GREG LOCKE PHOTO - The Rodeo Boys

The pro rodeo circuit across rural Alberta is not only a sporting event but an important part of the social life and a community building cultural event in the small farming and ranching towns that are still very much a part of the Alberta identity. To the outsider the public spectacle of the Calgary Stampede may represent rodeo and The West but on hot summer evenings in the small town tracks and fairgrounds neighbours and families come together to watch the sport, catch up on news, talk business and even do a little old fashion matchmaking. This is the heart of Alberta.