After 121 years Raymond Stampede holds final rodeo in historic location

After more than 120 years in the same spot, the Raymond Stampede held its last rodeo in its historic location Saturday, as the grounds will soon be moved to make way for a school. 

Robert Heggie, president of the Raymond Stampede in the southern town of Raymond, Alta., says he's expecting thousands of people from southern Alberta to gather for the last day of the two-day rodeo in its current location. The historic site will soon be relocated to the northeast corner of the town. 

Heggie said he tried to keep the grounds at the current location, but it wasn't possible. 

"I don't own the land, the town owns the land, and they felt that was the best decision to make. And so we're rolling with it," he said. 

But the track, which is more than a century old, holds a lot of memories for Heggie whose family has been involved for five generations. 

"Some of my favorite memories are when we had our track here. We lost our track a few years ago, and we used to run chariots and have flat races here. We'd be running the rodeo bareback event, and all of a sudden you'd see a set of chariots running down the track," Heggie told CBC's The Homestretch. 

"It was non-stop action." 

He added that the current grandstand is showing signs of wear and would need work to last a few more years, but he hopes the grandstand at the new location will be similar to the current one. 

"It's a wooden structure and wooden structures don't last forever, as sad as it is. It's been here since 1945," he said. 

"We're going to take everything that we can from this site over with this and basically that's all the steel pens and the chutes and the announcer stand."

The Town of Raymond's website said in 1902 the grounds were home to the first outdoor stampede in Canada, and it's taken place on July 1 every year since. 

Raymond Mayor Jim Depew said the community desperately needs a new school and there weren't many other locations that worked. 

"Almost all of our elementary classes are over 100 per cent capacity, so we needed a new school in the worst way," he said. 

He said the new school had several requirements, including green space and existing infrastructure, that other parts of the town couldn't meet. 

He said the aging grandstand also factored into the decision. 

"We can move the rodeo grounds and move it to a better location and where it's more on the rural side of town and the school has all that beautiful green space to work with the new football field and the soccer fields that we have there." 

But Depew — who has competed in the rodeo himself — said he's dedicated to making sure the town's rodeo spirit remains at the new grounds. 

"I've been actively trying to help in making sure it's all going to be built up and put back together almost as good, or maybe even better than the site that it's at right now.