It was the first full weekend with COVID-19 restrictions peeled back in Saskatchewan finally allowing for the rodeo season to commence.

The Hallonquist 64th Annual Amateur Rodeo kicked off the action in southwestern Saskatchewan this past Saturday returning after a year hiatus due to the pandemic.

"It was really good," Christie Schwartz, an organizer of the rodeo, said. "It was really hot, We had lots of spectators and entries so it was a good day.

"For the spectators, it was something to go out and do for entertainment and for the cowboys and cowgirls that entered it, it's been a long time for some of them since they've been able to compete."

The single-day event welcomed over 600 observers and 240 participants in the rodeo, both numbers according to Schwartz are an uptick from past years.

"It's an amateur rodeo so it's always been a place where people come to ride for the first time or just get their starts in rodeo sometimes," she said. "And sometimes its people want to come out and ride a bull or cow just once in their life and so we've had lots of times people come out and do that."

While the registration for each event is open to anyone, the participant list is heavy on the local side, especially for the younger children.

"We try to cater to it kind of being a family rodeo," she said. "We have mutton busting, calf riding, wild pony race, and a rooster chase for the kids... We have to have limits on them (number of participants) so they always fill up really fast. All the kids get to do the rooster chase, so there's something for everyone."

Thanks to sponsorship, the rodeo was able to award belt buckles to every event winner minus the mutton busting, in which each child participant scores a t-shirt instead. Over $12,000 was also handed out as part of the event purse.