Rupununi : The Rupununi Rodeo attracted a $1M pledge from the government on Saturday,that will go towards upgrading the venue.
The annual Easter holiday event organised by the Rupununi Rodeo Committee is the climax of a series of scheduled activities in the Lethem community that sits on the border of neighouring Brazil. .
It is also a calendar event for the Ministry of Tourism,Industry and Commerce, coinciding with the Pakaraima Mountain Safari
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, a regular participant in the Safari joined President Donald Ramotar in Lethem on Saturday for the rodeo along with Minister of Amerindian
Affairs Pauline Sukhai and other officials.
The event has its genesis a century and a half ago when vaqueros/cowboys would meet to compete in wild bull riding, bareback bronco, horse racing, calf roping and wild cow milking. The tradition has been kept alive with the
Ayla Kenyon, the 2013 rodeo queen, greeted President Ramotar in the company of an entourage of horse riders. A crew from Germany filming a documentary on the Essequibo also met the President.
