A High River chuckwagon driver is awfully fond of the western drawing hanging on his den wall.

However, Brian Mayan has grown even more fond of the Okotoks artist who did the drawing. Bernie Brown’s name on the corner of the artwork will be the same name on Mayan’s tarp at his first trip as a driver to the Calgary Stampede’s Rangeland Derby this July.

High River chuckwagon driver Brian Mayan will have an Okotoks business written across his tarp when he drives in his first Calgary Stampede this July. Bernie and Marg Brown of Boot Hill Gallery partnered with 96 Ranch near Okotoks to purchase Mayan’s tarp at the Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby tarp auction in Calgary on Thursday.

Mayan’s tarp was purchased by Boot Hill Gallery out of Okotoks for $50,000 Thursday at the Calgary Stampede tarp auction held at the Archie Boyce Pavilion in Calgary.

“I’m happy to get connected with some local sponsors,” Mayan said. “I do have some of his stuff. My wife is more in-tuned to art. That’s not my forte but I like the drawing. I hadn’t met Mr. Brown or his wife Marg until the auction. I told them after the auction: ‘I’m working for you’. So we will be sitting down in a few weeks to see what I can do.”

Okotoks resident Earl Hale, who owns 96 Ranch, partnered with the Browns to purchase Mayan’s tarp.

The 42-year-old Mayan has been in the wagon racing business for more than 25 years. He used to travel with his father when dad drove in the old Northern Professional Chuckwagon Association. Mayan has won championships as an outrider at the Calgary Stampede, but 2010 will be the first time he will grab the reins at the Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth.

Mayan qualified for the Calgary Stampede by finishing 17^th out of 36 drivers on World Professional Chuckwagon Association tour last season.

He was thrilled to finally be on stage for the tarp auction.

“It was nice to see it from the stage looking down rather than from the crowd looking up for a change,” Mayan said. “I had butterflies, but it was a great thing.”

Although he’s not about to give back the money, he would have been thrilled with virtually any amount.

“I didn’t have any illusions about how much money I would receive,” Mayan said of the auction. “I wasn’t praying for the moon or anything. I am just so happy to be there… it really didn’t matter what I got.”

He said the $50,000 is his biggest paycheque ever from sponsorship.

“Calgary for me now is bonus money because I have never been there before,” Mayan said.

Bernie and Marg Brown of Boot Hill Gallery wanted to buy a tarp to support the Stampede to payback some dues.

Brown participated in the Calgary Stampede Western Art Show for years and the Browns credit that show for helping him get established in the foothills area.

“Bernie was fairly well known in Saskatchewan, but the Stampede has done a lot for Bernie’s career,” Marg said.

In fact, the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth helped them settle in one of the greatest places on earth to live.

The Browns fell in love with the foothills area during a road-trip to Seattle and Bernie made a visit to an Okotoks realtor. The rest is history. He now has the Boot Hill Gallery in Okotoks and Longview.

They had no idea they had purchased a tarp for a foothills area driver until after they had made the winning bid.

“The exciting part was he (Mayan) was new and what a bonus that he came from High River,” Bernie said. “We didn’t have a program so we had no idea where he was from until after we bought him. What a bonus to have someone who has connection to Okotoks.”

Mayan played for the Okotoks 85ers, the predecessor of the Okotoks Junior Bisons.

Earl and Terry Hale are long-time supporters of Okotoks and were instrumental in bringing the Junior A Oilers to town.

Marg said they see buying the tarp as not only supporting Mayan and the Stampede, but also as an advertising investment because the tarp will be seen by more than 150,000 chuckwagon fans during the 10 days of Stampede and countless more on television. Mayan’s tarp will have “Bernie Brown Art Gallery, Okotoks,” along with artwork on it.

Okotoks chuckwagon driver Mark Sutherland’s tarp sold for $75,000 to the Calgary Hotel Association. Sutherland made the final four for the $150,000 Rangeland Derby final last year.

Jason Glass, the two-time defending World Professional Chuckwagon Association champion, had his tarp purchased by Shaw GMC for $70,000. Shaw GMC has been a long-time sponsor of the famed Glass checkerboard-pattern chuckwagon.

The top bid was for defending Calgary Stampede champion Chad Harden who sold for $120,000.

The 36 drivers racing at the Calgary Stampede had their tarps auctioned for $1,966,000 in total, up $274,000 from last year.
It was the fifth highest total in the 32-year history of the event.

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