Professional bull riders will be returning to Mosaic Place this summer and they’re bringing a union with them.
Juno Award-winning country artists The Washboard Union will take the stage at Mosaic Place on June 8 following the annual visit by the Professional Bull Riders, Powered by Young’s Equipment.
“It’s great to be back here,” said Chad Besplug, president of Alpha Bull the promoters of the event. “After our company’s last event in Dawson Creek we did the same format and it really worked.
“We’ve always wanted to tie the music into it. Bringing in a well-known band like The Washboard Union is challenging. We’re literally doing two shows in one night. We have people there for our show and our show feels like a party. A lot of the younger people then carry on to another establishment that night. We wanted to do was keep them there, but keep them there in a classy way.”
Alpha Bull’s PBR Moose Jaw will bring the top bull riders from the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Canada Touring Pro Division to offer thrills and spills at Mosaic Place starting at 7 p.m. The Washboard Union will follow the bull riding. One ticket will get patrons into both events.
The bucking chutes for the bull riding are set up in the south end of the arena floor. The arena will be cut off at centre ice and the stage will go up after the bull riding in the north end of the arena floor. Fans are invited to come onto the floor for the concert or they can enjoy it from their seats.
“One ticket brings you both shows. When we first talking about this in December, we had a shared vision that we could bring an already tremendous show and add something to it and give added value to it,” said Jim Puffalt, city manager for the City of Moose Jaw and the interim manager of Mosaic Place. “This is the first announcement of many with great Canadian talent and we have another (concert) announcement Monday.”
The Washboard Union are the Canadian Country Music Award’s reigning Group or Duo of the Year for 2018 and were also nominated as the Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2019 Juno Awards.
Mosaic Place is offering something a little different for their next two concerts as well.
“We have something that we are calling the ‘Sa-weeeet experience,’” Puffalt said. “We wanted to try to give people the experience of being in a suite. A lot of the time you don’t get that chance. For the next two concerts at least we want to give people a VIP experience with concierge service for a minimum of 10 people, we will get you up in a suite.”
Puffalt said that they expect there will only be two or three suites available for each concert. The cost is $1,000 and features VIP parking, wine and appetizers, a concierge service and a swag bag.
This is the fourth straight year that Alpha Bull is bringing the PBR Canada Tour to Moose Jaw after it made its debut at Mosaic Place in 2016.
“We put a lot of work this year into making sure that we have Canada’s best here,” Besplug said. “We will guarantee that this year we’ll have the toughest set of bull riders in Canada in Moose Jaw. The great thing for you guys here is that the top-four Canadians right now are from Saskatchewan.”
Aaron Roy from Yellow Grass is one of those highly-rated riders. Roy broke his back and missed two years of competition and then broke his femur the season when he made his return.
“He rides as good as he ever has and I know he’s excited to ride here. He has a lot of people from his hometown coming up to watch him,” Besplug said.
