Southern NM State Fair and Rodeo: The Rodeo

Above, as I was walking through the parking lot, I took this shot of
the rodeo arena through a chain-link fence. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When I went to the Southern New Mexico State Fair and Rodeo yesterday, I went during the late morning for about 3 1/2 hours.

I went back to the fair that evening to attend the rodeo. It was a good thing that I went when I did, the fair had long lines of people waiting to buy tickets and to get in. 

The rodeo was set to begin at 7:00 and I arrived at 5:45. The grandstands were already beginning to be filled up with people. Later, there were long lines of people waiting to get in, but security kept them out until some left (five people leave, five were let in). It was equally as bad at the restrooms. Long lines of people were waiting to go in to take care of business. When I left the fair before the rodeo was over, hordes were still coming in. It seemed like half of Las Cruces were either in or waiting to get in. Compared to Gallup (population 21,000), Las Cruces has a population of 104,000.

The rodeo arena was named for ex-U.S. Senator Pete Domenici. It was a nice arena and had a big roof and a big screen for replays. My only gripe was that the seats had no backrests. 

After a while, my lower back was aching (much of it started earlier in the day) and so I moved from the bleachers to an area where I got a good ground-level view of the rodeo events. I forgot to bring my zoom lens.

Still, I had a good time and picked up a rodeo t-shirt.

Some photos: