"Fair park lassos roping event


The executive committee of the United States Team Roping Championship recently announced it will continue to have its event at State Fair Park through 2009.
The event has been at State Fair Park since 1994 and brought about 90,000 spectators to Oklahoma City last year, with an estimated economic impact of more than $25 million.

The decision comes after voters overwhelmingly agreed in December to increase the city's hotel tax to pay for improvements to the horse barns at State Fair Park. The increase passed with 89 percent of the vote.

Mayor Mick Cornett said in a written statement, "Back in December, we asked our citizens to invest in the future of the equine industry. The fact that the USTRC will remain at State Fair Park for the next five years is a credit to the commitment that the voters made."