The sixth annual Glencross Invitation Charity Roughstock event was held Aug. 25th and saw many members of the community come out to show their support.
Proceeds from the event are donated towards the Ronald McDonald House of Central Alberta and the Hockey Alberta Foundation.
The rodeo has been in the making for quite a few years and is hosted by former Calgary Flames player Curtis Glencross with the help of his brother-in-law Kelsey Angeltvedt and many other volunteers who help make the event happen.
Angeltvedt said all signs show that the donations from this year’s event will exceed last year’s event of $156,000.
Glencross said with so many golf tournaments and other charity events going on, he wanted to do something new and different.
So Glencross sat down with Jim Berry and Kyle Daines, rodeo competitors at the time, and after seeing how successful the Flames poker tournament was and how much fun their sponsors had, he wanted to make something unique and new.
The first few years were held at the Daines Ranch in Innisfail, and the last few, including the most recent one on Friday night were held inside at Westerner Park.
“It’s a lot nicer, you don’t have to worry about the weather and that kind of stuff, so it’s a lot easier,” said Glencross.
The event saw bareback saddle bronc, bull riding and beer gardens with a dance on the dirt with live music. The top four riders came back for a short go around, with the winner receiving a year lease on a Dodge truck from MountainView Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram.
This year’s winners include Dylan Bilton for the bareback saddle bronc, Layton Green for the saddle bronc and Scott Schiffner for the bull riding.
Since its inception, the Glencross event has raised over $1 million for the Ronald McDonald House of Central Alberta and Hockey Alberta Foundation.
Within the Hockey Alberta Foundation the money is divided up between the Every Kid Every Community Program and the Curtis Glencross Legacy Fund, two different programs aimed at helping kids in the province play hockey.
“We’re at $1.2 million in five years so far, so it’s been pretty a successful event in Central Alberta, and we’re thankful to have such a good support group,” he said.
Glencross said the feedback from the community over the years has been great.
“There’s a lot of charity events in Red Deer, and the community itself does a great job of helping each other out and supporting different causes.”
He said the Ronald McDonald House in Red Deer has a running cost of over $1 million for the house alone, and the Every Kid Every Community Program through Hockey Alberta is the same.
“There’s always families and people that need assistance to pay for minor hockey dues or whatever it may be and it’s been phenomenal that we’ve had the community support we’ve had,” he said.
The event’s title sponsors were the Calgary Flames Foundation and ATB.
