Attempt at 2020 rodeo made

Weeks after announcing it would limit the Sweetwater County Fair to 4-H and FFA events and the cancellation of the Red Desert Roundup Rodeo, the Sweetwater County Events Complex announced it was seeking the 2020 National High School Finals Rodeo.

Ultimately, the rodeo committee decided to host the event in Guthrie, Okla.

““We are thankful that the National High School Finals Rodeo has found a home for 2020. We appreciate the positive feedback from the community and wish we had better financial news,” Larry Lloyd, executive director of the events complex, said in a release Friday.

Lena Warren, the marketing and event coordinator for the complex, said more than 40 were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, costing the complex approximately $1.1 million in revenue. This decline has caused the complex to struggle financially, forcing Lloyd to seek a loan from the Sweetwater County commissioners to help float the organization until its next tax distribution.

The rodeo was originally planned to take place in Lincoln, Neb., July 19-25, but was cancelled due to the state’s health restrictions.

According to the Gillette News-Record, representatives of the rodeo association contacted the Cam-Plex in Gillette to host the rodeo. Shortly after the News-Record published its article about the request, the Sweetwater County Events Complex announced it was also trying to secure the rodeo.

Warren said the complex would have worked with local and state health departments to ensure the rodeo would adhere to health guidelines. According to the News-Record, the NHSFR Association was circulating a plan it intended to follow regarding hosting its event and ensuring the safety of its participants.

“The Sweetwater Events Complex is a driving force that stimulates our economy year-round. Each event plays a key role in fostering tourism and economic development and the National High School Finals Rodeo is a perfect example of this,” Lloyd said in the initial announcement.

While the complex has lost revenue from the cancelled summer events, those losses also impact local municipalities due to the loss of sales tax associated with those cancellations. The events complex hosted the rodeo in 2018 and 2019.