CENTRAL BRITISH COLUMBIA - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 556

$21), protecting a forest of old-growth western red cedar and Douglas fir. You can swim,
rent a canoe, or just relax on the pebbly beach.
WILLIAMS LAKE
Originally bypassed by the builders of the Cariboo Wagon Road because of protests from
a stubborn landowner, Williams Lake (pop. 11,000), 95 kilometers (59 miles) north of 100
Mile House, has ironically become the Cariboo region's largest city. Today the ranching
and forestry center is best known for the Williams Lake Stampede, one of Canada's biggest
rodeos.
MM Williams Lake Stampede
On the last weekend of June, the town comes alive as North America's best cowboys and
cowgirls compete for over $100,000 in the Williams Lake Stampede (250/392-6585 or
800/717-6336, www.williamslakestampede.com ) . The whole town dresses up for the occa-
sion; the locals put on Western garb, and the shop fronts are decorated accordingly. The
highlight of each day's action is the rodeo, and events include bareback riding, saddle-bronc
riding, calf-roping, steer-wrestling, barrel racing, chuckwagon racing, and the crowd favor-
ite, bull riding. Scheduled around these traditional rodeo events are cow-milking contests,
tractor pulls, cattle penning, chariot races, raft races, a parade, barn dances, all-you-can-eat
breakfasts and steak-outs, and a host of other decidedly Western-flavored activities.