Once again, Australia's highest payout professional rodeo will headline at this year's Curry Merry Muster Festival during the first weekend in August.
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"We've held the title of the highest payout pro rodeo for a long time, and we feel it's a great drawcard and an important feature of our event," CMMF committee spokesperson Janessa Bidgood said.
"The prize money keeps the best competitors in the sport coming to our rodeo and it makes for a great spectator sport when you know the dollars are being offered.
"We also love doing our bit to bring rodeo, as a sport in Australia, to the next level - a good payout makes it worthwhile for competitors to travel."
The community of Cloncurry may be small, but it's mighty, and the CMMF team is a not-for-profit so they couldn't achieve the prize-pool, nor the slick-show they run year in and year out, without the support of generous sponsors.
"Our committee has worked hard over the last few years to increase our ability to offer improved experiences and options for everyone who attends, from free entry to entertainment. We're lucky to have such an incredible support base thanks to local businesses - they make running an event of this calibre so much easier, and enjoyable," Ms Bidgood said.
And when it comes to calibre, this year's line-up of competitors features some of the best in the sport, with several Australian champions and record-holders entered.
"We're so excited by competitor numbers this year. We've added an additional competition night on Thursday night to cater for the 105 team ropers, and other timed-event entries, as well as spectators - everyone can enjoy another night of Curry hospitality under a starry, night sky," Ms Bidgood said.
"These competitor numbers will make it an exciting event to watch. There's over $36,000 prize money up for grabs in the team roping alone, so we're definitely giving people a shot at winning the big bucks."
And with over $20,000 of prize money on offer in the barrel race, Australian champion Kerrie Holder has entered alongside a solid line-up of competitors, which promises to be an event young cowgirls won't want to miss.
"We'll see some of the best horses in the country and some very handy cowgirls. This year they'll be riding extra hard no doubt to take the money and the points that will get them to the National Finals Rodeo," Ms Bidgood said.
"We'll also have Donovan Rutherford, who we've watched come up through the Australian professional rodeo ranks, so it's great to see someone from our region leading the standings - we'll all be watching on with keen eyes to see how he goes."
If you're keen to experience a pro-rodeo as a family, this is it - there's a full program of rodeo, music, entertainment, boxing and it's all free. Get all the ticketing info via the CMMF Facebook page.
