Cowboys, cowgirls eager to get their memorabilia back
Mark Roy isn't sure how much value his National Finals Rodeo championship saddle would have to anybody else.
To Roy, though, it's priceless. Won in the 1992 steer wrestling competition at the annual world rodeo championship, Roy's saddle has been on display at Calgary's iconic Ranchman's Cookhouse & Dancehall for decades.
With the bar now closing and BMO beginning to seize its property, though, Roy is one of dozens of cowboys and cowgirls who are hoping to get their memorabilia back.
“I don't understand why the bank would even want it. Who is going to buy a saddle from 1980 or something like that that's been hanging in the bar for 30 or 40 years?” Roy said. “I just can't see anybody spending much money on it. Somebody's got the wrong impression that these saddles are worth a lot of money.
“Jim Gladstone is another world champion who has got a saddle in there. Between his and mine, those are probably the two most expensive ones, but they don't mean anything to anybody other than him and I.”
Ranchman's was founded by Harris Dvorkin and Kevin Baker, but after Dvorkin died in 2017, it was sold to Doug Rasberry, who has owned and operated a number of bars in town. When the bar changed hands, realtor Rob Campbell says the saddles and other memorabilia were specifically excluded from the paperwork and were never included in the asset list.
Between Calgary's economic downturn and the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, though, Ranchman's ran into financial trouble and BMO has now begun the process of seizing assets. That includes, for now, memorabilia like Roy's prized saddle.
Campbell says more than 140 people had their memorabilia on display at Ranchman's and are hoping to get it back.
“What we're waiting for now is for the bank to review the paperwork and hopefully come to the conclusion that we all know is the correct one, which is that these people should get their stuff back,” Campbell said. “That's kind of where we're at. It's not my job to jump up and down on the bank. They're doing what they do with every other situation they're involved in and hopefully when they review the paperwork they'll come to the same conclusion that we all have.”
That means people like Roy just need to wait, for now. He's got decades of fond memories from nights spent at Ranchman's, where he got a free bar tab because he had his saddle on display.
Roy, who lives east of Calgary near Dalemead, says he would also like to get back a framed sign from the party that was thrown for him at Ranchman's when he returned from winning the NFR with signatures from everyone who attended, and another saddle from the Canadian circuit.
It's the NFR saddle he wants back most, though.
“You don't win the world every day,” Roy said.