By Dominique Tassell
The 2022 Ariat Warwick Rodeo drew huge crowds, proving a hugely successful event even while dealing with unprecedented weather conditions.
The Warwick Rodeo, known far and wide as “Australia’s Most Famous”, is put on before and during the last full weekend of October every year.
The event always draws the nation’s top rodeo riders, attracting huge crowds in excess of 30,000 people, and this year was no different.
Warwick Rodeo was immortalized in song by Australian country music legend Buddy Williams in the early 1940s but well before then, Warwick had a tradition of horsemanship and great riders to match the city’s sandstone buildings, fine churches, rose gardens and wide, tree-lined streets.
Championship events included the saddle bronc, open bull ride, open bareback, team roping, rope and tie, ladies breakaway roping, steer wrestling, and ladies barrel race.
Second-division events included saddle bronc, bull ride, and bareback.
Junior events included steer ride, barrel race, and breakaway roping.
In-house events include the Brian Aspinall Memorial Mens Stock Saddle Buckjump, ladies poley buckjump, ladies steer ride, mule ride, and local barrel race.
The entertainment this year was particularly successful, with locals 78 Sound hitting the stage, as well as Will Day and The Viper Creek Band.
The event saw a bump in the road when the much sought-after Pryde’s Easifeeds Warwick Gold Cup Campdraft had to be postponed due to the wet weather, with Campdraft committee chairman Kevin Ryan stating that “the cattle unloading ramps are currently unusable and the parking area has been significantly reduced due to the wet conditions”.
“This is a postponement and not a cancellation, and if and when conditions improve, we will re-schedule all of the Campdraft events.”
Even with this complication, the rodeo proved hugely successful with massive crowds in attendance..
