The cowboy boot is one built on style and functionality. Whether the low heal, soft sole, round toe, square toe, fashion boot or working boot, this is all apart of desirability and personal flair.  Through the Bata Shoe Museum you can learn more about the cowboy boot and shoe fashion in general.  The 3,665-square-metre (39,450 sq ft) museum building is located at 327 Bloor St W, Toronto.

The Rough and Ready Exhibit, on until October of 2026 explores the history of the cowboy boot with names like Lucchese Bootmaker, Orville Peck, Autry Museum of the American West, the Glenbow Museum and others.

(Bata Shoes has a fascinating history and once owned 300 stores in North America.  In 1964, Bata move their headquarters to Toronto.  The current museum’s permanent collection as of 2018 includes over 13,000 shoes, and other footwear related items dating back 4,500 years.)

Above:  Old school Lucchese boots that I picked up during a boot liquidation. I love these showy boots.   And wonder, what is  your favourite cowboy boot?

Below:  Farmerette Boots, made with Italian leather and available in Montmarte, Saskatchewan at the Cowgirl Candy Shop. Also available at Farmerette and the Calzolaio, 713 Spring Creek Drive, Canmore, Alberta.   Below my Fire and Brimstone style of boot.  Round toe, short shaft with inlay and a spongey heal and sole.

Congratulations to Miss Rodeo Canada, Abbey Harty of Edam, Saskatchewan.  It all started with winning the Miss Rodeo Agribition title last November and then moving into the competition for Miss Rodeo Canada at the Canadian Finals Rodeo held in Edmonton last week.  The next step, Las Vegas and the National Finals Rodeo.  By the way, only three Saskatchewan women have ever won this title.

Miss Harty is an exceptional young woman who’s seeing doors open for her as she will take on the title officially later this year.  Rodeo smarts, poise, engaging and much more, it was a pleasure to have royalty in the control room to tell us her story and also to invite young women to enter the Miss Rodeo Agribition competition.  Abbey also reminds potential candidates, that winning is not necessarily the goal, but the embrace the experience and personal growth.  Entering into the public eye representing a sport and culture you love makes a difference when it comes to public speaking and elevating confidence in different settings.  For some these skills take years to develop and others are just naturals.  Abbey accredits those around her as well as her own drive to succeed at this achievement.

Again, best wishes from 620 CKRM.  And as Abbey will tell you during the interview – nominations are quickly closing to be the next Miss Rodeo Agribition.

Wednesday through Saturday is when the Maple Leaf Finals Rodeo will be taking place at the Brandt Centre, which will pave the way for cowboys to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo Open in Pikes Peak, Colorado. There’s a prize pool of $100,000, which means there’s a lot on the line for these stars of the rodeo.

To kick off all the action, Agribition-goers attended the second annual BFO Canadian Grand Prix Tuesday which featured bullfighters from Canada, United States, and Spain. Athletes went head to head with several mean looking bulls in what was the final event of the BFO regular season. The art of bullfighting dates back thousands of years to early Spain where participants, also called Concurso de Recortadores, would grab bulls by the horns and perform tricks and high flying aerobatics over bulls while still showing respect for the animal.

Bullfighting is considered very dangerous and it’s not uncommon for a fighter to get injured, however it’s art of the sport and the adrenaline that keeps these athletes engaged with the sport while keeping its history alive at the same time.

Several athletes took to the Brandt Centre ring to perform in front of a large crowd of fans including Cass Cairns of Maryfield, SK, who his a relatively new participant to the sport. You can see his performance below:

Bullfighting at Agribition has now wrapped up, however fans can CLICK HERE for ticket information regarding the Maple Leaf Finals Rodeo.

In partnership with SaskEnergy, CWA launched its 2024 recruitment campaign for volunteers with a new incentive program. 

Starting this year, new volunteers will be entered into a draw to win two tickets and a meet-and-greet with a superstar performer. Volunteers could win a chance to see and meet Randall King this year.

CWA’s Volunteer Committee Chair Mona Taylor says agribiton doesn’t happen without volunteers.

“Volunteers are the heart of Agribition. Their contributions are what makes our show the world-class event that it is,” she said. “For more than five decades, CWA has relied on the commitment of volunteers. It’s the reason that Agribition has been able to produce the calibre of the event that it does. Agribition 2023 was bolstered with 339 volunteers who all shared a common passion for the event, with some having volunteered for over 50 years!”

With its new volunteer incentive program, Agribition seeks the next generation of volunteers to progress the show into the next half-century.

“It’s clear that volunteers bring the spirit, enthusiasm and passion that drives this great event,” says Mark Guillet, President and CEO of SaskEnergy. “SaskEnergy has been Saskatchewan’s Champion of Volunteers for nearly 25 years, and we are proud to support all of the people who give their time and energy to make Canadian Western Agribition a success.”

This year’s Agribition will take place in Regina from November 25 to 30, 2024, and more than 350 volunteers are expected to assist the event. 

Volunteer roles include opportunities in livestock, student safety, information booths, driving, and hospitality. Some of the roles are adjustable for abilities and accessibility. All roles require a minimum age of 18.

New volunteers who sign up before Monday, June 17, will be entered to win tickets to the meet and greet.

Last year’s net profit was $75,000, down slightly from last year’s profit of $83,450.

Agribition’s CEO, Shaun Kindopp, said the organization is in a good spot despite the lower profits.

“For the second consecutive year, we’ve got revenue at $4.6 million, record sponsorship at over $1.3 million, and record rodeo attendance,” he said. “When you look at coming out of the pandemic and the state that Canadian Western Agribition is in, it’s in a good state, and we are trending upwards.”

Total attendance was 142,807 for the six days, the most since 2005.

Kindopp says that although there is much competition for sponsorship dollars, Canadian Western Agribition remains an important brand.

“We want to be the organization that is left in those budgets as you move forward, so that’s something we are quite excited about,” he said. “The new team that we have, all of the emphasis with momentum is still stopping and looking around and making sure that we got processes in place to ensure that we are fiscally responsible, but also looking to streamline our processes and our efficiencies.”

Kindopp added that several new initiatives last year, such as a golf tournament and the Canadian Animal Agtech Awards, contributed to their success.

Do you keep things so that you never forget your experiences? At some point you probably want to throw them out. Taking a picture of the treasures and having that as a reminder might be a space saver. I had to share these crazy pictures of my days working with Canadian Western Agribition through the 80’s! It was a part time job weighing cattle, working in the show and sale department. Forty years ago, I had the very THUG-look OR maybe it was just being 22 years old! NOT a passport photo, that’s for sure! How about that wild and crazy look, now that must have been a re-take! Who gets a staff picture looking like a total wahoo! Oddly enough through the years of pictures not much has changed, except well, glasses & hair colour. We had so much fun during those days. Many things that would not fly these days of the show. Late nights, going to bars and dancing, then showing up for work to do it all over again. One night I broke my hand by giving someone a piggy-back ride in the Swamp! Yikes. Went to the hospital the next day after I was excused from my duties as my hand was swollen to two times its normal size. Now, working at Agribition is through the radio station, not so wild and crazy!

As we age, we reflect on some of the past decades and the memories good and bad. As I have been going through boxes of papers and memories the things I can toss include: old birthday cards, obituaries, receipts, magazines and pictures of grass & sky. Something that might come in handy that I won’t toss is an Edmonton Oiler jersey I had when Wayne Gretzky was playing in Edmonton. Remember the year that the Oilers came to Regina to play the St Louis Blues in pre-season play? That jersey was just unearthed and had a very musty smell, plus it shrank over the last 4 decades!!! How about the old school Adidas bag with the zipper on the bottom? If I spent some time with these things, I could bring them to life and have one helluva yard sale.

Paying attention to postings on Facebook will drive you crazy when it comes to collectibles that you may have, may be looking for or are trying to get rid of. I have a full size mannequin, she’s not looking too good – time and travel have not been kind. I have posters from my days of being a member of the KISS Army. Cannot wait to see what kind of shape they are in. These are treasures that people post and brag about. I put them to good use when I was a kid, my room was papered with them. A friend just sent me a badge from Huckle Berry Hound fan club, it will go into the pin collection with the Archie Fan Club pin! OH, hey! Another thing I have many of – pins and badges! Anyone need pins or badges!

Watch for Vintage and Antique markets that will be popping up and of course all the pickers that head out to garage and yard sales. It is after all approaching, “that” time of year.

There were 142,807 people who came to the 2023 show, a 19 percent increase from 2022, and event CEO Shaun Kindopp is proud of that.

“The best part about our crowd is the positivity,” Kindopp said. “There’s times where it takes a bit of time waiting to get in but once people got in they were quite excited. I know our trade show vendors from the feedback we got were seeing great foot traffic as well which is important for us.”

Some new events introduced at this year’s Agribition include Miss Rodeo, Animal AgTech Awards and free-style bullfighting, and Kindopp says they played a part in the increased attendance.

“People have been really excited to get back out and experience Agribition; you wait all year for it,” he said. “We brought a lot of new initiatives and we even brought back some old ones – the return of live music everyday – but the new initiatives were fantastic paired with some great weather and we couldn’t have asked for a better week.”

Work on organizing next year’s event has already begun, and Kindopp hopes to top this year’s attendance numbers.

“We always want to continue to get bigger and better and that will be the goal for next year.” he said.

“Our team is already brain-storming on things for next year,” Kindopp added. “We’re ready for 2024 to come already.”

Next year’s event is set for November 25-30, 2024.

CWA President Shaun Kindopp said this year’s show raised the bar for future events.

“This week’s been unreal. The positive, the weather, just everything we have been from all the smiling faces, people having fun, getting together, we couldn’t be more proud.”

As for attendance, Kindopp said they don’t have a final number, but he expects this year’s Agribition to surpass last year’s when CWA welcomed more than 120,000 attendees.

He said that while their team did a great job, Mother Nature played a part in the show’s success.

“It’s good that people can get to Agribition safely, but any time that you can wake up in the morning and not have to shovel a foot off your vehicle or have to battle the highways or the elements to be able to get to Agribition, that puts the smile on your face.”

This year’s show also introduced some new things, including the Agri-Tech awards and Spanish bullfighting, and CWA even gave away a pair of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert in Australia.

“We came out with a lot of new stuff, and I think our team hit it head-on. We had a great week, and we are proud of the week that we’ve had.”

For Kindopp, this marked the second year he was the CEO of Agribition, and he said this year he felt he was really able to put his own stamp on this year’s event.

“Last year was a lot of fun and was a lot of learning and this year was trying to put a bit more of a stamp on it and put a little bit of my own spin with it along with the team.”

While there were many highlights from Agribition for Kindopp, he said the Spanish bullfighters are something that stood out to him.

“We took a bit of a risk, and you never know what’s going to happen when you bring 20 Mexican fighting bulls and fly people from across the world,” he said. “I think that they’ve been a phenomenal hit. It wasn’t in their contract to stay and perform during the rodeo, but they liked it; they wanted to perform.”

With the curtains drawn on this year’s edition of Agribition, Kindopp expressed his appreciation for everyone who came out during the six days.

Bull Fighters Only (BFO)is a freestyle bullfighting event. This unprecedented event represents the ultimate man vs. bull showdown, featuring top contenders in the sport. Organizers promise, no bulls will be harmed in this event. 

Agribition describes the show as an event where spectators can expect a thrilling show as elite European athletes compete in the famed Spanish “Concurso de Recortadores,” vying for the honor of becoming the first-ever champion on North American soil. The show starts at 7:00pm at Brandt Centre.

“We are thrilled to bring this unique event to Regina for all attendees to enjoy something new and different,” said Shaun Kindopp, CEO of CWA.  

The two day “Grain Expo” opens as part of Agribition today in the Queensbury Convention Centre. The two days of speaker conferences is designed for industry leaders, suppliers, and entrepreneurs and will focus on Ag technology and accessing resources.

The Indigenous Agricultural Summit also gets started today.

And of course there are the usual booths and displays as well as show judging, competitions and more.

It starts on Monday at REAL District in Regina, and event CEO Shaun Kindopp says staff are getting things prepared.

“By the end of the night tomorrow (Fri) there should be a full arena set up almost. The crew works really well together and makes things happen pretty fast.” said Kindopp, adding preparation for an event as big as Agribition takes about a year. Part of the decision making process involves a 3-year “road map” or strategic plan.

“The decisions we make this year we want to make sure that we can continue to carry that momentum into future years.” he said of keeping the event new and exciting each year.

“Just trying to keep the value to all the people that are coming to Agribition while also still trying to stay very authentic and stick to our roots as well.” Kindopp added.

The event has generated a lot of interest from international visitors as Kindopp says representation from about 70 countries is expected for this year’s week-long event.

Agribition runs from Monday to Saturday next week. One of the things to kick off the event is the burning of the brand Monday morning.