It’s no secret that many cowboys and gals from Cochrane and area have lent their rich family histories to help shape the legacy of the Calgary Exhibition & Stampede.
One such family is the Edge family, who first settled in Cochrane in 1887.
Cochrane husband and wife team Lynn and Judy Edge and their extended families, including nephews Dean and Tim, continue to keep the Edge Stampede tradition alive and well.
It’s a history that extends 110 years back to Lynn’s grandfather, William Edge, who showed a champion Clydesdale stallion at the Territorial Spring Show in 1904 at the grounds, earning a silver tea service.
Next in line was Lynn’s father, the late Norman Edge, who was honoured by the Stampede in 1974 and inducted into the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1983; Norman competed in Stampede bull riding, bareback, saddle bronc and wild horse race events throughout the 1920s.
Fast forward to 2014, where Lynn will be showing in the non-professional cutting horse event with his champion cutting horse, MyT Cuts For Bucks, this July 7 at the Agrium Centre.
The six-year-old palomino mare is part of the Cochrane and District Foundation’s fundraising campaign, where local businesses are challenged to match her winnings and donate to the Foundation; to date, she has earned more than $13,000 and Lynn is anxious to continue the momentum.
“It’s truly exhilarating,” said Lynn, who last entered the cutting event at the Stampede in 2005. “It’s going to be neat to have the experience and I think I can be competitive.”
Wife Judy, who was also raised in a rodeo family, will have little time to spare this Stampede season as she maintain her position as volunteer liaison with the Stampede Downtown Attractions Committee and as one of the judges for the Stampede Rodeo Royalty Committee.
“I’ve always been involved with the western way of life — both my parents were rodeo competitors,” said the retired school principal.
“Right now the priority is to teach our five grandchildren how to ride and they’re doing fantastic.”
Lynn and Judy’s daughter Roz Edge Kossowan, who lives in Cochrane with her husband Gary and three children, was the 2002 barrel racing champion at the Canadian College Rodeo; their other daughter, Robyn Bilsky, lives with her husband and two children in Edmonton.
Lynn, his late brother Barry (father of Dean and Tim) and their brother Garth, a bull rider who spent much of his life south of the border, all devoted much of their lives to the rodeo circuit. Barry, who passed away in 2010, was a five-time tie-down competitor at the CFR’s, a Stampede competitor in the 1960s and ‘70s and a successful Rimbey rancher with his wife, Linda.
Lynn and Judy’s nephews, Tim and Dean, who both live and ranch with their families in Rimbey, Alta., each wear boots filled with Stampede memories.
Dean will be a returning competitor in the tie-down event and Tim is a well-known Stampede announcer and member of the Stampede Royalty Committee and Stampede Downtown Attractions Committee.
“It is special — to compete on a world-class stage while being a local,” said Dean, who has competed in the tie-down event at the Stampede numerous times and is also a seven-time competitor at the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR).
“Our time is spent living the western tradition,” said Lynn. “It’s an exciting time.”
