The weather gods smiled down on the Cochrane Lions Rodeo over Labour Day long weekend.

Record numbers were seen at the three day event (September 2-4) which provided a ton of action for rodeo lovers young and old. Mark Demeo, Cochrane Lion, shares the last couple of years attendance has been up, which is great to see. "The last two years have been fantastic. Last year our 50th we had huge crowds to support us and we had good weather as well. The year before that I think it was one degree and raining and snowing out so we certainly had to recover from that."

Demeo, shared although he was busy behind the scenes there were a number of top highlights. "The crowd was very enthusiastic and you could really tell they were enjoying the rodeo. A lot of people were commenting on how much they appreciated the grounds being in the middle of town unlike other rodeos where you have to drive quite a ways out of town to get to it. The competition was good as usual, the production people on the infield did a fantastic job keeping things running smoothly, and the food trucks were a hit."

Saturday evening's dance and entertainment also went over well at the newly acquired Lions Event Centre. "We had probably about 400- 450 people there, which was a good testament to the facility and see how things went and make improvements going forward." 

You would think after 51 years planning such an event would be easy peasy but, Demeo, states it is still a ton of work. "In some areas it does get easier but it's still a lot of work whether it's easy work or hard work. We certainly lean on our volunteers for getting us through the rodeo, 50 -75 volunteers still come out on a daily basis to help us out."

The Cochrane Lions rodeo like many events is supported by local sponsorship. "Most of our major sponsors have been pretty faithful to us. Sponsorship did for sure drop this year due to the economy and other reasons but hopefully with the crowds we made up for the gap in sponsorship this year and come out with a profit to disburse that money back into the community."

Cochrane Lions Club supports a number of community initiatives such as Citizens on Patrol, the Cochrane Activettes, Lindsey Leigh Kimmett Foundation, scholarships, and many others.