Break out the boots, your biggest belt buckle, and your heirloom ten-gallon hat, because the rodeo is coming back to Verner.
The Verner RAM Rodeo is taking place over the weekend of September 7–8 at the Northern Range Horse and Cattle Ranch, at 141 Millrand Road, West Nipissing. Caroline Marx, who operates the ranch with her family, mentioned this is the first rodeo event in the area since the International Plowing Match (IPM) came to town in 2019.
“The same rodeo company that was there for the IPM is coming back to Verner,” Marx said, “but now they’re just setting up at our farm instead.” She’s speaking of the RAM Rodeo Tour, which hosts events throughout Ontario, as part of the Central Rodeo League.
Marx mentioned that tour organizers “have been trying to get back to our area for a few years,” because they found “the hospitality in Northern Ontario incomparable.”
See: People turned out in droves for the 2019 International Plowing Match
That Northern hospitality will be in full effect come rodeo day, Marx emphasized, and the ranch offers plenty of space for the events to play out. The RAM Rodeo organizers will set up the space, bring the animals, and schedule all the competitors, who come from various points across the U.S. and Canada.
“We’re hoping this boosts tourism to West Nipissing and the surrounding area,” she said. The event, definitely “puts the area back on the map” this September. On that note, there will be local vendors on-site during the big weekend.
“We’re going into our first year,” with the event, “so people, don’t expect the IPM,” Marx warned jokingly, acknowledging the magnitude of the week-long rodeo at the plowing match. “But we’re hoping to make it super entertaining for people, and hopefully they want to continue having it for years to come and we’ll gladly host it for years to come.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
