By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
When talking about the storied rodeo history of the Carbon Corridor, no name is more remembered than Black Diamond. Disappearing from the public eye in 2015, the hallowed event returns to Carbon County bigger and better than ever. To announce this monumental comeback, Carbon Events and Recreation Director Kourtney Cox joined Castle Country Radio to explain the ins and outs of the affair.
“Black Diamond Rodeo is back. We are so excited to be able to bring this back to our community. It’s such a nostalgic event; who doesn’t know the name Black Diamond Rodeo around here?” Explained Cox,” As we were planning this rodeo, we were able to trace this back to at least the 1950s. It went away shortly after 2015. And we had the opportunity to partner with All In Pro Rodeo and make this happen for our community.”
The Black Diamond isn’t your typical run-of-the-mill local rodeo. Put on by All In Pro Rodeo, it falls under the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, the largest rodeo organization in the world. Hosting an average of over 700 events a year, the PRCA is the premiere rodeo destination.
Slated for June 6 and 7, tickets are already available for purchase.” You can visit our website, BlackDiamondRodeo.com, for more information.”
Cox continued,” Another thing is we’re going to be offering a queen contest. So, if anybody is interested in being our Black Diamond Rodeo Queen, we are opening that event to Carbon and Emery County residents. It’s going to be such a phenomenal event.”
This endeavor began in 2024 at a Carbon County Commission meeting in which All In Pro Rodeo pitched the idea, resulting in Cox getting involved immediately. Reflecting on the process of bringing the rodeo back to Carbon, Cox stated,” That conversation consisted of saying, ‘I’m one of the cochairmen of the fair committee. We have wanted to bring in a professional rodeo for a very long time, and we would love to see if we could work together to make this happen.’ So with the commissioner’s blessing, we were able to partner with All In.” She added,” We’re going to have a great funny man. We’re going to have a great announcer there. And we have some cool things coming along with this rodeo.”
The return of the rodeo has presented a learning curve for the county – one that they look to navigate with the aid of the newly formed Carbon County Rodeo Committee,” it consists of five or six of us, along with All In Pro Rodeo working together. And it’s been a learning process for all of us. It’s been great, though. We’re getting ready to go visit All In this weekend. They have an event they’ve invited us to, so we can see what happens behind the scenes during the event.”
This event also presents a chance for local businesses to get involved through sponsorship packages,” If there are any businesses out there who are interested in being a sponsor of the Black Diamond Rodeo, we would love to hear from you. One of our largest sponsorship packages includes what we like to refer to as the ‘Shark Cage’. Essentially, they’re going to stake down this round cage in the middle of the arena during the bull riding. Our top sponsors will have the opportunity to sit as a group in this cage. And you are literally right in the middle of this bull-riding action.”
Business owners can call Cox at 636-3702 to learn more about these opportunities or visit BlackDiamondRodeo.com.
Rounding our conversation, Cox said,” We can’t wait for you to experience our events this summer. We’ve got some great things coming up, and we think the community will love them.”
The Black Diamond Rodeo is scheduled for June 6 and 7 at the Carbon County Fairgrounds. For more information, visit BlackDiamondRodeo.com or follow Carbon County Recreation and Events on Facebook.