WINNEMUCCA - This picture was taken from the grandstands of the old rodeo grounds. It shows the parking lot, not at all organized. People pretty much parked where they found room. Across the dirt road is the space reserved for the Native Americans. They came in, mostly from McDermitt, to watch the rodeo and to sell beadwork and leather items.
A few hardy souls also took part in the pony race off Winnemucca Mountain - dangerous both to the ponies and to the young men who rode them. (You couldn't get me to ride a horse down the frontside of that mountain at a slow walk, let alone racing!)
The rodeo was a major event. It marked the beginning of fall as surely as the beginning of the school year. Everybody went - townspeople, miners, ranchers and the Native Americans. As different as they might be in their daily lives, rodeo brought them together to celebrate a common western tradition. And, to have one grand party.
Today that parking lot remains a parking lot. Once the old rodeo grandstand had been demolished, Raley's was built there.
- Compiled by Barbara Powell
nevadasdesertlegends.com
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