REGINA -- The final day of the Canadian Western Agribition saw preparations begin for the 50th anniversary of the event and a high stakes gun slinging competition take place.
Agribition CEO Chris Lane unveiled the official brand and theme for the 2020 show. Next year will celebrate the half century worth of stories that have been created since the shows inception.
To close out the final day of the annual show, Lane and David Marit, the Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture, continued a friendly rivalry for charity. Last year the friendly competition raised $2,000 for Stars Air Ambulance.
The pair squared off in a mounted cowboy shooting competition, where participants ride horses while using a gun to shoot balloons.
"The guns are a single action revolver, they're from old west period prior to 1900s, and you have to thumb the hammer back every time to shoot. So someone that's not used to having to thumb that hammer down and shoot fast that way, that will be their biggest challenge," said Lucas Thiessen, one of the participants in the competition.
Although the guns were real, the horses were not, as the rivals galloped on foot towards their targets.
Lane looked like he would take the competition this year, but a last minute miscount of his shots handed the victory to Marit.
"I thought I had one more bullet in the gun, and it clicked and there was one balloon left standing, and my heart just broke," said Lane.
Marit said his win is not the end of the rivalry, as the pair is already planning a tie-breaker for next year so they can raise even more for charity.
"We're coming back next year, we've got a wheel we'll spin this year probably, but this is a great event. If we can promote an event like this at Agribition, that's really what it's all about,” said Marit.
Agribition 2020 will start a week later next fall, beginning on November 30,which is the exact date the first Agribition started in 1971.
