Santa Maria Elks working on final preparations just before holding its biggest rodeo ever
Dave Alley
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – With the start of the 82nd Annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo now just hours away, final preparations are taking place all day long Tuesday at the Santa Maria Elks Event Center.
Throughout the 107 acre property located just off Santa Maria Way on the east side of Highway 101, Elks volunteers, vendors and other workers are together putting the final touches on their setup for the start of the unprecedented five-day event, which begins Wednesday.
“We are busy getting set up,” said Scott Parsons, Santa Maria Elks Recreation Vice President. “We have our vendors rolling in. We have lots of our incredible volunteers putting banners up and finishing some touch up painting. Wednesday is looming around the corner, so we’re trying to get all of our T’s crossed or I’s dotted, making sure everything’s tied down and everything looks great because tomorrow is going to be here before we know it. For the 7 p.m. performance with gates opening at 5 p.m., we have to have things wrapped up.”
Earlier this year, the Elks Recreation, which operates the annual event, announced the addition of a fifth day of action, marking the first time in the long and storied history of the rodeo, the event would stretch over five days.
On Wednesday, the rodeo kicks off with a full night of action with an Xtreme Bulls event.
“For the first time ever, the Xtreme Bull tour of the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) is going to be here in Santa Maria,” said Johnna McGuire, Elks Recreation Media Director. “Wednesday night will be all bulls. We’re super excited. It going to be all bulls all night. We’ve been so blessed in the last few years. We’ve been had mostly sold out performances and it’s been really tough to get tickets and we we get it. It’s hard. We want everybody to be able to come, so this year we were able to to add a day and add something new and exciting for people to come and really watch. We all know the bulls are a favorite. We all love the bulls and they’re always at the end of the night, so sometimes not all the little ones make it for that one, but this will be great because it’ll be all bulls all night.”
The Elks will hold its traditional lineup of rodeo events on Thursday through Sunday, and will once again feature world-class PRCA rodeo action, such as bull riding, bareback riding, steer wrestling, tie down roping, team roping and bronc riding, as well as WPRA barrel racing and breakaway roping, kids mutton bustin’, Elks team roping, Junior breakaway roping, speciality acts, and the always popular Flying Cowboys motorcycle stunt riders.
“82 years is is pretty amazing,” said McGuire. “What’s happened in the last 13 or 14 years of what this rodeo has come to mean to me, not just for Santa Maria, but for the whole Central Coast and actually for like the rodeo profession, it really is a standout premier rodeo. We have one of the largest international audiences on Cowboy Channel, and again this year’s performances will on the Cowboy Channel app. This rodeo just really is that that one event that brings the whole Central Coast together.”
The 82nd Annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo and Parade will be held May 28th-June 1st, 2025.
For more information about the 82nd Annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo and Parade, click here for the official website.