By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
With just under six weeks remaining before the Black Diamond Rodeo makes its triumphant return to the Castle Country on June 5 and 6, Kourtney Cox, director of the Carbon Events and Recreation Complex, joined the KOAL newsroom to talk about the push to make the rodeo bigger and better than last year’s rendition, and the planning that goes into the event.
Opening our discussion, Cox spoke about the upcoming Black Diamond Queen competition on Saturday, May 2. “We actually have five contestants who have thrown their hat in the ring. We’re very excited for these young ladies to be joining us.”
In a change from its first year back, this year’s competition will be open to the public. “We had that question last year, but we were just getting our feet wet, and kind of wanted to get that ball rolling. This year, it will be open to spectators, so if you’re interested in watching our Queen competition again, it starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning at the event center. We’re going to have modeling, speeches and impromptu questions, followed by horsemanship out in the arena. And we will crown our 2026 and 2027 Black Diamond Rodeo Queen and first attendant.”
Looking to the rodeo proper, Cox pulled back the curtain and spoke on what the planning process looks like for Black Diamond as it rapidly approaches: “There’s so much planning that goes on throughout the year that right now, I think our biggest thing is just coordinating some final details making sure we’ve got volunteers in the right places; making sure that we’ve got you know the merchandise that we want to sell lined up and that we’re making sure our deliverables for sponsors are in line. And that’s kind of where we’re at with things right now.”
A new exciting aspect of the Black Diamond Rodeo in 2026 is the wide reach it expects to gain from being broadcast on The Cowboy Channel.
“That is a very big deal. We are super excited about that, especially for being year two back with the rodeo. It’s pretty cool that we’re able to take it as far as we have in the short amount of time that we’ve had it,” expressed Cox.
She also previewed other new additions to the event,” We’re going to have women’s professional barrel racing involved and the Cowboy Channel. We’re bringing in Felix Santana, and he’s got some of the dancing Andalusian horses, the ones that have the really long black curly manes. They’re beautiful. He does a great job. So we’re adding even more to the rodeo this year.”
Returning for the 2025 rendition is the use of themed nights for the rodeo. On Friday, June 5, the theme is ‘Raise a Glass to the Working Class,’ a night which Cox described as a night,” where we’re going to honor those hardworking men and women here in Carbon and Emery Counties.”
Following that, on Saturday, June 6, the rodeo will celebrate the area’s agricultural heritage with ‘So God Made a Farmer’ night.
Tickets for the Black Diamond Rodeo are on sale now on BlackDiamondRodeo.com. Still, Cox encourages those interested to buy their tickets early,” I would highly recommend jumping on and getting your tickets early this year. We anticipate a much bigger turnout for the rodeo this year, and I would hate for you to miss your opportunity to get tickets if we sell out.”
The Black Diamond Rodeo returns to Carbon County on June 5 and 6 as a part of the Carbon County Fair. To learn more, visit BlackDiamondRodeo.com or visit CERCUT on Facebook.