Mount Isa is Australia’s Rodeo Capital. Local businesses and schools are “dressed up” for rodeo, and the biggest rodeo in the southern hemisphere is underway.
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The Workpac Best Dressed Premises competition is a key part of the city embracing the rodeo in the lead up to the event.
It’s fantastic for visitors to our city, and locals alike to see how the city celebrate rodeo, and participating businesses have done an amazing job with the theme “Old Time Music Hall”, which was also the theme of the Bell & Moir Toyota Rodeo Ball.
Sunday will be Rodeo Bubs day at this year’s rodeo. It’s an exciting time for many local families to bring their new baby to their first rodeo.
We are also grateful to Monica and Courtney Thomas for their hours of hard work in organising Rodeo Bubs again this year. We know the time gone into registering all the bubs, taking their photos and preparing the certificates among other tasks.
Volunteers play a massive role in the success of our event and I would like to pay tribute and thank each and everyone of the more than 700 incredible volunteers who help run this huge event – in the lead up and of course, delivering this weekend’s rodeo.
We expect the new family friendly zone introduced this year with plenty of shaded seating areas to enjoy a bite to eat or refreshing drink (alcohol free zone) will be really popular. There will be face painting for the kids, some rides to keep little ones entertained and just generally a great place to chill.
We are again running chute tours for gold seat holders, which allow you to experience areas that are normally strictly off limits during competition. We hope people will be really excited by the opportunity to go behind the scenes to the chutes. The chute tour will give you a cowboy’s eye view from behind the chutes looking out to the arena.
It’s exciting to see how strong competitor nominations are again this year with the biggest number of open bull ride nominations in the past decade. We have every single defending champion except one back in the Isa to defend their titles and they are all keen to win back to back buckles.
Wherever you have come from, I hope you have an amazing time at this year’s Isa Rodeo and remember it long after the gates close Sunday night. We are very proud to hold the Australian Tourism Award for the country’s BEST Regional Festival and Event.
Have a fantastic weekend.
