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Filling the seats with excitement: Lots to see in do at area arena
By Kenny Green, kgreen@starlocalnews.com
The Mesquite Arena is offering several family friendly events over the next couple of months to keep everyone entertained.
The arena will feature the Cowboys of Color Invitational Rodeo this weekend. The rodeo is a celebration of the history and tradition of cowboys of color within the rodeo.
"It really is an educational experience. The do a really nice job of showing the history of black, Hispanic and Indian cowboys in the rodeo," said Steve Gander, arena manager.
"One of the events they feature is the Pony Express Race. It features four teams of four racing against each other across the arena. This event alone is worth the price of admission," Gander said.
The arena will host switch into concert mode in December with the return of Hispanic singer Joan Sebastian. Sebastian is tentatively scheduled to perform on Dec. 15. Gander said the concert maybe moved to Dec. 1 and a final date would be posted on the arena's website, www.mesquiterodeo.com, soon.
"He is extremely popular. Last year he sold the arena out. This year for his performance we will be setting the arena up completely different. We will be building an arena within the arena to bring the fans closer to him. He will still ride out and sing on horseback but with the new configuration fans on the south end of the arena will be just as close as fans on the north end," Gander said. "We made the change because people last time were too far away and couldn't get that close to him."
Gander said the arena will look to utilize the configuration in the future if it's successful.
The month of December will close out with the Winter Classic on Dec 28 and 29. The winter classic will feature a lot of faces that normally wouldn't be seen at the arena.
"This is about the only rodeo going on in the U.S. that weekend. We will get a lot of cowboys coming back from the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. This is a chance for people to see some of the best in the country all in one place. I don't know that there is another rodeo where you can go see this much talent at one time," Gander said.
The arena will open the New Year with a brand new event to the facility from Jan 11-13. Gander said the arena has reached an agreement to host a hunting and boating show. The event will occupy the arena and convention center.
"We will be putting carpet on the dirt for this event. This is a show that we hope will really grow," Gander said.
Attendees can expect to see boats and hunting equipment. He said there has also been discussion of bringing in an exhibition of world record setting deer antlers to be displayed during the show.
The arena will once again host the Bad Boys of Arena Cross event on Jan. 18 and 19. The event will feature a new addition this year as Gander said they are adding a mudbug to race hotrods inside the middle of the arena.
"I thought the arena cross was one of our better events this year. Those bikes were going so high and there was so much energy in the arena with everything going on. The mudbug will just add to that. We always are looking at ways to improve an event and do something different," Gander said.
For information on the arena and upcoming events visit www.mesquiterodeo.com.
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