Photo: Bunkhouse Blessings | Mesquite Championship Rodeo via Facebook
While many rodeos across the country have been called off this summer due to concerns for public health and safety around the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mesquite Championship Rodeo isn’t one of them. Held at the Mesquite Arena in Mesquite, Texas, the rodeo has announced it will move forward with its events, kicking off June 6, and it will be allowing fans in the stands. MCR is hosting what it calls “the first ticketed professional live sporting event” in the country since the coronavirus shutdown — and it certainly is the first one open to the public in North Texas.
“We’re a privately-owned rodeo, so the pressure to shut down was never really applied or forced on us. We held off canceling, with the thought that we’d be right on the bubble, and as it turns out, we were right” Travis Wheat, MCR Rodeo Director, told CBS DFW. “With aid from all our partners and produced in cooperation with Visit Mesquite Texas, we’re able to put on Texas’ Original Sport for the 63rd consecutive year in the Rodeo Capital of Texas,”
However, MCR — which runs all summer from June through the end of August — also assure that “The Mesquite Championship Rodeo will be following Dallas County guidelines and PRCA guidelines. The arena will only allow 25% capacity (with pre-designated seating) and taking extra precautions to sanitize high touch surfaces by its fans. Social distancing will be encouraged.”
“We have to keep in mind the recommendations of our health officials while still keeping a Texas tradition alive. The show must go on. Trust me, when that cowboy gets thrown off that bull, he’ll want to distance himself for sure,” said Wheat.
Read the CBS DFW full article here.
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