POCATELLO — The Gate City’s pro rodeo drought is over.

After more than a decade without a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event in the Gate City, pro rodeo is returning to Pocatello with the inaugural Bannock County PRCA Rodeo on Friday, May 22, and Saturday, May 23, at the Bannock County Events Complex on Fairground Drive.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for a city with deep rodeo roots. Pocatello hosted the National Circuit Finals Rodeo for more than two decades before the event departed in 2010 — and a brief attempt to keep PRCA rodeo alive in Pocatello with a Wrangler Million Dollar Silver Tour stop fizzled out around 2012. Now, more than a decade later, pro rodeo is back.

“Get ready, Pocatello,” the organizers say — and they mean it.

Organizers also point out that this will be the first time Pocatello has hosted a PRCA regular season rodeo.

In conjunction with Bannock County, Big Bucks ProRodeo — a Utah and Nevada based production company whose bucking stock bloodlines trace back more than 75 years to the first National Finals Rodeo in 1959 — is bringing top athletes to Pocatello to compete in bareback riding, team roping, bull riding and more. The stock comes from the legendary Kerby and Mosbrucker bloodlines — two of the most respected names in professional rodeo.

But the competition is only part of the show.

Sisters Kate and Tera Flitton — the Stellar Trick Riding Cowgirls — will perform both nights. The pair perform in approximately 20 rodeos a year and performed at South Point in Las Vegas during the National Finals Ladies Breakaway Roping in 2024. Their act features hanging off the side of a galloping horse, Roman riding, trick roping and extreme whip cracking.

Among the famous livestock that will be competing at the rodeo will be the saddle bronc mare 701 Freckles, a five-time Wrangler National Finals competitor.

Rodeo entertainer Dustin “The Jester” Jenkins rounds out the entertainment lineup with his fan-favorite comedic flair, while bullfighters Mason Sheldon and Lelo Garcia will be protecting cowboys throughout the competition.

Friday night is Family Night — kids 12 and under get in free with one paid adult ticket. Gates open at 6 p.m. with the performance starting at 7 p.m. Saturday’s performance starts at 2 p.m. and will be followed by an Indian relay race.

Big Bucks ProRodeo said it hopes to make the Pocatello PRCA Rodeo bigger and better every year and will work with Bannock County to improve facilities at the Events Complex to give rodeo-goers the best experience possible.

General admission adult tickets are $25 and kids tickets are $10. Advance tickets are available at bannockcountyprcarodeo.com.

For a city that once hosted one of professional rodeo’s most prestigious events for more than two decades, the return of PRCA rodeo to Pocatello is more than just a weekend of entertainment. It’s a revival of a tradition the Gate City has long called its own.