Applications are now being accepted for the 2025 Cloverdale Rodeo Parade.
The Rodeo Weekend tradition usually sees upwards of 5,000 spectators hit downtown Cloverdale for the parade.
Matt Kinvig is organizing the parade this year for the Cloverdale Rodeo and Exhibition Association (CREA). It’s the first time in nearly two decades the parade is not being organized by the Cloverdale BIA.
“We’re inviting local businesses and community groups to register as entrants,” Kinvig said in a press release from CREA. “It’s an excellent opportunity to get creative, meet and greet thousands of spectators, and start the 2025 Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair in true Western style.”
Kinvig said there will be 11 categories this year in which float entrants can be judged and win prizes. Those categories include: commercial floats, non-profit floats, junior band, senior band, junior marching unit, senior marching unit, wheeled, antique division, comic division, mounted drill team, and dance division.
Last year’s parade had a wide variety of paraders and CREA expects the same wide range this year. Last year’s entrants included: businesses, cultural groups, marching bands, dance groups, clowns, horses, entertainers, dogs, vintage vehicles, fire trucks, sports groups, and others.
Potential paraders can visit cloverdalerodeo.com, navigate to “Rodeo” and click on “Rodeo Parade” to find an application link. Community organizations and non-for-profits can enter the Cloverdale Rodeo Parade for free, while the fee for commercial floats is $30. Deadline to enter is May 5.
Paul Orazietti, the executive director of the Cloverdale BIA, said he’s thankful to be passing the organizer's baton back to the rodeo.
“I retired,” Orazietti said. “On that note, they took the event and put a new person in charge of it. It’s always been a rodeo event. I just organized it for them.”
He added the nature of parades have changed over the years and it was “just time” for him to move on.
Orazietti said he'll actually be on the other side of the rope for once. He'll be entering a float in the parade on behalf of the BIA and sharing it with the Cloverdale Community Association.
“Everyone’s trying to keep the spirit of (the rodeo parade) alive,” he added. "So, I'll be there too, albeit in a different capacity this time around."
The 2024 Cloverdale Rodeo Parade will start at 10 a.m May 17.
The parade will be about a third of the length shorter again (it got shortened last year) than it has in years previous. This year’s parade will start from the corner of 177B Street and Highway 10. It will move west on No. 10 before cutting north at 176th Street. The parade will then hang a right on 58th Avenue and head east before terminating at 177B Street.
“The parade has always been a warm-up act for the rodeo,” Orazietti noted. “It raises the community’s spirit and welcomes people to Cloverdale for the rodeo."
The 77th Cloverdale Rodeo and the 134th Country Fair will be held May 16-19 (May long weekend) on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.
For more info on the parade, the rodeo, or the country fair, visit cloverdalerodeo.com.
Tickets are now on sale and can be found by visiting cloverdalerodeo.com.
