Ghosts of the Railway and 109 Years of Dirt: Welcome to Benalto

Ghosts of the Railway and 109 Years of Dirt: Welcome to Benalto

    I am leading this week’s editorial with a handful of images that don't feature bucking horses or bull riders. Instead, they feature a building with no tracks left to serve: the Benalto train station.

     When I drove into town to get the lay of the land, this building immediately stopped me in my tracks. It has been preserved and maintained, standing proud right there in the community, currently sporting a "For Rent" sign to host gatherings and events. Seeing it sparked a massive sense of nostalgia and a little bit of frustration. I wish so badly that more small towns would rebuild or preserve their original train stations as iconic gathering places.

    When you see a remnant of the early 1900s still standing and still being used, it is a physical reminder of exactly why these places even exist. Benalto didn’t just appear out of nowhere; it was born in 1912 as a massive, pulsing epicenter on the Alberta Central Railway line. Because the soil was so rich and drought-resistant, it became an absolute agricultural powerhouse, even absorbing the neighboring town of Evarts when the railway bypassed them.

    Today, Benalto might only be home to a few hundred people, but when they throw the gates open for the Stampede, they pull in thousands. Those thousands of people get to drive past that train station and see the exact roots of Alberta’s history.

And that history bleeds directly into the dirt at the rodeo grounds.

    This weekend isn't just another stop on the circuit. This is the 109th annual Benalto Fair and Stampede. Think about the sheer grit it takes for a community to keep an event running for over a century. That entire facility—the grandstands you sit in and the chutes the stock load into—was originally built by hand during massive community "Work Bees," where local farmers just showed up with their own tools to build the grounds themselves.

    That resilience runs deep. During the absolute rock bottom of the Great Depression in 1932, the town had zero money to put on the rodeo. Instead of canceling and giving up, they pivoted and threw a massive community baseball tournament just to keep morale alive. They simply do not quit.

The BRC Kickoff: Hard Hits and Heavy Stock

That same grit was fully on display when the Bull Riders Canada (BRC) action kicked off tonight.

    Before we even talk about the riders, we have to talk about the unsung hero of the dirt: Dennis Halstead. Having Dennis in the arena as the barrel man changes the entire dynamic of an event. Week in and week out, this guy is living out of his trailer, putting on brutal miles, and doing his thing  just to make the crowd laugh, clap, and stay engaged. It is not an easy job, but he does it with a massive smile—both painted on and real.

    What I appreciate most about Dennis is that he actually remembers the people working behind the scenes. He made a point to say hi, even gave me a shoutout over the mic during his performance (which definitely made me laugh), and is incredibly easy to work with. If I need to set up a specific angle with the video camera or the drone, he’s instantly on board to help make the shot happen. My appreciation for him is immense.

    Behind the chutes, the stock contractors brought an absolute war party to Benalto. With CS Bucking Bulls and about five other contractors rolling in, Ty and Kyle were working the back pens, orchestrating the chaos and making sure the matchups were fair—keeping the big boys with the big boys so nobody got unnecessarily beat up.

    But when those gates opened, the bulls came to buck, and it was a tough night for the riders. Out of the top eight possible, we only saw five bulls covered in the long round, meaning they had to pull three riders into the short go just based on their time on the bull.

    The short go?

    Complete domination by the bulls. They bucked every single rider off, meaning the entire event had to be decided by the first-round scores. When the dust finally settled, it ended up being a dead heat tie for the win between Brody Beasley and Hayden MacKay. But the night wasn't over for Brody. He went on to win the best-of-three-riders, winner-takes-all $3,000 payout on top of his first-place tie.

    Benalto has been testing cowboys for 109 years, and tonight proved that the dirt here doesn't hand out easy paychecks. With the BRC wrapped, they are officially rolling into the Pro Rodeo tomorrow.

    Take a second to look past the arena this weekend. Look at the volunteers. Remember the farmers who built those chutes by hand, and remember the train station sitting quietly in town.

     This is western heritage, perfectly imperfect, and refusing to fade away.

Lee Kemp

Every Moment Is A Choice Studio

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