The Story of Dallas Mackie, in her words:
I was the first born daughter of Fred Bradford so genetically I had no chance not to be enamored with animals and particularly horses. My Dad, was a calf roper and I grew up around the Maple Creek rodeo grounds with Dad and all the local ranchers and horse people.
I have many memories of Maple Creek, most of them involve horses, Dad’s barn at the rodeo grounds and traveling to the rodeos and ranches around Maple Creek. Dad had a pet goose that lived at the barn and Dad introduced the goose as his security. Goose certainly had any number of kids in the area terrified.
It was a great adventure to go to the Grayburn Gap Rodeo and the Murraydale Stampede. On one of those trips we had an accident and the trailer with two horses rolled. No one was hurt and the horses were pulled out, trailer set on its wheels, horses loaded and we were off. Dad competed on those horses that day too.
I remember that chariot racing was big there and we watched many races as my Dad usually was the starter. I also remember two women, Daphne Fordyce and Pansy White, who drove chariots and also did Roman Riding. They were awesome.
I learned in those childhood days that women could do as many things as men if they were willing to work hard and listen.
My family moved to British Columbia and I convinced my parents to let me finish off my grade 7 in Maple Creek before I joined my folks to complete my high school education. In Cranbrook, my love of horses led to my husband Ron and I, building a successful business of breeding and raising Quarter Horses and Paints. I have 3 children. Jamie and her husband Lonnie are area cattle ranchers. Their two kids are both involved in the medical field one being a doctor and one a nurse practitioner. Bob is a journalist in Australia and has 2 kids, one an engineer and one a policy writer for the British government. My two great grandchildren are Bob’s grandchildren. My youngest son Mike was a farrier and bareback rider who sadly passed away 17 years ago. His two daughters are accomplished riders and both are going to be teachers.
I never competed at rodeo but my daughter and I showed horses, english and western for many years. We travelled a lot with the horses, met lots of great people and rode some good horses. My favourite was probably a black gelding, an Appendix Quarter horse, named “8 Ball” who I rode English. I liked them all and I really enjoyed breeding and raising them.
The Cranbrook Pro Rodeo originated as a money raiser for the Exhibition Grounds. The Board of Wycliffe Exhibition Association was made up of a representative from each member group. The groups were varied but mostly related to youth or agriculture. 4-H, the Maverick Riders, Equestrian Education Unlimited, Wycliffe Community and others.
Artha Campsall and I were both members of this Board and we proposed having a Pro Rodeo in the hopes that it would make money and it has. Anna Mae Gartside, Marleen McMann, Corinne Storteboom, and Cheryl Olsen and I were the original committee members. Over the next few years several things happened, Marlene moved away, Anna Mae and Corinne went on to other volunteer groups and we added, two more like minded individuals, Pat Armstrong and Stacey Coleman. We did eventually add a couple of men to the committee, Todd Pellerin and Bob Bjorn.
Today the committee consists of Cheryl Olsen, Pat Armstrong, Stacey Coleman, Helen Hannah, Lorrie Goodwin, Carlene Lochrie, Todd Pellerin, Bob Bjorn and myself.
All of our husbands and most of our children participated in volunteering at the rodeo and helping with many of the repairs and with any of the buildings that were built. The present Wycliffe Exhibition Grounds is a legacy of the hard work and great carpentry skills of the many volunteer groups in the District.
During the first few years of the rodeo we used volunteers from the member groups of Wycliffe at the rodeo. One group would do the concessions, another the gate, etc. Eventually all of the volunteers, including the committee, came from people who were interested in helping or loved rodeo, school groups, etc. During this time much work was done on the facility and a lot of it was paid for by the rodeo.
Today the facility has reverted to the Regional District of East Kootenay and the rodeo is just an event held there. We still plan on continuing on with the rodeo as long as we have sponsors, spectators and volunteers.
I would like to thank the CPRA for the honor of recognizing my contributions to the sport of Rodeo. I fully understand that my efforts would be negligible without my family, the Rodeo Committee, the many Community Volunteers and the Sponsors who have supported the Rodeo over the years.