Pioneer Days

In the last days of April the Citizens Bank Events Center, 1900 East Brady Avenue in Clovis, fills for the Pioneer Days PRCA Rodeo. It runs three nights of bull riding, bronc riding, barrel racing, team roping, calf roping and bareback riding, put on by the Curry County Mounted Patrol during the annual Pioneer Days Celebration. The 2026 rodeo was the 54th annual and ran Thursday, April 30, through Saturday, May 2. The 2027 rodeo is set for April 29, April 30 and May 1. The patrol’s own notices call the building by several names: the Citizens Bank Events Center, the Citizens Bank of Clovis Events Center, and the Curry County Events Center. The arena is under a roof. On the Friday of the 2026 rodeo the patrol posted: “Let it rain, we don’t care. The Pioneer Days Rodeo is all indoors!”

Cervi Championship Rodeo Company furnished the stock for the 54th rodeo, and Charlie Throckmorton called the action from the announcer’s stand. Performances begin at 7 p.m., and each night has its own theme. Thursday is Military Appreciation Night. The crowd wears red, white and blue, and an active-duty military ID takes $3 off a ticket at the door. Friday is Tough Enough to Wear Pink. The schedule ties that night to women’s breast cancer awareness, and the ticket page describes it as support for “our rodeo family that is either battling or who have survived cancer.” Saturday night honors first responders.

The specialty act listed on the rodeo’s entertainment page is Tomás Garcilazo, a third-generation charro from Mexico City. He performs horsemanship and maguey rope work with his wife, Justine, and their children as Charro on the Road. The page credits him with 28 consecutive years at the National Finals Rodeo, a 2021 win on TBS’s Go Big Show, and a March 2024 induction into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. Photographs in the rodeo’s gallery carry captions such as “Yancy Day—Brutal Luck,” “Wyatt Denny—Pinball Wizard” and “Audy Reed—S93 Iconic.”

Sheep, steers and slack

The week begins before the ticketed nights. On Monday, April 27, 2026, the 4th annual Mutton Bustin’ was held at 5:30 p.m. in the events center. The patrol counted more than 85 young riders, and the top 30 advanced to ride during the rodeo performances. The schedule also lists steer roping at 8 a.m. and barrels and breakaway slack at 3 p.m. at the same building. Team roping, steer wrestling and tie-down slack follow the Thursday night performance.

At 11 a.m. on Thursday the Rodeo BBQ Kick Off, open to the public, is held at Zia Power Sports on Mabry Drive. Friday begins at 7 a.m. with the Pioneer Days Breakfast at the Clovis Civic Center, 801 Schepps Boulevard. In 2026 it was the 23rd annual breakfast, sponsored by Plateau, and the schedule states that all are welcome. Mounted Patrol members sell raffle tickets throughout the week. For 2027 the first prize is a Polaris Crew 600 Premium, the third prize is half a beef, and the drawing is set for May 1, 2027, during the rodeo.

Main Street on Saturday morning

The Pioneer Days Parade starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday along Historic Main Street. The 2026 parade was the 54th, and its entry form gave the theme as “250 Years Celebrating America.” Entries form up at Hilltop Plaza. Walking units start at 14th and Main, and the parade ends at Grand and Main. Judges sit on the west side of the street in front of the courthouse, and each entry gets one minute to perform for them. Nothing may be thrown from a moving vehicle, so walkers beside the floats hand out candy and balloons. The 2022 parade featured the Clovis High School Wildcat Marching Band, and the Mounted Patrol rode in it as well.

Jack Hull’s riders

The Curry County Mounted Patrol began in 1939 through the efforts of J.R. (Jack) Hull. Membership was by invitation only, and Hull called on each prospective member himself. His idea was a group of men who owned horses and wanted to ride and to raise better horses to ride. He remained captain until his health forced him to resign. In the early years many Curry County men volunteered for or were drafted into the armed forces. The patrol became an auxiliary law enforcement group in that period, and most members were deputized by the sheriff’s office and subject to call. They liked to ride out, camp overnight, and ride back to Clovis in time to go to work.

The patrol also sponsored western entertainment. For several years it held a championship steer roping on Labor Day that drew the top steer ropers of the nation. Its first rodeo was staged on the high school football field, which Marshall Middle School now uses. Dinners and barbecues raised enough money to buy sixty acres of land, and the patrol gave the land to Curry County. The two available accounts of what came next differ. The patrol’s own history says that in 1970, with the cooperation of the county commissioners, the Mounted Patrol built the rodeo arena on the fairgrounds. A 2022 article from the sponsor Pattern Energy dates the land purchase to 1970 and says the commissioners built the arena.

The Pioneer Days Rodeo began as a professional rodeo in 1970, and for years the patrol hosted it each June during the celebration. More than 425 top professional cowboys entered in 1979. The patrol is still limited to 50 members.

The fiftieth, two years late

The pandemic halted the rodeo for two years, and the 50th annual Pioneer Days Rodeo was finally held June 2–4, 2022. Richard Hadley, president of the Mounted Patrol, said: “We’ve been waiting two years to have our 50th Annual Pioneer Days Rodeo, and we couldn’t be more excited to have the Cervi Championship Rodeo here in Clovis to help us bring it back.” Shad Mayfield, called the hometown champion, was among the cowboys competing. ATVs were raffled that year. The Rodeo Queens attended the Friday community breakfast, as did Mayor Michael Morris, who said, “We are all excited to have the Rodeo back in Clovis, and to welcome the world to our great community!” Ernie Kos, executive director of the Clovis Chamber of Commerce, put it this way: “We’ve been waiting, and now we’re open and inviting the world to come to Clovis!”