Remembering Reno - The Rodeo Finals That Never Happened

Brian Rogers takes visitors on journey back to 1988, when local homophobic county officials canceled the IGRA Finals Rodeo weeks before it was scheduled to start.  

Follow as IGRA is turned away and several alternate locations. Contemporary newspaper coverage, photographs and eyewitness accounts allow us to follow the legal maneuvering as IGRA fights the cancellation to the Nevada Supreme Court.  

Learn what happened in the final act of this saga, from eyewitness accounts about IGRA’s hateful treatment by townsfolk, culminating in its dramatic eviction at gunpoint from a private ranch rented at the last minute to hold the association’s 1988 rodeo season finals rodeo. The video presentation will be followed by open discussion. 

Remembering Reno - The Rodeo Finals That Never Happened is organized by Roger Bergmann as part of the 2026 Circa: Queer Histories Festival, presented by One Institute.