BILLINGS - New bleachers will be installed in a few weeks at the new rodeo arena at MetraPark, officials said Wednesday.
While the area doesn’t look like more than mud and dirt, the park’s general manager, Stoney Field, says it will undergo a transformation when crews assemble the 50-foot-tall structure.
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“We're probably, I would bet, somewhere in the two-to-three-week range before we actually start putting seats on, but it'll look completely different here in about two weeks,” Field said.
The arena will give Rodeo Billings room for events that require more space, such as horse shows.
Field is looking forward to the opportunities the arena will provide this year and in the future.
“It's going to be a spectacular situation that we all look forward to for years to come. That's why we've all committed long term to making a great facility here to bring people in,” he said.
Construction is set to finish on Aug. 1.
The arena will have the capacity to seat 3,200 people once completed and will host its first event from Aug. 14 to 16 during MontanaFair. The event will be called Rodeo Billings and is sponsored by MontanaFair and the NILE, which has hosted a long-running Billings rodeo in the fall for decades.