FOR the first time since World War II, Upper Horton will not host a campdraft or rodeo event on New Year’s Eve.
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The region’s ongoing drought conditions saw the Upper Horton Campdraft committee first cancel the campdraft portion of the annual event last month.
Now the committee has made the decision to also postpone the rodeo event until sometime next year.
Committee secretary Peter Kelly said it was a “big call” to make.
“Really, the decision was factored by a little bit of everything,” Kelly said.
“The drought has seen a lot of other events across the state be cancelled and people are finding it hard to have the time to travel and participate.
“With that in mind, we were pretty low on numbers for the rodeo and decided it was best to postpone until sometime next year.”
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Kelly said the Upper Horton community was hopeful of hosting a different event to help ring in the new year.
“Normally the campdraft and the rodeo are enough to make the day a bit of a spectacle,” Kelly said.
“However, without the campdraft and the low entries we had for the rodeo, we would have only been able to provide two or three hours of entertainment.
“That’s not enough to warrant travelling from far away, but hopefully we can organise a bit of a community event at the sports club on New Year’s Eve instead.”
Recent rain has helped the Upper Horton area in some respects, but Kelly said “there is still a long way to go”.
“Things are a bit tough but I know there are plenty of other places going through worse,” he said.
“The campdraft community is right behind us and have been very supportive of our decision.
“That’s what it’s all about, it’s a unique sport and everyone is always willing to pitch-in and help out where they can. Our Upper Horton community is like that as well.
“They’ve been very supportive on the decisions we’ve made and back us all the way.
“I think that sort of support is what’s great about living in the country.”
Kelly said no date had been set for the rodeo.
“We will suss it out and hopefully come up with a free date sometime soon,” he said.
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
