Curry events center reopens

CLOVIS — The Curry County Events Center in Clovis reopened the last weekend in June after closing for 14 months due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

“We’re looking at adding some more community-driven type of events,” said K.C. Messick, the new general manager of Curry County Events Center and Fairgrounds.

“People are ready to get out and see stuff so we’re going to make it available for them,” he said.

The center is a county-owned, equestrian-based facility, which contains 98,000-square feet, Messick said. It is a 112- acre property.

“We host rodeo-type events and we’re obviously not going to go away from that but we’re expanding to other community events,” he said.

On September 25, for one day the center will host Force of One MMA (mixed martial arts) Fights, he said.

“We’re not under contract yet but we’re talking with promoters about other events to come to make it into a year-round facility,” he said.

Spectra Venue Management manages the events and the fairgrounds, he said.

“We just had the dinosaur show, Jurassic Empire, which is an outdoor drive-through dinosaur exhibit last Saturday and Sunday,” he said. “The week before we had Monster Trucks.”

“We’re in the process of trying to use the entire property, especially the fairgrounds year-round — as best as possible,” he said.

“The biggest event inside the arena is The Pioneer Days Rodeo the first weekend of June — we’re looking forward to getting this back in 2022,” he said. “It was canceled the last two years due to COVID.”

“It’s going to be a good year for the events center and the community,” he said.