Final preparations underway for Santa Maria Elks Rodeo

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- With the start of the 80th Annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo and Parade now less than a day away, final preparations are taking place today at the Elks Unocal Event Center.

Starting at sunrise Wednesday morning, dozens of Elks volunteers, vendors, workers and others involved with the rodeo have been setting up, getting the facility ready for the thousands of visitors that will arrive on Thursday for the start of the four-day event.

"There's of moving parts going on as we speak," Scott Parson, Elks Recreation Vice President. "We've got the vendors rolling in. We are finalizing the TVs and the tents, getting all the fiber optics set up, the HDMI cables. We had our video crew come in yesterday, our sound crew. Lot of coordination going on. Checking stock pens and making sure there's water in the troughs and we have all of our volunteers out. We probably have 50, 60 to 70 people on site today."

With the start of the rodeo just hours away, Wednesday's final preparations marks the culmination of several months of hard work by the entire Elks Recreation organization.

"It's been fun out here with 27 inches of rain this year," said arena and grounds manager Joey Silva. "We did have a challenge getting all the grounds into the shape, trying to get the arena prepped right, trying to get all the weeds mowed and things and we've got a good group. Team Santa Maria came together and we got it done."

As he continued his work inside the arena Wednesday morning, Silva was thankful that all the efforts from Elks volunteers leading up the rodeo was going to pay off.

"This year things have been working really smooth," said Silva. "Everything has been clicking and coming together right, so I'm really happy with all the results."

Unlike recent overcast weather, Wednesday brought cool, blue sunny skies over Santa Maria, providing a significant break from recent conditions.

"Things are looking pretty good," said Silva. "The ground has taken moisture. We've had overcast for the last two weeks, which has actually helped me get enough moisture in the ground to keep it good."

The Santa Maria Elks Rodeo and Parade will be held June 1-4 at the Elks Unocal Event Center, located just off of Santa Maria Way on the east side of Highway 101.

For more information about the rodeo, or to purchase tickets, visit elksrec.com.

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