DETROIT LAKES – The annual Double S Arena rodeo has gone pro. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) stars will be competing in rural Detroit Lakes on Aug. 26-27.
The arena, which is located at 24300 County Road 149, Detroit Lakes, has hosted rodeos since 2018. After a professional rodeo representative visited the area, a contract was signed and ushered in a new era of riding bulls and broncs.
“We’ve been working to build up momentum and wanted to step up our game and get pro athletes in the door,” said Arena Manager and President Jessica Metry. “We’re excited about it. The athletes are really talented.”
The Double S Rodeo is also holding a barrel jackpot on Saturday morning. The top 10 barrel riders get the opportunity to ride in the rodeo that night with the rodeo stars watching.
Then, spectators and rodeo participants are invited to a concert by 2 Weeks Notice, a country band composed of three brothers.
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“We’ll also have a lot of vendors there, selling clothing, tac and more,” Metry said.
Pre-ticket sales can be purchased at the arena’s website , Metry said. In addition to general admission, the arena offers VIP seating in the balcony that gives a bird’s eye view of the buck and shoot.
“They are the best seats in the house,” Metry said. “And, they come with dinner, too.”
The rodeo gates open at 5 p.m. on both nights with the rodeo competition starting at 7 p.m. The band is slated to rip out riffs around 9:30 p.m.
Double S Arena came about after a fire
Metry and her parents Vicki and Scot Stelter began hosting an annual rodeo six years ago, but have been holding horse events since the arena was built in 2011.
Metry said the arena came to be after an arena in Verndale, Minnesota, burned down. According to a Perham Focus article , “in the pre-dawn blackness” in December 2008 a fire started that took firefighters 10 hours to extinguish. Forty show horses perished in the fire, some of which were owned by the Stelter family.
From the loss of show horses, the family decided to offer a family-friendly event to the lakes communities on their rural Detroit Lakes land.
“Our first events were with cows,” Metry said. “Then, we started to get into (horse) barrel racing and the rodeo. We still do those two, but not cows.”
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The barrel racing events are held every Wednesday night. The arena is also rented by saddle clubs and used for open riding sessions.
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