People gathered from far and wide to take in one of the toughest, roughest, and most exciting events in rodeo: bull riding.
In Manor on Saturday, July 19, the Manor Fun Daze were organized around the Professional Bull Riding event which was held at 5:30 p.m.
A total of 26 riders were out for action at the PBR, with Tanner Byrne of Prince Albert entering twice as there was a last minute change to the line-up with Tanner Allemand of Shaunavon dropping out.
Action commenced with the bulls and riders putting on a show. As the cowboys held on, the bulls bucked, kicked, and spun trying to toss off the rider before eight seconds was up.
The first round left Adam Jamieson, Tanner Byrne who earned two spots, Scott Schiffner, Cody Coverchuk, Fabian Dueck, Gerard Oversby, and Jesse Torkelson last year's Manor Fun Daze PBR champion all heading into the short go round.
In the end only one man remained standing. Byrne was the only rider to successfully make the eight seconds in the final short go round. Byrne not only was the only rider standing, but after buying in twice to compete, he was able to prove himself both times, taking first and second place.
His first place ride registered as an 87.5, while his second ride resulted in 86 points earning him a new set of spurs and prize money.
One of the new additions to the PBR included a large replay screen, which thrilled the crowd. This let spectators look to the screen for a replay, and to watch the riders in a close-up getting ready out of the chutes and to see the names of both the riders and bulls during the go rounds.
Manor Fun Daze didn't end there though, it was a day-long event which included a pancake breakfast.
This was followed by a parade at noon with local businesses, community members, the Town of Carlyle, the Village of Manor, and numerous fire departments from the area including Manor, Carlyle, Alida, Redvers, and Alameda all participating.
Throughout the day the Annual "Skid Clarke" Memorial Slow Pitch was held with a nail biter of a final between the Bad Eggs and Jessie's Team with a final score of 11 to 8 for Jessie's Team.
Also set up on the fair grounds were fair games and fun organized by Cindy Weir. Ran by youth volunteers throughout the day many young children laughed and won prizes. Set up next to the games were the children's bouncers ran by One Church from Carlyle.
Another addition to the 35th annual Manor Fun Daze included the Fire Fighters Rodeo which saw fire fighter representatives from various departments in the area. Here they competed in various relays and events.
Also found at the fairgrounds during the day there were 17 entries in a barrel racing event organized by volunteers, which was a preview of the next day's excitements of Manor Fun Daze, a horse show.
In the evening, a Cowboy Cabaret was held with local artist Chris Henderson and his band performing. Many who attended exclaimed that it was a great live band to have play.
The next day, Sunday, July 20, at 9:30 a.m. a group of approximately 30 horse enthusiasts came together for the Manor horse show.
Though these numbers were down compared to past events, the organizers were still happy to host the event.
"The horse show has been steady over the last 30 years thanks to Eileen Hyde," explained Julie Wasilinchuk.
"Horse show entries are not as full as they used to be because of the flooding over the past few years... it'll come around."
Wasilinchuk is also a member of the Manor Fun Daze committee and explained that the entire event as a whole has been a success.
"We went away from the rodeo awhile ago and decided to just put on the PBR, which is the same calibre as Winnipeg and Calgary for PBR Canada in Manor, which is really great for our community to do and that has a lot to do with Andy and Sandra Robertson who hold the contract with the PBR," she explained.
Wasilinchuk also stated that any money made above the operation costs of the PBR goes back to the community. In addition to this, Wasilinchuk explained that the weekend wouldn't be possible without the amazing volunteers who help and the generous sponsors who support the events of the weekend.
