The dreams of bringing back the Fiesta Stock Horse Show and Rodeo for this year are officially dead. 

The Old Spanish Days Board of Directors announced on Monday that the rodeo was officially not happening this year due to financial constraints and an inability to work out a deal with Earl Warren Showgrounds.

They first announced the end of the event in early April, but had hoped to keep the annual event alive, even in another form.

Old Spanish Days El Presidente Fritz Olenberger explained that Earl Warren proposed having “some kind of rodeo” ran by an independent producer, not Old Spanish Days. The proposal had Old Spanish Days as an event sponsor that would provide volunteer assistance but Earl Warren Showgrounds would make all the profit from the event. 

“From the perspective of Old Spanish Days, there would be no financial risk, but there would also be no financial profit,” Olenberger said Monday. 

The event would have been a professional rodeo with no local horse show or local rodeo participation, Olenberger said. The Old Spanish Days Board of Directors considered the proposal and deemed it unacceptable. 

“Our people just flat out don’t want to work with some of those folks under their terms,” said Fiesta Rodeo Committee Chair Josiah Jenkins. “We’re going to do it our way, our program, with our people, and they did not want to partner with the Showgrounds.”

Ben Sprague, chief executive officer for Earl Warren Showgrounds, said they respected Old Spanish Day’s decision to not move forward with their collaboration and were sad that event would not continue.

“We were surprised and deeply saddened to learn earlier this month that the Fiesta Stock Horse Show & Rodeo made the decision not to continue this year,” Sprague said. “Since then, we’ve been diligently working with Old Spanish Days to find a solution to produce the event.”

He added that the showgrounds will continue exploring ways to host a rodeo event in the future.

“The Showgrounds was fully prepared to keep the rodeo tradition alive this year and presented a thoughtful, collaborative proposal to make it possible,” Sprague said. “While OSD has chosen not to move forward, we respect their decision and share their hope that the spirit of community, heritage, and horsemanship will continue to thrive.”

Jenkins said they’ve always had issues with the economics of running the rodeo and they just couldn’t make it work this year, even after considering raising ticket prices and entry fees.

“Last year, we had three sellout performances, can’t complain of that, but we had no bottom line,” Jenkins said. “You can’t continue an event or reinvest in yourself without having a little bit left over each year.”

The rodeo and horse show have historically been substantial draws for the five-day Old Spanish Days community festival.

On April 1 Old Spanish Days announced that the annual event was coming to an end this year. However, on April 7, Olenberger told Noozhawk that he formed a committee that was focused on making a rodeo happen this year.

“I’m not one to give up easily, and I really wanted a rodeo,” Olenberger said on Monday. 

Jenkins said he’s working on ideas for next year to have some kind of event for young cowgirls and cowboys. 

“It does not look like something will happen this year but come back in 2026 we’ll definitely have something up our sleeve, I’m 110% positive,” Jenkins said. 

The next Fiesta event will be La Primavera on May 17, when the official poster and pin for Fiesta 2025 will be revealed. 

Old Spanish Days Fiesta is set to take place from July 30 to Aug. 3.