FORT LAUDERDALE — In a letter posted online last week at its website, the Florida Gay Rodeo Association (FGRA), which produces the Sunshine Stampede Rodeo, announced that the group’s 2013 event had been cancelled.

“Over long, sometimes heated discussions, the Board of Directors of FGRA have approved to suspend the 2013 Sunshine Stampede,” the online statement reads. “We want to give you the best rodeo experience possible and [suspending the Sunshine Stampede] is necessary to take the time to get our 501(c)(3) status reinstated, a complete and thorough outside audit performed of the financials of both the Rodeo and the Association accounts, and to be … reinstated as a 501(c)(3).”

The statement was signed by FGRA’s board, which includes Kole Hillman (President), Bryan Hodges (Vice President), R.J. Frank (Secretary), Craig English (Treasurer), and Voni Whitaker (Rodeo Director). It noted that “the Sunshine Stampede … takes about $80,000 to put on. [Given] the time-frame and the lack of association resources and information that has still not been turned over to the new board, we felt we could not in good faith commit FGRA blindly” to producing a rodeo this year.

The statement added that the organization is planning an “FGRA Spring Break” event, which it describes as a “fun filled weekend on Fort Lauderdale Beach supporting our sponsors who have supported us for the last eight years. Activities and events will include a host hotel, a pub crawl, a big beach bash, and more events in the works.”

Last year’s Sunshine Stampede, which was held April 21-22, 2012 at the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds in Davie, featured close to 100 contestants from throughout North America, competing in 13 rodeo events, attracting roughly 5,000 spectators to attend the weekend rodeo and its collateral events. As measured by attendance, the Sunshine Stampede had grown to become one of the largest gay rodeos in the nation.