Arena Ready for Bulls Tomorrow

THE new arena at White Park will officially opened in March, but this weekend it will be ready for Adriano Moraes, a retired professional Brazilian bull rider who has three Professional Bull Riders (PBR) world titles, to give one of two weekend bull riding master classes in Australia.

Cr Lee Watts said the Council pushed to get the new arena ready for the bull riding event and was exactly the kind of events the arena will now be able to attract.

“When I was president of the Horse Festival we decided it was time to look at something that we could use as an equine facility, we knew as a committee that we wouldn’t be able to apply for grants, so we approached Council to go under their banner to apply for grants and use their expertise and we were very lucky that it happens to an election year so we were very lucky with grants,” said Cr Watts.

“This is stage one, we were unsuccessful the other day with stage two, but we will keep working on that,” she said.

“I am so proud to be part of this from start to finish, the committee have put so much effort in and I think when you sit in here and see what’s been achieved it is a great way to still lay claim to being the Horse Capital of Australia and will bring many more events to town.

“This is not just for equine disciplines, we can have bands in here, community events like Christmas in the Park, we’ve got Tom Curtain here next week, the rodeo shoots have just gone up, so it will be used by everyone in the community,” she said.

“There is much more we want to do, we have the basic infrastructure then we can look at a new canteen, a bar, powered camping sites,” Cr Lee Watts said.

Jade Smith, president of the Scone Rodeo Committee and member of the White Park Committee said the bull riding class this weekend and next weekend was a great example of the events Scone can now host.

“Adriano Moraes is a very big draw card, he is massive around the world, he’s like the Roger Federer of tennis in the bull riding world,” said Mr Smith.

“We thought Scone would be the perfect place to hold it and Council said they’d push to have it ready for us, so we locked in the event at Scone,” he said.

“Scone is central to people coming from all over the country for the classes, there are riders coming from Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and of course Queensland and New South Wales; there will be 24 students each weekend and 100 bulls at the ready,” he said.

“It’s great having the all weather arena to be under cover if it rains or if it’s 40 degrees,” he said.

“Fence sitters are welcome and he’ll (Moraes) will be wired up to speakers to talk about not just riding the bulls but also diet, exercise and mental preparedness,” Jade Smith said.

As a member of the White Park Committee Jade said he is excited about the range of events that will now be attracted to the town and said it will be more accessible than the AELEC for many groups.

“Everything that has been held a White Park will still  here, but many more groups will now use it and that’s what I’m excited about, what it will do for the whole town,” said Mr Smith.

“It’ll create a great atmosphere and it is a bigger arena and in the long term the facilities will be better with new canteen and bar,” he said.

“I’d like to see that arena used every weekend or every second weekend,” he said.

“I think it will suit more events because it is smaller than the AELEC and while you are not getting all of the AELEC facilities, groups also won’t have to be paying the higher rates for it either,” he said.

“With the bypass going in we’ve gained a bit of the old ground from one of the fairways of the golf course and that will become a car park and open things up a bit more and people who come to White Park like being able to camp on the grounds,” Jade Smith said.

The Scone Rodeo will be on again this year, with May 3 locked in for the junior rodeo and May 4 for the main event.

The White Park Committee included: Lee Watts, Jade Smith, Linda MacCallum, Susan Bettington, Christine Brooker, Julee Gilmore, David O’Meara, Darryn Wicks, Jenny Moschner and Kiwa Fisher.