Tsi Deldel Rodeo
The Tsi Del Del rodeo originally started with Steve Horsman's idea to
build a riding arena for the benefit of the youth in our community. His
idea was to give the kids something to do and teach them some important
life lessons at the same time. He circulated this information around our
community along with plans of how our riding arena would look. Chief
Ervin Charleyboy got into the spirit but he went a step further with the
idea of a rodeo. Before any of us realized what we were getting
ourselves into a rodeo committee was established. The original committee
consisted of Steve Horsman, Ervin Charleyboy, Joyce and Gene Cooper,
Edna Lulua, Seraphine and Dixie William, Geraldine Solomon, and Marilyn
Charleyboy.
The committee met on a weekly basis beginning in June. After that,
everything went pretty fast. We had set a rodeo date before we even had
an arena or an outside fence. This was a great way to set fire under
everyone's feet. The fence was ordered and then there was a delay before
it was delivered from Hi-Hog fencing in Calgary. It was around the end
of June before we received the fence from Hi-Hog. Since summer is the
busiest time of year for everyone it took a lot of effort to get people
together to get the arena fence and the outside fence up. But the work
didn't stop there! From picking rocks off the arena to building a
concession and a mountain race trail where the creek had to be cleaned
and the trail cleared.
The mountain race was Chief Ervin's idea to bring a bigger crowd. But
with some very dedicated people and a lot of hard work the rodeo ground
was done in about a month and three weeks. A bunch of guys were still
out at the grounds working until about midnight the night before the
rodeo to finish off the things that hadn't been done. A great big thank
you to all those people that went out of their way to help finish up the
grounds, which was no small task. Some of these guys would come home
from a long days work and then head off to the grounds to see if there
was anything that needed to be done. And some spent the whole month over
there working hard.
Our first annual rodeo took place on August 21 & 22 1998. Everyone put a
great deal of effort into running the rodeo. All of the band staff were
out there working for the full two days of the rodeo. It was quite
amazing to see how many people came and pitched in, not only from our
community but from surrounding communities as well. The mountain race
was a big crowd pleaser. Chief Ervin Charleyboy announced this rodeo and
every one that followed. He did a calcutta on the cowboys running the
race. To everyone's horror there was a collision on the trail the second
day of the mountain race. Patrick Charleyboy and Roy Blatchfords's
horses collided on the first stretch which is the steepest and scariest
part of the race. Both horses went end over end. Roy got up and walked
away with a few scratches and bruises. Patrick's horse tumbled over him
a couple of times. Then all panic broke loose, Patrick Charleyboy was
unconscious. Thanks to the quick thinking and fast action from Ruth
Horsman and Evan Howarth, the ambulance arrived and shortly after that
the helicopter arrived. To everyone's amazement Patrick only had a
broken shoulder and a lot of scratches and bruises. That was the last
mountain race for him but not his horse.
After the first finals rodeo Chendi Enterprises Cat and operator, Blaine
Charleyboy came back to fix the mountain race trail and leveled the
first part of it so that it wasn't as dangerous to come down. It is
still a 72% grade after it was leveled.
This first annual rodeo had a great turn out and response from people.
All in all, the hard work of the Tsi Del Del community paid off.
Our community was chosen to run the Chilcotin Rodeo Finals two years in
a row and we survived the Second Annual Tsi Del Del Rodeo as well. In
total we ran four rodeo's in the first two years.
Our first Annual Rodeo was nominated for Rodeo of the year in 1998 but
we lost to Bella Coola by one point. Which is quite an honor and
accomplishment considering we were all new at this rodeo business.
Thank You to all our main contributors who donated time, money,
equipment and supplies: