How do you bring roughly three-quarters of a million people into a town of about 5,000 and make it all look like it just happens?
That’s where BJ Prince comes in.
In Episode #199 of Beyond the Chutes, Doug Simcox and Sam Swearingen return to Festival Western de St-Tite for the second chapter of our three-part St-Tite series.
This conversation was recorded at the Festival in September 2025, and with another St-Tite approaching, it gives us a fascinating look behind the scenes at the people, planning, livestock, production crews, volunteers, contestants, television, security, logistics, and partnerships required to pull off one of the biggest Western celebrations anywhere.
BJ talks about the hundreds of people working behind the scenes, the livestock operation, the short-round format, The American, the growth of rodeo in Quebec and Eastern Canada, and why taking rodeo into new markets creates opportunities for the next generation.
As BJ puts it, when three-quarters of a million people arrive in a town of 5,000, you’re essentially putting entire cities worth of people into one small community — and it takes a “huge, huge army of people” to make it work.
This episode follows our conversation with Anne-Marie Lemire and takes us one step deeper into the St-Tite story.
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