Cowboys put on downtown show

Clacking hooves echoed off the glass walls of downtown Edmonton’s high rises for the first time in six years Saturday. “It’s really scary. You don’t want to run over anybody, first off. That’s a little tricky,” said a beaming cowboy named Dave, who helped wrangle a couple dozen head of steers down 102 Avenue. A third generation rancher, he’s used to having a bit more room to work mounted on horseback, and fewer manholes to trip over. “If this was at home, that many cattle there, they’d be strung out probably 10 times further than they were here today.” The rancher’s efforts were rewarded with thousands of smiles from people lining the sidewalks along the avenue in a nearly unbroken chain from 108 Street to Churchill Square. Brian Match brought two tots out to see the show, and they were pressed to the steer pen’s gates outside the Art Gallery of Alberta. “I think it’s pretty important because it’s sort of what Albertans are,” he said. The last River City Roundup was six years ago and began as a way to help support farmers through the BSE crisis. It’s still a tool for raising the profile of agriculture in Alberta, said cowboy Dave. “It’s 100% part of our heritage, part of Alberta’s heritage. It’s still a way of life for many Albertans and it’s an important part of our economy,” he said...more