIAL EVENING & AGM
Annual General Meeting & Social Evening!
March 6, 2025
Country Music Hall of Honour
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The AGM is scheduled for Thursday, March 6, 2025 at the Country Music Hall of Honour. Following on the success of last year’s event, we will again host a social evening with appetizers, refreshments, and music beginning at 6:00 pm, followed by the formal meeting at 7:00 pm. Members, friends, and sponsors are invited to come and enjoy some time with the board and other supporters.
The annual meeting is, of course, mandated by the Societies Act and requires the Association to elect its board of directors for the coming year and present its financial statement for the past year. We invite you to come and meet the board and others who support the Association. Learn what we have planned for 2025, tell us what you like that we are doing, or how we might improve. We hope you will set the evening aside on your calendar and join us!
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NEWS FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
| As a result of a proposal by director Mary MacGregor, the Board has resolved to establish 3 standing committees: administration and finance; grounds and facilities; and pro rodeo, with each committee taking responsibility for and administering specific projects, subject to board approval, as their designated names suggest. The aim is to better apportion workloads and limit the number of board meetings necessary to carry on our operations. We also hope to encourage the involvement of members and friends of the association who may not wish to be a director but would contribute on a committee. More information about these committees and their work will be announced at the AGM.
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Join a committee to
share your ideas and
skills!
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MEMBERSHIPS
You can get your 2025 membership online at our website nicolavalleyrodeo.com
Still only $10!
Learn More
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With the beginning of every year comes time to renew your membership or, if you are not currently a member, to take out a new membership. Membership forms are available on our website and will also be at the AGM. Purchasing in advance saves time at the meeting. Please note, only 2025 current members may vote at the AGM.
MEMBER PERK: Members paid up by midnight March 5,2025 can claim a pair of free weekend passes at the 2025 pro rodeo.
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PROJECTS & IMPROVEMENTS FOR 2025
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The priority project for the season is to replace some of the support posts in the stall buildings to keep them safe for use. Last year we found that a lot of the old, untreated wood posts were rotting, which resulted in closing those stalls for use in the last half of the season. Fortunately, we were able to secure a grant that should cover most of the repair cost and have them all ready for our first event.
Other projects on the list include some paint and fortifying of the grandstand railings, re&re picnic tables and complete the concourse resurfacing that was begun last year. We are also looking into the feasibility of adding a second access road to improve traffic flow for busy events.
And, of course, there are the usual cleanup work bees throughout the season. Volunteers are needed and welcome for all of the above!
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EVENTS SO FAR
The 2025 calendar is filling up with many of the regular events and a few new ones. So far, on the schedule we have:
- High school and Little Britches rodeos, annual events for many years
- The EV Rodeo is back! This is electric Go-Cart racing, sponsored by Edison Motors
- BCCHA cutting event, similar to last year’s format
- NEW! A bullriding event from Mulvahill Rodeo
- The NVKC dog show
- NEW! The annual Ranch rodeo is combining with a MKH Horsemanship (Miles Kingdon) skills workshop & competition to make a full long weekend to kick off rodeo week in late August
- 65th Annual Nicola Valley Pro Rodeo
- More Barrel racing! We held a few successful races last year and now we are working on more, including a short series. Stay tuned.
For more details and to keep up to date go to the calendar on our website nicolavalleyrodeo.com.
PRO RODEO PLANNING
Producing a professional rodeo is a project that never ends. No sooner do we complete the Pro Rodeo for one year than we start the debriefing process and planning for the following year.
We had amazing feedback from Kynan Vine, chute boss of our 2024 rodeo. Kynan is one of the top rodeo producers in North America – we entice him out to BC with the promise of fishing, his true passion (thank you Corbett Lake Lodge!). Kynan gave us his debrief report, and commented that, contrary to his initial expectation, our rodeo was “First In Class” – he said he would put the Nicola Valley Pro Rodeo up against any other in its category and have no problem saying it’s the best he had seen in a long time” in comparison with other rodeos of its size across North America.
For the 65th Rodeo, August 29/30/31, 2025, we hope that the Friday night parade will continue the bigger and better trend, and that more visitors will come to the grounds after the parade to enjoy music in the concourse on Friday night.
The directors have agreed that, to encourage families to come to the rodeo on Saturday and Sunday, we will expand the kidzone with ranch/rodeo related activities, and open the grounds earlier so that families can come early, buy their tickets online or at the ticket booth, enjoy the kidzone and the food offerings or their own picnic lunch, watch “slack” if they wish, and view the daily rodeo performance starting at 1 p.m.
Cowboi Cole is returning, along with trick rider Keely Sutherland and Roman rider Noemy Coeurjoly, and our usual great rodeo stock from Macza Pro Rodeo. The Centennials players intend to continue volunteering - they were super helpful in 2024 and we are thrilled to have them back. We again hope to present the bull riding event in memory of Ty Pozzobon.
On Saturday, the rodeo performance ends about 2:30 - 3:00 p.m. and is followed by music in the concourse, more kids’ activities and the rodeo dance on the grounds, a terrific success in 2024 which we hope to repeat.
For Sunday we are working on arrangements for the pancake breakfast and for Cowboy Church.
Sponsorship requests were sent out in January and have received a positive response. Without our valued sponsors there would be no rodeo, with the loss not only of the rodeo and entertainment events during rodeo weekend, but also the economic benefit that the rodeo provides to the City of Merritt. So, a huge THANK YOU to sponsors!
QUESTIONS? . . . . . email us at nicolavalleyrodeoassociation@gmail.com.
Please follow us on Social Media @nicolavalleyrodeo
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Tags: social evening and agm, news from the board, memberships, pro rodeo planning