It doesn’t start until Friday, January 29th, but Rapid City has been gearing up for the event for months. The Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo, in its 33rd year, is the single largest event held each year at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

During its ten-day run, the stock show and rodeo attracts more than 300,000 people! Bull-riding cowboys, barrel-racing cowgirls, livestock producers, artists and more all descend on Rapid City for the event – which is one of the earliest PRCA rodeos every year.

The Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo is literally one of those events where there is something for everyone. Obviously all of the traditional rodeo events take place, but there is much more to it than that.

Quilting classes, petting zoos, poker tournaments and art shows are some of the non-rodeo events that help attract such a huge crowd. Even growing up in Iowa, I knew of the the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo. I grew up in a farming community where a lot of families raised and showed cattle on a fairly competitive level. There was a group of local farmers and ranchers who, every year, would make the trip to Rapid City for the famous event.

Some years they came for livestock auctions; other years, simply for the entertainment.

All arena events at the stock show and rodeo do require ticket purchases, but the large trade show and commercial booths are open daily, free-of-charge, to the public.

The rodeo events kick off this Friday and Saturday evenings with the PRCA Xtreme Bulls event and then really get rolling after that. For a full schedule of events, check out the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo site.

An event of this size is just too large to cram into one little blog post, so stay tuned next week and we’ll probably have another update or two for you. Happy trails!