Austin Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede kicked off Thursday, but big plans are expected to continue to Sunday.
Vice president for the Manitoba Agriculture Museum and volunteer for the event, Bill Warren says there is a lot of dedication into making this event possible. It is run entirely by volunteers who put lots of hard work into the setup for the stampede.
“Some people here have been working on tractors and equipment for over 20 years. We have people from all over Manitoba. As well as people from Ontario, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota,” He continues. “We have a gathering of people who have gotten to know each other after so long and it's been wonderful.”
Warren adds that there is no other event like the Austin rodeo, it is unique from so many other events in Manitoba that makes it stand out as a highlight.
“What we do here is so unique. This is the largest old equipment show in Canada. Vintage farm equipment, the rodeo, our Pioneer Village is wonderful, and people just want to keep coming back for it.”
A new event that they brought this year was an RCMP musical ride. Constable Chris Russell was very pleased with the performances so far. He notes there is a lot of preparation that goes into the musical ride.
"There's five months of training, it's every day and our full-time job. We start in January, and we practice the show continuously. It's a lot of work to make something like this happen both for us and for the volunteers, organizers, and societies that host us.”
He comments that it is an honour to be able to be in Austin and travel around Manitoba. The RCMP musical ride usually has 32 riders, however this year it is 16. The musical ride is about 25 minutes long and is filled with cavalry drill movements that are set to music. He mentions it is great to meet new people in the communities.
“We love to help if we can help in any way to raise funds and just interact with the people. I've had great conversations with very knowledgeable horse people here and it's like that in every community. It's been a total joy, as it is every year.”
Don’t forget that there will be many things yet to come in the rodeo ring for the weekend. Check out some pictures from the musical ride, various events, and the pioneer village. Make sure to visit Austin Threshermen’s Reunion for its last two days.