The Drumheller Mail

97th Handhills Lake Stampede saddles up

    One of the longest running rodeo’s in the province is flying out the chute this weekend.
    Starting on Friday, May 31, the 97th Handhills Lake Stampede will begin another exciting rodeo.
    The action starts at noon on Friday, with Chuckwagon and Chariot races scheduled for 6 p.m.
    Then, the next day at noon, the rodeo officially opens. Each year a guest of honour opens the Stampede. This year long-time rodeo volunteer Ken Wells was chosen.
    “It’s quite an honour. I’m kind of surprised, there are a lot of people that should be there, too. I volunteered off and on for a number of years, as much as I could,” said Wells.
    Wells was chosen for his years of volunteer service to the Handhills Lake Stampede and the Hanna Indoor Rodeo. Wells first began volunteering when he was 15 and had attended his first Handhills Lake Stampede when he was five.
    “I was about five years old when my parents came back to help out my grandfather on our land south of Hanna. I was about 5 when I went to my first Handhills Stampede,” said Wells. “I started (volunteering) pretty young, helping out at the Handhills. We’d help pulling saddles off the broncs when they were done.”
    Wells, now 82, has a lot of memories from years at the rodeo.

Ken Wells, the 97th Handhill Lake Stampede guest of honour, during his younger years. Wells volunteered with the Stampede and Hanna Indoor Rodeo starting when he was 15-years-old. Over the years he has seen some of the biggest moments and names at the rodeo. The most important thing, he says, is the friendships forged along the way.

    “I got to know a lot of the cowboys over the years. They would stay at our place and give us a hand with the chores,” said Wells. “There are a lot of memories. I wish I could remember all the stories over the years, that would be quite a book. Some you wouldn’t be able to put in a  book! Some of those characters got pretty wild. What I remember most is how many riders are in the Canadian and U.S. halls of fame.”
    In three more years, the Handhill Lake Stampede will be celebrating its centennial. Planning has already begun.
    “We’re two years away. We struck a committee and we’re setting plans in motion for the 100th. We’re trying to get all our projects on the grounds completed. They’re projects that have been ongoing for years and we’d like to have them finished up,” said Day Lenfesty, treasurer of the Handhills Lake Stampede committee.
    The project includes new outside railings, having the corrals and chutes rearranged, and painting.
    After almost 100 years of running, perhaps the most enduring legacy of the stampede is the friendships it kindles.
    “It’s kind of a reunion out there,” said Wells. “Sometimes it’s the only chance you get to see people again you knew when you were younger.”

Motorsports park draws neighbours' ire

    Residents in the Rosebud area are rallying together to express their concerns about the possibility of a racetrack in the area.
    The Drumheller Mail told readers about plans for the Badlands Motorsports Resort development in its April 3 edition. At that time, Kneehill County had passed the first reading of its Area Structure Plan that could allow the project to move forward.
    A number of residents in the area are concerned with the project.
    Rick Skibsted farms in the area and says he has a number of reasons to be worried.
    “I don’t think it has a warm reception by anyone so far anyway,” said Skibsted. “We are concerned about just about everything. The noise, the environmental aspect, and the fact they are taking agricultural land out of production.”
    He says the site is considered an environmentally significant area, and is not an area that is meant to be developed.
    “The County and rate payers should be concerned about the environmental part of it, so should the province,” he said.
    Wendy Clark’s family has property in the area and she is concerned about the environmental impact of the project.
    “It is a pristine location, it is basically untouched, it is fragile and in an environmentally sensitive area,” she said, adding the area has a local, provincial and national significance.
    The motorsports park has an Area Structure Plan that includes a Biophysical Impact Assessment as well as an Environmental Noise Impact Assessment for the site.  A third party assessment of the Biophysical Impact Assessment found issues in the report and this is included with the Area Structure Plan.
    Clark said she too is concerned with this type of development in an agricultural community. The site includes a plateau, which is farmed, as well as rolling hills, wetlands and the Rosebud River Valley. There are many native species of plants in the unbroken land.
    “It is in the middle of agricultural operations and there are 145 acres of highly productive farm land. It would be taken out of cultivation,” said Clark. “As farmers, these are back roads we need to move our machinery on. If we have a highway there, we have a lot of trouble.”
    Skibsted also sees increased traffic as being troublesome.
    “It is going to bring a lot of traffic into the area, it is going to bring a lot of noise into the area and we figure problems with trespassing and infringement on our own private land,” said Skibsted. “It will also impact our agricultural practices.”
    He said there could be issues with dust, spraying and moving machinery.
    To Clark, it doesn’t make sense to build the track in the middle of agricultural land, miles from existing infrastructure or significant populations.
    “When you have a Municipal Development Plan there are exceptions, but from an economic point of view, ask yourself how much better would those benefits be if it were in a proper location?” she said. “If this was in a proper location, maybe it could see even better benefits.”
    On June 11 there will be a public meeting to provide feedback on the application. Skibsted says a good number of residents are planning to attend the meeting and share their concerns with Kneehill County.
    “It will really disrupt the lives of a lot of people in this area for one guy who wants to build a motorsports park,” said Skibsted.

The project map for the proposed Badlands Motorsports Resort.