Silver State Stampede – June 19-21, 2026 – Elko County Fairgrounds
June 15th, 2026
In 1912, G.S. Garcia rode out to a wide open field on the outskirts of Elko and decided it would make a fine place for a rodeo. There was no arena, no grandstands, no infrastructure of any kind — just open ground and an idea. Garcia put up prize money and sent word to the ranchers: bring your wildest bucking horses. He offered top money and prizes to any cowboy who could ride them. The first Elko Rodeo was born.
The winner of the best bronc ride took home a Garcia trophy saddle. The rodeo committee was made up of nearly sixty community volunteers. It has been run by volunteers ever since with the backing of locally owned businesses.
By 1915, the fourth annual Elko Rodeo had grown into something bigger. Held over Labor Day weekend in conjunction with the first-ever Elko County Fair, the celebration stretched across two days and included a wild west show, horse racing, Indian pony races, car races, trick riders, and the usual rodeo events. It was less a rodeo than an entire world — the kind of gathering that marked the calendar for everyone in the county.
The rodeo continued to grow through the 1920s. Then, in 1929, it stopped. For six years there was no Elko Rodeo — the Depression had made it impossible for Garcia to produce the event on his own. He died in 1933, before he could see it return. Three years later, his son Les Garcia brought the rodeo back.
In 1948 the rodeo entered a new era, transitioning to professional rodeo and taking on the name it carries today: the Silver State Stampede. Over the decades that followed, the prizes changed, the event changed hands more than once, and the production grew. But the tradition held. The Stampede remained a fixture in Elko — the kind of event a town keeps going not because it has to, but because it can’t imagine not.
The Garcia family eventually relocated to Salinas, California. In time, J.M. Capriola’s acquired the Garcia line — the bits, the spurs, the craft — and with it, a place in this story. Today, Capriola’s provides a set of handmade Garcia spurs to each Silver State Stampede event champion, continuing a tradition of honoring the rodeo with something made by hand on Commercial Street. As far as anyone knows, it is the only PRCA rodeo in the country to do so.
The Stampede has grown into one of the top 60 paying PRCA rodeos in the country with $128,000 in added money across the events and a place in the NFR Playoff Series. Cowboys route through Elko deliberately now. The stock is serious, the competition is real, and the bareback riding champion receives not only Garcia spurs but a spot on the Trenten Montero Memorial bronze — a custom sculpture honoring the late Winnemucca cowboy who sustained fatal injuries in competition in 2023. The bronze lives at the Cowboy Arts and Gear Museum, just next door to Capriola’s on Commercial Street.
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The Stampede runs June 19–21 at the Elko County Fairgrounds, with Thursday slack on the 18th. If you’re headed to Elko for the weekend, swing by the shop. We’ve got summer gear worth having — hats, apparel, jewelry, latigo reins and tack made in-house.
