FLORIDA PLACE TO EXPLORE
Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo
DeSoto County · Central Florida
The rodeo Arcadia has held since 1928, run every March at Mosaic Arena with a second show in October.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
The first Arcadia rodeo was held in 1928 to raise money for the local American Legion post's new building, and it began the way these things usually begin: ranch families competing to see whose cowboys could ride and rope. It has been held ever since, which its organizers say makes it the oldest and the largest rodeo in Florida. The main show runs in March, with a second event in the fall, in October, at Mosaic Arena in Arcadia. The program covers the standard professional events on both sides of the sport. The timed events are barrel racing, steer wrestling and team roping. The roughstock events are bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. Around them run mutton bustin' for small children, trick riding and dancing horses. The setting is not incidental. Cattle ranching in Florida is older than ranching in Texas by a long way, and Florida still turns out more than 800,000 calves a year, with DeSoto County among the counties that do it. Money raised by the rodeo goes to seventeen local nonprofit organizations. Tickets go quickly in March, and the town fills up for the weekend
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