Arizona Rodeo debuts new specialty license plate

Dave Alford has been around rodeo nearly his entire life. Now 68 years old, Alford, the general manager of Rodeo Scottsdale, was instrumental in the creation of the Arizona Rodeo specialty license plate.

While Alford expects many rodeo fans to get the specialty plate, he expects many might order more than one Arizona Rodeo plate.

“From fans to contestants, there are many people that will get this plate and they’ll all be helping a good cause,” he said. “And rodeo people haul a lot of things. I’ve already heard from people who say they’re going to put the rodeo plate on their trailers.”

The Arizona Rodeo specialty plate, which became available in December 2021, costs $25 upon initial application and $17 from each plate goes to promote, educate and preserve the history of rodeo in Arizona. And there’s a lot of rodeo history in Arizona. Alford pointed out that the two oldest rodeos in the world -- Payson’s World’s Oldest Continuous Rodeo and Prescott’s World’s Oldest Rodeo -- are in Arizona, and rodeos in Scottsdale, Tucson and Yuma have occurred for nearly a combined 250 years.

“There’s a lot of history of rodeo in Arizona and we wanted to put it on a license plate and share it,” said Dave Alford, general manager of Rodeo Scottsdale. “From fans to contestants, there are many people that will get this plate and they’ll all be helping a good cause.”

To view and order any specialty plate, visit azmvdnow.gov. Most specialty plates cost $25 upon initial application, of which $17 goes to a designated charitable organization. Personalization can be added for an additional $25 per year.

Specialty plates are authorized by the Arizona legislature and have been offered since 1989. Authorized plate designs complete a review by ADOT and law enforcement. In all, there are more than 80 license plate options for Arizona motorists.