Bulls on the Beach: Defending the Dirt in Chestermere

Defending the Dirt in Chestermere

    There is a unique kind of battle happening on the eastern edge of Calgary. As the massive metropolis continues to push its borders outward, paving over prairie grass with subdivisions and pavement, the surrounding communities are fighting a quiet, resilient war to hold onto their rural souls.

    Nowhere is that fight more evident—and more successful—than in the City of Chestermere.

    Today, Chestermere is known primarily as a bustling lakeside city, an oasis of recreation just minutes from Calgary’s city limits. But if you look past the modern developments and the boats on the water, you will find a foundation built entirely on agriculture, iron, and grit.

    Much like the badlands of Brooks, Chestermere’s existence is tied directly to the Canadian Pacific Railway and the desperate need for water. In the 1880s, the CPR built Chestermere Lake not for recreation, but as a massive irrigation reservoir. It was an engineering marvel designed to bring life to the dry prairie, allowing the earliest farming families to settle, survive, and eventually thrive. For decades, it was a purely agricultural hub—a community stitched together by the farmers and ranchers who worked the land that the lake watered.

    But as the decades passed and Calgary’s urban sprawl crept closer, the identity of Chestermere began to shift. The summer cottages became year-round homes, the town became a city, and the original farming roots risked being buried under the concrete.

    That is exactly why the Rocky View Chestermere Agricultural Society is so vital.

The Keepers of the Culture

    In a rapidly urbanizing landscape, an Ag Society is no longer just a group that puts on a summer fair; they are the active defenders of a community's western heritage. The Rocky View Chestermere Ag Society stands as the anchor holding down the city's agricultural roots. They are the ones ensuring that as new generations move out from the city, they don't lose sight of where their food comes from, the work ethic of the cowboy, or the grit it takes to ride for the brand.

And there is no better way to remind a city of its roots than by backing a truck up, dumping a mountain of dirt, and bringing the Bull Riders Canada (BRC) tour to town.

Bulls on the Beach: The Ultimate Contrast

    When I look at the BRC schedule at the start of the year, I always have a shortlist of "must-do" events. The Brooks Bull-a-Palooza was one, and Chestermere's "Bulls on the Beach" was absolutely another.

    Pulling into Chestermere with the Jeep top down on a beautiful Friday evening, the contrast of this event hits you immediately. One of the first things you notice is the massive lake, the boats on the water, and families hanging out on the beach. It is an incredibly refreshing sight. But just down the road at the rec center, that lakeside relaxation gave way to pure, unadulterated western adrenaline.

    If you want to know if a city still supports its agricultural roots, look at the parking lot. Arriving at the grounds, it was absolutely packed. In fact, if it wasn't for my BRC media pass, I would have been making a massive hike to the arena because they were actively turning people away at the main gate to go park elsewhere. They were completely out of room.

    That is the absolute best sign you can ask for. It means the community showed up.

Putting Your Money Where Your Heritage Is

    When the Ag Society hosts an event with that much community backing, it isn’t just about providing entertainment; it is about local investment.

    Nothing proves the strength of a western community quite like a Calcutta. For the uninitiated, a Calcutta is a live auction right before the short go, where the crowd bids their hard-earned cash to "buy" one of the final riders. It gives the fans a literal stake in the dirt—if your rider wins, you win a cut of the pot. But more importantly, it is one of the greatest fundraising mechanisms in the western world.

    It is worth noting that every single Calcutta is unique; it is entirely up to the local organizing group to decide how they want to divide the pot. This weekend in Chestermere featured a 70/30 split, and the standing-room-only crowd dug deep. That meant 70% of the massive pot went back into the pockets of the winning bidders, while the remaining 30% was retained as a vital community fundraiser going directly back to the Rocky View Chestermere Ag Society.

    Keeping those dollars in-house is absolutely critical. The Ag Society doesn't just maintain the grounds; they are a relentless, year-round force for western heritage. They put on six major events every single year, and they directly invest in the next generation by giving away four rodeo scholarships through their high school rodeo program. It takes serious capital to keep those programs running and to keep defending that dirt in the shadow of a major city.

The Wave and The Bovine Athletes

    That massive crowd wasn't just there to bid; they were there to get loud.

    While I was walking around the arena shooting some behind-the-scenes video with my DJI Pocket 4, the crowd organically started doing "the wave" for the camera. The energy was absolutely electric, and that engagement spilled right over into the action in the dirt.

   Running the chutes and providing the main muscle for the evening was Lazy P Stock Contractors. Lazy P, along with their partners for the night, brought an incredibly impressive pen of bovine athletes. These bulls were big, mean, and there to do a job.

    In fact, it was probably the most amount of bulls I have ever seen have to be physically roped to get them out of the arena after a ride. They simply refused to leave. But the Chestermere crowd loved every second of it. Instead of getting restless, the fans leaned right over the panels, egging the massive animals on, chanting, "Here, bully, bully, bully!"

     From a production standpoint, chasing a stubborn bull around the arena delays the entire event. But grassroots rodeo isn't a television broadcast on a strict schedule. The crowd is the one paying to put the event on, and whatever the crowd wants to see is what they get. If that means a bull stays in the arena a little while longer for their pure entertainment value, then that's exactly what happens.

The Bulls Did Their Job

    When it came to the actual matchups, the Lazy P bulls made the cowboys earn every single inch of dirt.

    The goal for the riders was to make the eight-second whistle to secure one of the top eight spots in the Alberta Boot Champion round (the short go). But the bulls were on an absolute tear. Out of the eight possible spots, we only had seven qualified rides to the buzzer. The eighth spot in the final round had to be awarded based simply on who managed to stay on their bull the longest before getting bucked off. The bulls absolutely did their job on Friday night.

    But there is always one rider who figures out the puzzle.

    Leading the way in the long go, and rightfully dominating the dirt once again, was rookie sensation Brody Beasley. Fresh off a massive win just 48 hours earlier on the downtown pavement in Brooks, Brody showed up in Chestermere and put on a clinic. He took the top points in the short go and walked away the undisputed champion of the night.

    Watching Brody operate right now is absolutely breathtaking. As a rookie just finishing high school, he is riding with the confidence and the grit of a ten-year veteran. The grind of a rodeo athlete is relentless—in fact, at 5:00 a.m. the very next morning, just hours after his win, Brody was hitting the highway for Lincoln, Nebraska. He, along with fellow young talent Sloan Walker, are making the trek south to represent Alberta at the National High School Rodeo Finals.

    It is always incredibly impressive watching these young men continue to grow and learn. Knowing that they are so young and have such long, promising careers ahead of them makes every eight-second ride that much more special to witness. If this week is any indication of what they are bringing to Lincoln, the rest of the world better watch out.

The Ultimate Balancing Act

    Leaving the arena that night, with the sound of the crowd still ringing and the lake breeze cutting through the heavy summer heat, it was impossible not to be impressed by Chestermere.

They have figured out the ultimate balancing act. They have embraced the growth, the lake life, and the modern world, but they absolutely refuse to let their agricultural roots get paved over. As long as the Ag Society keeps dumping dirt, and the community keeps packing the parking lot, the western way of life is going to be just fine.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Lee J. Kemp

Every Moment Is A Choice Studio 🔗 emiacstudio.ca

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