Quesnel’s Billy Barker Days Ends with Rodeo Finals and Drone Show

Billy Barker Days is over. The gold nugget draws are over, the stock market is closed, and Reid Street is open again.

Sunday marked Indigenous Peoples Day at the rodeo. Organizers wore orange and the chiefs of the Lhtako Dene Nation and the Nazko First Nation gave speeches before the rodeo began.

Events include wild cow milking, tie-down roping, steer wrestling and many other events. This will be the last year that C+ Rodeo will provide the animals for Billy Barker Days’ rodeo, as brother Earl and Roy Call are retiring after 40 years in the business.

“We’re going to have a bunch of cows, we’re going to have our ranch, so we’re still going to be ranchers, but we don’t have to go to a rodeo every day at one in the afternoon,” Roy said. “After 40 years, we’ve enjoyed it, but it’s time to do something a little less strenuous.”

The brothers said the COVID-19 pandemic gave them a taste of what a less demanding life would look like and that they were ready to retire after the experience.

“We don’t mind going back to cattle that don’t follow you around every day,” Roy said.

One of the highlights of the rodeo was Jayson Charters, the rodeo clown. Charters has been in the business for 15 years and said he loves getting the crowd involved in the rodeo.

“The family aspect of it and the kids, that kind of thing. That’s where it hits me the hardest,” Charters said, covering his heart. “There’s two passions that I like. I love rodeo and I love people.”

Charters said he has the perfect job for those passions. Part of his act involves getting the crowd to sing, filling in dead space while events are being set up and doing things like levitation acts. He said the adrenaline of getting hit by a bull while sitting in a barrel is another exciting aspect of the job.

LeBourdais Park hosted the Teddy Bear Clinic, where children could bring their stuffed animals to a doctor, pharmacist, dentist and other medical professionals to help them get used to interacting with healthcare providers and to help ease any fears.

Cindy Tousignant, vice-president of the Billy Barker Days Society, organised the teddy bear clinic. She said that although it was slower than previous years due to the heat, there was a good turnout and children felt comfortable with the health workers in the community.

The Billy Buttons sold out on the last day of the event and the gold nugget drawing saw three people win the top prizes: a $1,000, $500 and $300 gold nugget.

The festival concluded with a drone show that lit up the skies above West Fraser Timber Park.

“We used to do fireworks, but over the years with the fires and that’s not possible anymore. We did the laser show for a few years, but the drone show is new,” Tousignant said.

Drones spelled out the text “Quesnel” and depicted things like a person on a bicycle, dandelions blowing away and all sorts of other things to give people a show in the evening that is safer for the environment than fireworks.