If you're going to bring a rodeo to Arizona, apparently you might as well go big or go home. Because this one includes a million-dollar rodeo purse and six major country artists, all inside a Major League Baseball stadium.
At least, that's how the first-ever Hondo Rodeo Fest first rode into downtown Phoenix in 2024. And each year following, it’s filed Chase Field with cowboys, country music and more than 60,000 fans.
It’s a newer event that landed only in Arizona. And before there were stadium crowds and million-dollar prizes, the idea started somewhere much smaller: with a kid who thought he might someday be the one competing in the arena.
“Early on in my pursuit of competitive rodeo, I truly thought I would eventually make it to the top,” says Hondo Rodeo Fest CEO James Trawick. “It didn’t take long to realize I just didn’t have what it took, so I stepped out of rodeo and into the film industry.”
Life had other plans, but certainly wasn't finished with the cowboy part.
Trawick spent more than 15 years in the film industry, starting with a small television show in the hunting and outdoor space. One opportunity led to another, eventually putting him right back in the orbit of the sport he'd left behind.
“My time in the film industry spanned just over 15 years, and those opportunities are what brought me back to my love of rodeo,” he says.
This time, his place in the arena would look a little different.
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Not Your Neighborhood Rodeo
Hondo Rodeo Fest made its debut in Phoenix with a fairly ambitious proposition: Take elite rodeo competition, put up a $1 million purse and pair it with the kind of musical lineup that could fill a stadium all on its own.
For Trawick, though, Hondo was less about making the rodeo bigger. Instead, he wanted introduce more people to the community that had kept pulling him back to the sport.
“The relationships you build in this sport become an extension of your family,” Trawick says. “Our theory when we started this business was rooted in taking that same sense of community to the masses.”
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Now returning Nov. 13–15 for its third year in Phoenix, Hondo has grown into an all-day celebration of Western culture. A free Street Fest starts at noon outside Chase Field with food, vendors, live music and family activities. Then it's time to head inside, where top rodeo athletes and stock compete across eight events for that headline-making $1 million purse.
And once the dust settles—quite literally—the concerts begin.
Tim McGraw and Miranda Lambert headline Friday; Blake Shelton and Turnpike Troubadours take over Saturday; and Parker McCollum and Lynyrd Skynyrd close things out Sunday.
But amid the big names, Trawick hopes first-timers leave with something a little less tangible.
“For anyone attending our show for the very first time, I hope they feel welcome,” he says. “I hope that they get a sense of what I love about this sport and the community behind it.”
That hope is evident through Hondo's nonprofit initiative, the 1017 Project, which provides protein to food banks, after-school programs and veteran organizations. Trawick says the organization has already provided nearly 800,000 pounds of beef to families in need.
“That’s what the cowboy spirit is all about,” he says. “Stepping up, taking care of your neighbors and using what you have to serve others.”
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From Arizona to the World
Three years after Hondo first saddled up in Phoenix, it's preparing to ride considerably farther, as in heading to new states.
The festival is expanding to include Tampa and New Orleans, and Trawick says the organization is now fielding inquiries from stadiums around the world.
“We have some lofty goals, and so far we are making rapid progress toward accomplishing them,” he says.
Part of that ambition is creating larger stages and purses for rodeo athletes while introducing the sport to people who may have never considered spending their weekend ringside. But for all the talk of growth, Trawick's ultimate goal comes back to something decidedly more personal.
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“I hope this event becomes an annual mainstay for families in each market we produce a show,” he says. “I hope this becomes a multi-generational experience that families enjoy year after year.”
For someone who once envisioned his future in rodeo, perhaps things haven't ended up quite so differently after all. Trawick may not be the one chasing a championship inside the arena, but the sport he once hoped to make his life is now at the center of something much bigger.
Learn more about the event at thehondorodeofest.com. To plan your trip, head to visitphoenix.com.