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The Mesquite Championship Rodeo Turns
50...
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – What do Mick Jagger,
Chuck Norris, bucking bull Kowabunga, Priscilla
Presley, Roger Staubach, Kelly Kaminski and the
late President Ronald Reagan have in common?
They all have been to the Mesquite Championship
Rodeo. The famous Texas rodeo has been
attracting world leaders, celebrities,
professional and circuit cowboys and cowgirls
and thousands of rodeo fans since 1958.
Mesquite Championship Rodeo organizers,
participants and fans will celebrate its 50th
season when the weekly rodeo series kicks off on
April 6 at the Resistol Arena. While some PRCA
rodeos are held for a weekend or a week or two,
the Mesquite Championship Rodeo is held on
Friday and Saturday nights for six months. The
rodeo series wraps up on Sept. 29.
Mesquite, a suburb of Dallas, became a hotbed
for rodeo thanks to the driving force of its
founders and organizers, its close proximity to
a booming metropolitan area and its access to a
pair of major airports. The Texas legislature
proclaimed the city of Mesquite the “Rodeo
Capital of Texas” in 1993.
The impact of the Mesquite rodeo went well
beyond the Texas borders because of its
national, and later regional, weekly television
broadcasts dating back to the late 1970s. The
rodeo was broadcast on ESPN and The Nashville
Network and now can be found on Fox Sports
Southwest. The Mesquite Championship Rodeo has
introduced the sport to many first-time fans,
many watching from their couches on a Sunday
night.
“Everybody across the country would get it (on
TV), and even people who didn’t grow up in a
rodeo-oriented place knew the Mesquite Rodeo,”
said Kaminski, a two-time world champion barrel
racer. “I had an uncle who lived up in Illinois,
and I remember that when I first went pro he
said ‘Are you going to ride in Mesquite?’ and I
said ‘Yes, I am.’ That was kind of neat. Someone
like him, someone who didn’t know anything about
rodeo, knew about Mesquite.”
The Mesquite Championship Rodeo did more than
help build the sport’s fan base. Cowboys and
cowgirls fine-tuned their skills at the weekly
rodeo.
“You can go there on any weekend and there’s
going to be circuit cowboys and cowgirls, and
there’s going to be world champions,” Kaminski
said. “You just never know who is going to show
up, and that’s what makes it fun.”
Along with rodeo action, the Mesquite
Championship Rodeo features chuck wagon races,
bull poker, pony rides for children, a petting
zoo, a calf scramble and a grand entry fans may
participate in. Children may also register for
the mutton busting. Spectators can stroll
through Wild Bill’s Western Store and eat at
Sonny Bryan’s BBQ Pavilion.
Resistol Arena seats up to 5,300 for the general
public and offers a third-floor ring of private
Champion Suites for parties and corporate
entertaining. Resistol Arena is part of the $20
million Rodeo Center complex. Facilities include
the adjacent Hampton Inn & Suites and Convention
Center & Exhibit Hall.
“If you’re from New York or New Delhi, and if
you’re visiting Dallas, one of the things you
expect to see is something Western,” said John
Painter, public relations director for the
Mesquite Championship Rodeo. “And this is a
gateway, a door to rodeo.”
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