An estimated 40,000-plus tickets across five rodeos sold out soon after they went on sale in April, and a full 8,400-seat stadium is expected throughout the Pioneer Day event, which began Saturday and runs from yesterday through Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Spanish Fork Fairgrounds.

Anyone who didn’t pencil ticket purchasing into their spring schedule is left searching for scraps, monitoring the secondary market and hitting up neighbors for extras.

“They’re really hot commodities,” Spanish Fork spokesperson Jack Urquhart said. “Our residents sell it out really fast. … We’ve got people who come to us and say, ‘What’s the secret to getting tickets?’ Because they try, and they’re just really hard to get.”

The event’s popularity prompted the addition of a fifth full rodeo night this year, up from four rodeos and one extreme bull-riding competition last year.

While a Pro Rodeo Circuit Association event featuring the top cowboys in the United States is alluring, the community’s desire to celebrate its roots is what seems to keep people coming back.

“I feel like a lot of people notice that the city gets bigger and grows, and they have concerns and worries about that,” Urquhart said. “But Fiesta Days to them is something that feels familiar. We talk a lot as a city about things we can do to feel small, even though we’re big, and I think the familiarity of Fiesta Days, the locations and being with your family and enjoying events that we’ve been doing for a long time helps people to feel that way.

“And as we grow, we get new people who want to entrench themselves into the community and to who we are and help us continue to preserve heritage and also to make progress.”

For those without rodeo tickets, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy Fiesta Days.

A carnival, craft fair and “Food in the Park” will occur today, Wednesday, Thursday, and “Spanish Fork’s Got Talent” is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night.

Pioneer Day on Thursday will begin with the Speedy Spaniard River Trail 10K at 6:30 a.m., and will end with a fireworks concert and show from 8-10 p.m.

In between is the self-proclaimed largest Pioneer Parade in Utah County at 9 a.m. Thursday morning, and the 20th-annual “Adopt-A-Duck Race” will be held at 2 p.m., where people can buy a duck for $7 and race it down the Spanish Fork River. All proceeds go to the Spanish Fork Firefighters Association.

Additionally, a “Shrek the Musical” showing will take place at the community theater at 2 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.

“We’re busy all day with activities for people to do. So it’s exciting,” Urquhart said. “It’s a busy, awesome week for the city. There’s so much going on Main Street, and you come on Thursday, and there’s stuff to do for everyone all day.”

The rodeo, though, is the headline event of the week and arguably best encapsulates a portion of the city’s heritage. The agricultural community that was founded in 1855 began hosting an annual Utah County Livestock Show a century ago in 1925. The event has since evolved into the Utah Junior Livestock Show.

“I was looking at an old logo of Spanish Fork, and it refers to being the livestock capital of Utah County, going back like 100 years,” Urquhart said. “We’ve got that rodeo and livestock tradition.”

That is embraced by the attendees, the majority of whom are current residents or people who grew up in Spanish Fork and return home.

“I think if you ask people in Spanish Fork what the heritage is of Spanish Fork, I think you’d get a lot of different answers,” Urquhart said. “But we try to remember the pioneers. We try to remember veterans. We try to remember simpler times in the city. We stay true to our roots of the rodeo.”