BILLINGS — A once-empty stretch of dirt behind MetraPark has rapidly transformed into a $2.5 million outdoor rodeo arena — complete with chutes, pens and grandstands designed to bring summertime rodeo back to Billings.
The arena, in its final weeks of construction, is already outfitted with the key infrastructure needed for its first big event: a summer rodeo hosted by the NILE.
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“If you drove by here two weeks ago, it looks completely different than it does today,” said Stoney Fields, general manager of MetraPark.
NILE general manager David Allen, whose group owns Rodeo Billings, will kick off the new facility’s first season Aug. 12. He says the project is filling a long-vacant space in Billings’ event calendar.
“Our goal here is to put on a summer rodeo, which hasn’t occurred in Billings, outdoors, in seven or eight years,” said Allen.
The expansion comes with community awareness — and some cooperation. Fields said he reached out to existing rodeo venues such as the Horse Palace to avoid stepping on toes.
“I said, ‘We’re gonna be in competition with you. I want to make sure that it's something that’s workable.’ His first thing was: ‘You've got to build it.’ There’s a need for this space," said Fields.
Allen, who has family ties to Vida-area native and barrel racing icon Lisa Lockhart, is already picturing what could happen when riders enter the new arena.
“I’m just envisioning she’s going to turn her third barrel right there and set an arena record for us," said Allen.
