Getting back to big things. That's the message from Visit Rapid City as the area hosts three large events this week.
Not many events are bigger than the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's ProRodeo Finale at the Central States Fairgrounds. The event began Tuesday and runs through Saturday and is the last professional competition before the National Finals Rodeo in Arlington, Texas.
Visit Rapid City President/CEO Julie Schmitz Jensen said the amount of people coming in for the ProRodeo Finale combined with the Buffalo Round-up at Custer State Park and the Great Downtown Pumpkin Festival in downtown Rapid City means this will be a great week for the city.
"There will be some definite front line impact from the rodeo competitors that will be here, all the visitors for all these events will have a great impact," Jensen said. "They will stay here, eat here, shop here. This is a great time for Rapid City."
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Originally set to be held at the Washington State Fair, organizers from the PRCA had to work quickly to find another venue for the ProRodeo Finale after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Washington event to be canceled.
The PRCA turned to South Dakota native Rorey Lemmel, who has produced a lifetime's work of professional rodeo events.
"Several spots throughout the United States expressed interest and part of the reason they came out here (to Rapid City) is because the Xtreme Broncs is such a huge success for television and professional rodeo, they knew this would be a great spot," Lemmel said.
The Central States Fair offers top-of-the-line rodeo facilities, both outdoors and indoors, Lemmel said. Combined with no state restrictions in place for large gatherings, the PRCA decided that South Dakota was the place to hold one of the top-tier professional rodeo events in the nation.
Lemmel said the amount of competitions on the pro rodeo circuit has been dramatically cut since the onset of the coronavirus.
"There have been a lot of cancellations this year, so you've seen a lot of competitors come to South Dakota, Oklahoma and other places. But everything that was west was canceled," Lemmel said. "There are 600 rodeos in the PRCA. We've probably only had 150 this year. It has really impacted us and every rodeo was important."
Ron Jeffries, general manager of the Central States Fairgrounds, said Gov. Kristi Noem's message to the nation that South Dakota is open for business has been extremely impactful for rodeo attendance.
"We saw it with the Range Days Rodeo when the governor appeared here and carried the South Dakota flag around the arena, we literally had thousands of comments coming from that saying what a great job Gov. Noem has done for South Dakota," Jeffries said. "Quite honestly, when ag is tough and you're shut down for tourism because of the pandemic, South Dakota would have been in dire straits had the governor not made the decision to stay open and stay operating."
The ProRodeo Tour Finale will be televised nationally on the Cowboy Channel, bringing more recognition for Rapid City, Jeffries said.
"This is a big economic boon for Rapid City because between the Range Days Rodeo, the Xtreme Broncs Finals and the Gold Buckle ProRodeo Tour, Rapid City will be on national television 10 times between the month of August and September," Jeffries said.
Tickets may be purchased at centralstatesfair.com.