Another high turnout of competitors and spectators helped make the fourth annual Logan Parent Memorial Bulls and Barrels a success.
Organizer Cindy Parent, founder of the Logan Parent Memorial Foundation and mother of its namesake, said they raised just over $30,000 for the foundation. This money will be used to fund scholarships the foundation offers and to raise awareness about concussion-related illnesses in the Cariboo.
"It was an amazing event. I probably say this every year, but I felt it was the most successful event to date out of the four we've had. Everything seemed to run so smoothly and that is because of our amazing volunteers," Parent said. "They know exactly how to run this show and they do it well."
Parent noted the weather, barring some rain on Friday, largely held up, while Saturday was perfect rodeo weather. This year, 18 bull riders competed in the event along with over a dozen barrel racers of various ages.
On the bull-riding side of the event, the bulls proved to be tough to master for the bull riders, with only three qualified rides of eight seconds being logged on Friday and Saturday. The winning bull rider was Marlon Williams, with two qualified bull rides under his belt, while Kale Mickelson came second with one qualified ride. However, Mickelson's ride was the highest scored of the weekend with an 86.5.
"Shout out to those who attended. Without them, this event wouldn't take place," Parent said. "It takes a lot of people to run an event like this and I had heard, a few times over the weekend, that this is the event the town looks forward to. They can come out, have some good entertainment and socialize with people they don't see for a while. That made me proud."
The event is held each year in memory of Parent's son Logan, who was a bull rider who suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) brought on by sports concussions. Logan ultimately took his own life because of the mental health issues caused by CTE, and for the last four years, Parent, along with her daughter Sienna and Logan's friends, have worked to make rodeo sports safer.
"We had Samantha Burrow from the Concussion Legacy Foundation put on an information session on Saturday. We were just trying to bring awareness to mental health and CTE and trying to have a good time while doing it," Parent said.
Parent said next year her goal is to work more closely with the CLF to try and get more people to come to the information session. This year, she said it was only lightly attended, and she wants to increase those numbers.
"We want a well-attended session, so we're going to work hard next year to make sure we bring more people out to listen to the message about CTE and mental health," Parent concluded.
