Douglas County Rodeo

The arena at the Douglas County Fairgrounds stands at the center of an 81-acre county complex at 920 Pinenut Road, two miles from Highway 395 on the edge of Gardnerville. Around it are a 1,500-seat grandstand, an announcer booth, concession and restroom buildings, a horse barn, a pavilion, a practice arena, chutes and pens, and a staging area. The county’s Community Services department runs the grounds. Through the year they hold jackpot ropings, truck and tractor pulls, an agriculture fair, monster trucks, a demolition derby, motocross, a haunted house and birthday parties, and they serve as incident command in emergencies. For two nights each September the place belongs to the Douglas County Rodeo.

Two nights at the Pinenut Road arena

The 2026 rodeo ran September 11 and 12. On Friday the gates and the vendor row opened at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday they opened at 1:00 p.m., with mutton bustin’ slack at 2:00 for children five to seven. Travel Nevada gives the ages for the sheep ride as five to eight. Kids Day opened at 5:00 both nights and ran until 8:00. In 2023 Bailey Sanchez of the organizers described it as bounce houses, a petting zoo and more.

The performance began at 6:00 each night with opening ceremonies, then moved through Xtreme Bronc, breakaway roping, broncs, team roping, bulls and barrel racing. Travel Nevada also lists wild horse racing. Trick riders worked the weekend, and the 5 Bader Ranch announced it would carry flags in the ring. Before the 2026 edition, Knox Excavation, Mountain West Construction and Sierra Tahoe Ready Mix hauled in fresh arena ground. The organizers posted that they would not be surprised if new arena records were clocked on it.

At 8:00 the FMX Ramp-age freestyle motocross show sent riders airborne beside the concert stage, and at 8:30 the music began: Redferrin on Friday, Casey Donahew on Saturday. Fireworks over the fairgrounds closed each evening at 10:30, followed by a DJ after party in the Main Tent. One ticket covered everything that day: rodeo, concert, Kids Day, tattoo show, fireworks, mutton bustin’ and motocross. The organizers ask buyers to use only the official website, warning of scam sites selling tickets “that won’t scan at the gate.”

In 2026 the rodeo fell on Patriot Day weekend. Its theme was “Honoring Our Heroes,” Friday was billed as Patriot Night, and the crowd was asked to wear red, white and blue. The next morning the organizers wrote of the night before: “Remembering those lost, celebrating their legacies and getting a bit western.”

Vendor row, the pavilion and Cowboy Church

Beyond the arena, more than 40 vendors set up outdoors on a craft and food row, among them food trucks, open until 11:00 p.m. both nights. Beer tents stood on the grounds. The organizers say they enlarge the carnival area for children each year. In the fairgrounds pavilion, Rice Street Tattoo of Carson City worked from September 10 through 12, 2026, offering custom designs and flash to anyone marking the rodeo weekend in ink. Before the 2026 rodeo, JT Basque Bar & Dining Room in Gardnerville sold discounted tickets and a DCR x JT hat.

The Douglas County Mounted Posse handles parking and turns the proceeds into trade-school scholarships for local students. School athletic teams and nonprofits also raise money at the event. Campagni Auto Group is the title sponsor.

The rodeo now reaches past its two nights. The DCR Golf Roundup, played at Carson Valley Golf Course on the Friday morning, reached its second year in 2026. DCR Fight Night, an amateur Muay Thai card, held its second year on August 14, 2026, at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, with John Nutt as master of ceremonies. A flat track motorcycle race, the Douglas County Rodeo Stampede, has been postponed until further notice. On the Sunday, Pastor Rich Lamae of High Sierra Fellowship leads Cowboy Church, added in 2025, to close the weekend.

Three partners and a clown with dogs

Bailey Sanchez, Justin Schlag and Brooke Sullivan, working as Triple S Productions, started the rodeo in September 2021. “We started the annual Douglas County Rodeo in September of 2021 with the intention of creating a great family-friendly event that the entire community can enjoy while also highlighting our local rodeo talent,” Sanchez told The Record-Courier the next year. Schlag later recalled that maybe 500 people came to the first one.

That first September, the act billed for Saturday was Bert Davis, the Coppertown Clown, known as the “Clown with the Dogs.” Davis said he had worked in rodeo since 1974. He started at 16 as the youngest bullfighter in the nation and was three times the feature act at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. He and his wife trained their 16 dogs themselves, many of them rescues, strays and owner surrenders. Over the years, he said, they had trained and performed with more than 30. “Garth Brooks sings ‘it’s the roar of the Sunday crowd’ in Rodeo, but for me it is the roar of any crowd,” Davis said.

By its second year, 2022, the rodeo was drawing competitors from other states. Trey Butler of Leamington, Utah, won the ranch bronc and Monty Crist the bull riding. Wendy Berrington of Smith won the barrel racing, Austin Carasco of Smith and Nick Nalder of Gardnerville the team roping, and Denver McGill of Gardnerville the breakaway. Sanchez said the partners hoped to reinvest in the fairgrounds “so that Gardnerville has a beautiful facility that can constantly bring our community back together.”

In 2023 the Saturday headliner was Easton Corbin, raised on a small cattle farm in Florida, who had played TJ’s Corral in Minden in 2019. “I love playing rodeos, it’s different than a normal show because the energy is different,” he said. Sanchez added that year: “We are not associated with the Reno Rodeo at all, but we bring the same opportunity and experience to our town in an affordable and attainable way.” Other names on the concert list over the years include Jenna Paulette, Josh Abbott Band, Jerrod Niemann, Eric Paslay, Red Shahan and Matt Stell.

Overflow bleachers and a fairgrounds plan

The fifth rodeo, on September 5 and 6, 2025, sold out both nights, with Rodney Atkins and Aaron Watson on the concert stage. On the Thursday before, TJ’s Corral held a tribute to Sharkey’s Cow Pasture Boxing, and Jon Nutt traveled from Thailand for it. New mobile bleachers were brought in for the overflow. The Record-Courier counted 900 more seats. Community Services Director Brook Adie said two sets around the arena added “approximately 600 additional seats” and a third went to the concert. Commission chair Mark Gardner later put the added capacity at basically 1,000 people.

Gardner made that estimate on April 2, 2026, when the Board of County Commissioners took up a master plan for the fairgrounds prepared by Frame Architecture, Inc. and Wood Rodgers. The county had sought the study in November 2024. Its request noted that the grounds had seen very little upgrade or expansion in 15 to 20 years, and it pointed to an adjoining 557.3-acre BLM parcel as room for an indoor event center, trails and other uses. At the meeting, Schlag said probably about 8,000 people now attended the weekend and that the rodeo could not grow any more without change. Zach Hastie, who had ridden sheep and competed in junior and high-school rodeo at the fairgrounds, spoke for an indoor arena. Residents of neighboring Ruhenstroth asked the board to pause. The commission approved the plan unanimously.

After the 2026 rodeo, Schlag wrote that the event had started with a $20,000 budget and grown into “over a half million dollar weekend show.” He thanked the volunteers who went without sleep that week, and his parents and siblings, who cooked for volunteers and sponsors “all week for free.”