This page contains just a glimpse of the brand new Lamar-Dixon Expo Center that is in Gonzales, Louisiana.  The first phase is operational now and it is oh so grand!  I knew it was going to be awesome, but I did not expect to leave there excited like a little kid.  It is going to be fun to have our shows there.  I'd like to say that the management is also very friendly and willing to work with us.  I can see we're going to have a long-lasting, great relationship with them as we hold shows there for years to come.

Our 2001 shows in this arena are scheduled for August 4th and October 27th.  The August show is a two judge show and the October show is our P-O-R & Fall Futurity show.  We look forward to seeing all of you there!

All the pictures on this page are clickable links.  When used, a larger version of the thumbnails will pop open in a new window.

The Expo Center has everything we could ever need and it's just 1 mile off of I-10!  There's also a host of hotels within 2 miles, including Best Western, Comfort Inn, Days Inn, Holiday Inn, Quality Inn, Budget Inn and I'm rather certain that I'm forgetting some others.  I've also noticed that a Holiday Inn Express will be going up just under a mile from the Expo Center.

Also within a couple of miles are numerous restaurants.  While it's too many to list, the ones I remember off-hand are Cracker Barrel, Captain Anderson's, Shoney's, Popeyes, Churches, The Golden Budda (Chinese), Cactus Cafe (Mexican), Waffle House, Wendy's, Burger King, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Jack-in-the-box (open 24 hours), and Subway, etc.  There's even a Smoothie King for healthy treats, and The Coffee House which specializes in authentic New Orleans French Market Beignets.

Only a mile away is a Tanger Outlet Mall, which offers some great shopping at bargain prices.  You can click here to see a list of the 68 stores Tanger offers here.   Just over a mile away is the Cajun Circus Truck Stop, which has diesel and a good 24-hour buffet.  Within the same mile and a half there's also a few other service stations that sell diesel.  If there's a medical emergency there's a fully-staffed hospital less that two miles away.  (Directions from the Expo Center: Go back to LA 30....turn right....pass under the Interstate....Go ¾ of a mile....St. Elizabeth's Hospital will be on your right.  The address is 1125 W. Highway 30 and the phone number is 647-6363.)

I know sometimes at shows there's a need for a western store.  There's one, Boots Etc., that specializes in apparel and boots, that's only one mile away.  There's also Sac's Western Store, about five minutes away at 125 S. Burnside Ave., that has most anything that is needed.  They offer a full line of apparel, boots, tack, feed, and supplies.  There's also a few other feed stores within reasonable driving distance, where you can find all of the more popular brands of feed.

Now for the facilities. (Please note that these pictures were taken months ago during construction.)

The first two pictures are of the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center from St. Landry street.  Eventually there will be a coliseum between the arena's that are pictured and the street.  On the right end of the picture is Arena D, which is currently the main arena.   (The business office is located on that end of the arena, to the back side.)   Arena D is 250' by 400' and over 3000 permanent seats.  It has bucking chutes and a roping box.  It is pictured on the left.  There's also a large, elegant banquet room (50' by 250') in the building that is climate controlled.  It is situated above a row of vendor's rooms and it's over-looking the main arena.   A picture of it from outside and below can be seen on the right.

We will be using Arena B which is on the opposite end of the main facility from Arena D and the Banquet Room.  It's a bit smaller, but it's also plenty big enough for our purposes at 200' by 330'.  It has over 1500 permanent seats and a roping box.  There's a 200' by 225' covered cattle holding area between the two indoor arenas...which will be very convenient for cattle classes.  The full concession stand is next to Arena B, too.  Here's a group of pictures that show Arena B and the covered make up area.

Pictured here is the concessions area that is attached next to Arena B.   It's basically the central location of the complex and very convenient to Arena B.  This picture was taken from under one of the barns.  Note the size of the Coca-Cola semi truck.  This place is huge and it dwarf's that truck!

I took the picture at right to show the relation of the barns to Arena B.  They are very close.  Something else I'd like to point out about this facility is that there's no worry of ever having to deal with walking your horse through the mud.  Everywhere your horse needs to go is solid surfaced, with the exception, of course, of the arenas and stalls. Also conveniently located to the ring is an outdoor arena.

The barns are very nice, too.  Here's a group of pictures that show a couple, including the countless washracks.  The barns have nice, safe stalls and there's 960 of them so we're sure never to run out and get stuck using temporary stalls.  We all know what a nightmare that can be!  Every other barn has restrooms and a veterinary stock, and they all have numerous electrical outlets right by the stalls.

There's plenty of RV hook-ups, too, including 300 full hook-ups.  Below is a group of pictures that shows just some of the RV facilities, including a couple bathhouses.  In the last picture you can also see part of the hay/shavings storage building and the facilities maintenance building.  I thought that would help you comprehend the large scale of this facility.

I'd like to add that the roadways are in excellent condition.  If it's been awhile since you've been in the area you'll be happy to know that the road's you'll be traveling on have recently been improved 100%.

The Lamar-Dixon Expo Center is a fine facility.  There's many other attractions including a YMCA, 4-H facilities, and a Forestry building.  This place is so advanced there's even a full-sized water tower on site!  They didn't miss a thing when designing this top-notch facility!  I do believe we're going to have a good time at our shows there!