Lloydminster residents can expect to see some dust fly at the Lloyd Exh this summer as the chuckwagons roll through the Border City.
The Lloydminster Agricultural Exhibition Association in partnership with the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association announced the North American Chuckwagon Championship. The event will run from July 9 to 17, 2021 with dates in 2022 and 2023 announced at a later time.
The championship is a 9 day show with the final 4 days held at the same time as the annual Colonial Days Fair. The stand alone show will have drivers from both the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association and the World Professional Chuckwagon Association race at Halstead Downs.
The championship will consist of four wagons racing each heat with 9 heats overall. The CPCA will also present an aggregate truck winner after day 8 and a $100,000 Dash on the final day of the event.
CPCA driver DJ King says the event will help bring some enthusiasm back to chuckwagon racing for both participants and the audience and Lloydminster will be at the centre of it.
“Looking to the future we needed something for our CPCA members to strive for; something to keep them around. Our goal is to keep this western heritage alive for as long as we can and the way things we’re looking there wasn’t really a brighter future ahead. For a while, you saw that you had to go a little west or get out of the sport, but the future’s looking brighter in the chuckwagon world.”
Lloyd Exh General Manager Jenelle Saskiw says the two have a long-standing partnership with Lloydminster being the final stop in the CPCA season for over 30 years. With recent news of provincial vaccine plans, she hopes they will be able to have a good crowd for the event.
“I don’t know if we will return to normal capacity levels, but it’s looking very promising for us to at least bring in a fair amount of people. We are event experts. We know how to do this and move people through our facilities very safely. We look forward to working with Sask Health in ensuring we are following all protocols and making sure this is a great fun safe event for everybody.”
Saskiw adds these type of bigger events not only benefit the Exhibition, but also businesses in the city and surrounding communities.
“We really are the hub, if you will, of the entire region. We know that the economic spin off will be felt for miles around not just in the city. [It’s] a really welcome relief that we can actually do this and provide some hope for the entire community that’s been hurting so bad over the last year.”
More details on riders and how the two chuckwagon associations will work together will be announced at a later date.