Alex Lopez has rodeo and ranching in his blood. He comes from a long line of Mexican cowboys and grew up on ranches, but lost that connection to cowboy culture when he moved to the U.S. Now, he’s reconnecting to his roots as the director of El Reno Rodeo, the new in-house, Spanish-language media arm of the Reno Rodeo.
“This is the first time that any rodeo in the U.S. has ever done something like this where it has translated everything into Spanish,” Lopez said.
American rodeos grew out of Mexican ranch hand contests known as charreadas. Lopez said part of his job is explaining the differences for a Spanish-speaking audience. He does that by leading the rodeo’s daily, Spanish-language Facebook Live show about events on the rodeo grounds. He also runs the El Reno Rodeo Facebook page. Lopez added that the goal of the new initiative is to increase engagement with Reno’s Latino community.
Jose Davila IV is a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project.
