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.”

    Today is World No Tobacco Day and organizers are taking aim at flavoured tobaccos.
    The World Health Organization created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from tobacco. In Alberta, the theme is Flavour your Life without Tobacco.
    Martin McSween, of Alberta Health Services, says the goal this year is to raise awareness of flavoured tobacco. He says these are blatantly aimed in their marketing and packaging, at children.
    “Flavouring is a way to entice the youth and young adult market to use,” said McSween. “The more we can do to highlight that flavouring is just a mask—and it is a genius way for the tobacco industry to entice young people to start—the better.”
    McSween said there has been progress made.  Nationally, Bill 32 was designed to crack down on marketing tobacco to youth. Despite this, there are still small “cigarillo”  style flavoured cigars or sale. The legislation also excludes smoke free tobacco and menthol.
    “Cigarillos were defined by weight, so the tobacco industry reengineered their product, so they could continue to sell them individually,” said McSween. “The recommendation was to change the weight and then be sold in 10s or 20s, making them more affordable to youth.”
    In Alberta, Bill 206 received its first reading. This is also designed to ban flavoured tobacco. This includes additives for flavouring tobacco, menthol, shisha and spit tobacco.
    “We are in “chew” country, the biggest flavouring to get people started is Skoal,” said McSween. “Usually when I talk to spit tobacco users they says they started with Skoal and then graduated to Copenhagen.
    However, it has been delayed until the fall.
    “It is supported by the majority of MLAs on both sides of the house, unfortunately was adjourned and now it will languish until the fall session,” said McSween. “There has been some great inroads with both sides of the house and lots of people were talking to their MLAs about it.”
    To mark World No Tobacco Day in Drumheller, there will be interactive displays at the Drumheller Health Centre and clinic on May 30 and 31. Last Monday, McSween made a presentation to Drumheller Town council.
    Alberta Health Services offers a variety of programs and services to help Albertans quit tobacco use, including telephone and online support services, group cessation programs, and one-on-one counselling. For more information call AlbertaQuits at 1-866-710-7848(QUIT) or visit www.albertaquits.ca
    Locally you can call the Drumheller Addiction Office at 403-823-1660.