Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo Expected to Draw 300,000 to Rapid City

RAPID CITY, SD, January 15, 2011 (Press-News.org) Rapid City's biggest annual event, the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo will span two weeks, beginning on Thursday, Jan. 27 and wrapping up on Sunday, Feb. 6. Approximately 300,000 people are expected to attend the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo featuring Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA) Silver Tour Rodeos, one of the region's largest trade shows, livestock sales and competitions and ranch rodeos at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

"The stock show started as a chance for ranchers to showcase their cattle. It has expanded to cover almost everything agricultural related," says Ron Jeffries, Central States Fair general manager. "The Stock Show offers everything from wild and woolly sheep dog trials to the glitzy and glamorous stockman's banquet and ball."

Some of the nation's top cowboys and cowgirls will compete in seven PRCA rodeo performances, two PRCA Xtreme Bulls Tour events and a 20X Extreme High School Rodeo.

"The Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo is among the top five PRCA rodeos in the country," says Jim Sutton of Sutton Rodeo. "We are in competition with Denver, San Antonio and Fort Worth, and have been selected several times as the top indoor rodeo in the country."

The PRCA rodeos will feature around 692 athletes, including South Dakota's seven National Finals Rodeo finalists. The newly crowned Miss Rodeo America, South Dakota's MacKenzie Haley, will participate in the rodeo performances and visit local schools.

"The Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo has good cowboys, good stock and a good location," says Sutton. "We are in rodeo country and rodeo is the top sport in South Dakota. It's a natural fit."

Attendees will also see award-winning announcers and clowns, including Keith Isley, two-time PRCA Coors Man in the Can, Comedy Act of the Year and Clown of the Year award recipient. Entertainers, such as Tomas Garcilazo, a talented horseman and rope artist, and the Priefert Percherons, a team of exhibition draft horses, will be showcased during the PRCA rodeo performances.

A new aspect of the stock show includes a wagon train from the James Kjerstad Event Center on the Central States Fairgrounds to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Thursday, Jan. 27. A cowboy poetry show will also be added to the list of events this year. The popular freestyle bull fights will also return to the rodeo performances.

This year's trade show will feature approximately 300 vendors, offering everything from horse trailers to apparel and home furnishings. For a complete schedule, ticket information and news visit http://www.blackhillsstockshow.com.

A free shuttle will run between downtown Rapid City and the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The shuttle will begin at noon and run until 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 28 through Saturday, Jan. 29 and on Thursday, Feb. 3 through Saturday, Feb. 5. The shuttle will also run on Wed. Feb. 2 with the last downtown pickup at 5 p.m. The shuttle will stop downtown at the corner of 6th and St. Joseph and will drop passengers at the Theatre entrance of the civic center.

The Rapid City CVB is a division of the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce. The CVB's mission is to market the Rapid City area as a convention and leisure destination and to promote economic growth that will enhance the area for visitors and residents.