RELEASE DATE: Apr. 27, 2026

Guymon making arena upgrades

GUYMON, Okla. – At first glance, the changes to Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena are miniscule.

A tweak here. An adjustment there.

The work it took to make those changes was grand. Volunteers have been busy getting the complex ready for this year’s Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo, set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

“I think one of the biggest upgrades we’ve done is at the timed-event end,” said Ken Stonecipher, chairman of the volunteer committee that produces the annual event. “We have an awful lot of timed-event slack, which is one of the hallmarks of our rodeo. If we can take some of the work that goes into sorting timed-event cattle, it’s going to be smoother in the long run.”

Priefert Rough Stock gates – which are the most durable gates available from the company – have been installed to help move cattle from one pen to another. They will be matched with new arrow pens, which will make for easier sorting.

“From a livestock perspective, the less you handle those cattle, the better they’re going to be in terms of being even for the competition,” he said. “That’s another reason why we’re excited to have those Rough Stock gates and arrow pens in place.”

With more than 1,000 cowboys and cowgirls making their way to the Oklahoma Panhandle annually, the arrow pens will not only help volunteers and Oklahoma Panhandle State University rodeo members who sort cattle, but it will make the entire operation run more smoothly. That’s a common theme for recent work that’s been done at the arena.

“We poured concrete just under the pens themselves,” Stonecipher said. “Daniel Marquez and Sharp Construction donated the labor to pour that.

“We also have a new set of Priefert adjustable roping boxes. We won’t adjust them for the rodeo, but when the arena is used for team ropings or other event during the year, it’ll allow the organizers to adjust the depth of the box. City Manager Mike Shannon has been a big help with that. The city owns the arena, and it’s been a great partnership with the city.

“Mike’s leadership has guided them to provide some of that stuff, so we’re excited about that upgrade. We’re going to make the boxes a little narrower, so it’ll be a little easier for the ropers to be in the right position. It’ll also be a little easier to set up barriers and other things like that. The old boxes were solid pipe, and we tore all that out. We didn’t take out any of the full-height posts, so we still fit under the grid the way it was laid out. We did have to move a light post, which Tri County Electric and Sims Electric have helped relocate.”

In order for The Cowboy Channel broadcast to have the best view of the rodeo, the committee has also built extensions on the camera platform. Along the way, there have been other steps taken to ensure the 94^th edition of the rodeo meets the standard of Oklahoma’s only ProRodeo Hall of Fame event.

“We upgraded the lights to LED last year, and we’ve got some more of those ordered that will just even out the coverage of the arena,” Stonecipher said. “We’ve also got a long-term plan to put up some taller light poles around the arena to get more overhead light versus shooting across the arena.

“We have a very big vision for Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo.”

Where Champions Come to Play the First Weekend in May

For information contact Ted Harbin, imteditor@gmail.com, (660) 254-1900