Ticket feature: New Year's Eve ranch rodeo coming to Curry events center

Freedom New Mexico

Hammer Down Rodeo Company is hosting the first New Year’s Eve Steven Watson Memorial Ranch Rodeo beginning 1 p.m. Dec. 31 at the Curry County Events Center.

Hammer Down Rodeo Company owner Layton Belcher said he wanted to host a rodeo in honor of his friend, Steven Watson of Causey, who died earlier this year in a horse accident.

“He loved being a cowboy,” Belcher said. “He just really loved it. I think it would really mean a lot to him to have a rodeo in his honor. It means a lot to his family and it’s turning into a good thing.”

Belcher, who lives in the Dora and Causey area, said he decided to host a ranch rodeo because there is more interest in a ranch style rodeo in the area.

“There’s a lot more people in this part of the world that like the ranch rodeo thing,” he said. “It’s a lot easier for these guys to come and enter a ranch rodeo over a regular rodeo.”

The New Year’s Eve Steven Watson Memorial Ranch Rodeo includes event such as branding, stray gathering, doctoring, trailer loading, bronc riding, an open hide race, calf scramble with three divisions and mechanical bull riding.

There will also be a Seth Savage concert beginning at 10:30 p.m.

Tickets are $15. Children 12 and under are free with paid adult. There is a $1 discount off ticket price for each canned food item donated with a five-can limit. The food collected will be donated the Food Bank of Eastern New Mexico.

Fast Facts

What: New Year’s Eve Steven Watson Memorial Ranch Rodeo

When: 1 p.m. Dec. 31

Where: Curry County Events Center

Information: 935-7000