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'Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair' is an annual rodeo and fair located in the town of Cloverdale in Surrey, British Columbia. It is held annually at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds during the Victoria Day holiday weekend, from the Friday to Monday.
Attendance in 2006 was over 20,000.

Contents

History

Events

Controversy

References

See also

External links

History

The fair was first held in September 1888 in the Surrey Municipal Hall and grounds. In 1938, the fair was moved to its current location at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.
The rodeo was first held in 1945 and proved so popular that it was taken over by the Lower Fraser Valley Agricultural Association in 1947.
In 1962, the fair was taken over by the Fraser Valley Exhibition Society, and in 1994, the fair and rodeo were renamed the Cloverdale Rodeo & Exhibition Association.
In 1996, the 109 year-old annual fall fair was incorporated into the May rodeo weekend.

Events

There are cooking, baking and canning competitions, arts and crafts displays and horticulture and livestock exhibits.
Since 1977, on the Thursday before the Fair, there has been a bed race in downtown Cloverdale, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.
A parade is held on the Saturday of the Fair, and a midway hosts games and rides.
For children, there are 4H club displays and children's entertainers.

Controversy

Every year the entrance to the rodeo is lined with animal rights activists holding placards and distributing leaflets. The activists allege that bucking straps, electric prods, spurs and physical abuse are used to terrorize the animals into action. For the past several years, animal right activists have taken their protests a step further and moved them into the arena. Rodeo goers have seen everything from banners unfurled in the stands to activists attempting to handcuff themselves to chute gates in an attempt to stop the rodeo.
In 2007, animal rights activists ran inside the rodeo ring to protest the death of a calf from a roping event at the previous day's show. Celebrity Pamela Anderson targeted the Cloverdale Rodeo that same year by writing a letter urging the sponsors to pull out. Ms. Anderson pointed out that "the calf roping event is particularly cruel". The Cloverdale Rodeo announced that it would cut ties with the professional circuit by dropping 4 controversial roping events including: tie-down roping, team roping, cowboy cow milking and steer wrestling.^[1]

References

1. Todd Battis with the rodeo's rough ride

See also

★ Cloverdale Fairgrounds

★ Rodeo bareback rigging

External links

★ Cloverdale Rodeo & Country Fair