GETTING
AWAY
Tucson Rodeo
Back in 1925, the frontier town of Tucson still
had dirt roads and cowboys worked the 
land and
wrangled cattle as a way of life, not for entertainment.
Leighton Kramer decided that showcasing this way
of life was a good way to draw visitors to Tucson.
So, La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, the celebration
of cowboys, began.
That first year, prizes for the parade included
a 750-pound bag of ice, 100 pounds of potatoes
and a “Big Cactus” ham. The purse for the rodeo
was a whopping $6650. Today, the Rodeo Parade is
the world’s largest non-motorized parade and the
rodeo is one of the top 25 professional rodeo events
in North America. Prize money tops $320,000. In
2008, the rodeo committee was inducted into the
ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
Initially, the idea of a rodeo and parade was met
with resistance. Some residents didn’t
see the
point — they lived the cowboy life day in and day
out and a parade seemed too pretentious. But the
show went on and the headline in the Arizona Daily
Star admonished, “Cowboys are asked not to shoot
up the town.”
While such warnings are unnecessary today, La Fiesta
de los Vaqueros remains a beloved tradition. Expanded
to five days in 1993, schools close on Thursday
and Friday of Rodeo Week and more than 200,000
spectators attend the parade.
The event has gained some notoriety outside of
Arizona as well, having appeared in movies such
as “The Lusty Men,” “Arena” and “8 Seconds.” It
has been broadcast on “Wide World of Sports” and
ESPN.
In the official welcome for the inaugural event,
Leighton Kramer wrote, “The hitching post has been
removed. A new civilization has put steel and concrete
and built a mighty city where only yesterday horses
grazed within the memory of living man… We are
proud to offer this attraction to the people of
America as a glorious reminder of yesterday.”
As apropos as his words were back then, they are
even more so today. La Fiesta de los Vaqueros celebrates
an iconic way of life that shaped this region,
but that has largely disappeared.
-Rebecca Antioco
if you go
La Fiesta de los Vaqueros
February 21 to March 1
Tucson Rodeo Grounds
4823 S. 6th Ave., Tucson
520-741-2233; 800-964-5662
Admission:
$12 to $20; $14 to $22 for the final rodeo performance
Timed Events Competition admission is $5 (Monday and Tuesday)
Mike Cervi Jr. Memorial Team Roping admission is $10 (Wednesday).
Admission to both of these events is free for children younger than 13.
Tucson Rodeo Parade
February 26, 9 a.m.
Starts on Park Avenue and Ajo Way and continues south on Park to Irvington Road.
520-294-1280 (tickets)
tucsonrodeoparade.com
Admission:
Grandstand seating at Park and South 6th Avenues is $6; $4 for kids younger than 13.
Top photo by David Jewell; bottom photo by Dan Hubbell
