CFR sees community ‘get behind’ annual Western spectacle

The Canadian Finals Rodeo began in earnest on Wednesday with several events including a tailgate party, trade show and the competitions themselves.

It’s back for another year: the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) started Wednesday at Rogers Place, Ice District and the Edmonton Expo Centre, with the sights and sounds of the annual spectacle evident around the city.

The four-day CFR returned to Edmonton last October after a six-year absence, during which the annual spectacle had taken place in Red Deer.

This year’s version is expected to attract 40,000 spectators to Rogers Place and downtown, and boost the local economy by $32 million.

About half the audience is expected to come from outside the city.

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Arlindo Gomes, the vice-president of business development for city tourism arm Explore Edmonton, said he’s impressed how the CFR spurs people and organizations “leverage the activities around the city, just to get Edmontonians and visitors really involved and engaged with the event,” from the activity downtown at Rogers Place and Ice District and at the exhibition grounds at the Expo Centre to events held around the city at places such as the Hotel MacDonald and other downtown hotels, Cook County Saloon and at several restaurants.

“The things I’m really excited about are the way our community actually gets behind the event,” Gomes told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

“It’s so gratifying to see people step up, volunteer, put on events, organize events, those kinds of things, just create a more vibrant community for us to be part of. And also, the events bring in visitors. That economic impact is so important.”

Edmonton secured a three-year contract to host the rodeo after Red Deer’s Westerner Park opted not to renew. The contract included a $4.5-million contribution from the Alberta government over three years.

The Edmonton Coliseum had been the only other host of the annual event that started in 1974, the year the arena opened.

Running concurrently to the CFR is the Canadian Country Expo, which features Western lifestyle, culture, and entertainment activities, including a trade show, live music, rodeo events and family activities for free at the Edmonton Expo Centre along with select ticketed events.

The province says the CFR will support more than 5,500 jobs and fill more than 12,000 hotel rooms.

Competitions at CFR include bull riding, bareback riding, steer riding, saddle bronc, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, team roping and barrel racing.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti