After purchasing tickets a few months prior, it was finally time to go to the Fiesta Days rodeo. This will be the first time we have gone as an entire family unit—as a married couple, we've gone a number of times in the past. This year, we had all of the grandparents, siblings, and grandchildren attending. Fiesta Days is the local city's annual celebration, with all of the accompanying vendors, carnival, and events spread across multiple weeks.
On our way to the fairgrounds, we picked up some Chick-fil-A for dinner and knew that we would top it off with some kettle corn later that night. Family members filtered in and tickets were distributed, with some family still en route.
Once the second to last set arrived, Chris and T went to the parking lot to get them. It started to rain a bit, and while looking for the family, quite suddenly the heavens opened.
The Rain. Came. Down. Hard. And. Fast.
Chris and T ran back to the bandstand to hunker down under blankets, but by that time, both were soaked. The rain was coming down sideways, so it did not really matter whether one was under the bandstand covering or not. Everyone was getting quite wet. The kids were freaking out a little bit, so some Winnie the Pooh on Disney+ helped calm some nerves. At one point during the storm, the doppler radar showed the stadium right in the middle of the red storm cell.
The rodeo was delayed about 90 minutes before all of the fun was able to begin. By that time, the rest of the family had arrived that were staying, bringing with them ponchos and dry clothes for the kids. Unfortunately, the mutton busting was a casualty of the delay, as all of the mud and standing water was unsafe for all of the little kids that would have participated. However, due to the same conditions, the rodeo clown improvised and introduced a one-night only event: belly flopping. That was a unique experience not to be had at any future rodeo.
Other than that, all the events as scheduled happened. Once it started, it was a bunch of fun and excitement, an all-around good time.
