Things to Do in Mesquite, Texas

The Mesquite Championship Rodeo is the town's signature — a Saturday-night rodeo at the Mesquite Arena that's entertained families for more than 60 years with saddle bronc riding, bull riding, barrel racing, and team roping. It runs every Saturday from June through August.

It's a genuine, long-running professional rodeo, not a tourist gimmick, and it's the reason Mesquite calls itself the rodeo capital of the Dallas area. A summer Saturday night there is the classic Mesquite outing.

For a different kind of Saturday night, Devil's Bowl Speedway is a half-mile dirt track hailed as the Southwest's most famous, running sprint car and other racing from March through October.

The roar of the cars and the dirt-track atmosphere make it a distinctly Texas night out, and between the rodeo and the speedway, Mesquite has two of the more authentic old-school entertainment traditions in the metro.

On the cultural side, the Mesquite Arts Center showcases local artists with exhibitions, theater productions, and live music, including free outdoor concerts on summer evenings. And Historic Downtown Mesquite offers shopping and, from April through November, the Downtown Farmers Market at Front Street Station.

Between the arts center and the downtown, Mesquite balances its rodeo-and-racing side with a quieter cultural one.

Mesquite sits right against Dallas, so the full range of the city's museums, pro sports, and attractions is a short drive west, and Lake Ray Hubbard's shoreline recreation is close to the northeast.

But the rodeo, the speedway, and the downtown give Mesquite its own distinct character — a working Texas town on the edge of the big city.