The Very First Lakeside Rodeo
The first rodeo arena in Lakeside was made of parked cars. Drivers arranged their automobiles in a ring, and the bucking broncs went round and round inside the fence of bumpers.
That was July 5, 1920, when local resident Bill Kuhner organized the town's first rodeo on Emil Klicka's land just south of Lindo Lake. For years the arenas were temporary. Once the question of who owned Lindo Lake was settled, the rodeo came back in 1933, with bleachers salvaged from the old car-racing days. A local blacksmith, Tom LaMadrid, is credited with steering the event through its early years.
The version people attend today starts in the mid-1960s. A group of parents formed the El Capitan Stadium Association to raise money for athletic facilities at El Capitan High School, and held their first rodeo in the spring of 1964. They incorporated as a nonprofit in 1966. In December 1969, Marion Carlson donated 8 acres of land, and that gift is where the rodeo grounds sit now.
How many places can say a high school stadium was paid for by bucking horses?
San Diego Uncovered | October 11, 2026
Comments