Registration open for Lordsburg’s Jessie Darnell 3-on-3 tournament

Teams still have until June 28 to sign up for Lordsburg’s Jessie Darnell 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, a July 10-12 event that has become one of the biggest summer draws in Hidalgo County. The Lordsburg-Hidalgo Chamber of Commerce places the tournament on the second weekend in July and says it remains a beloved local event tied to suicide-prevention awareness in honor of the late Jessie Darnell.

The tournament turns Lordsburg into a busy weekend destination for players, coaches and families from across the region. Recent editions have filled Lordsburg High School Gymnasium, where the 16th annual tournament in 2025 drew 141 teams to the small southwestern New Mexico town. The year before, the 15th annual event brought in 137 teams and produced 389 total games over three days, a pace that shows how quickly the brackets move from early Friday games through Sunday finishes.

That kind of turnout has made Jessie Darnell 3-on-3 a fixture on the local summer calendar, not just a basketball stop. The Chamber’s 2026 events list puts the tournament alongside Railroad Days on June 13, the Rodeo’s 4th of July Celebration and Parade with fireworks on July 4, and the Hidalgo County Fair in August, giving Lordsburg a tight run of community events that keeps attention on the town well into midsummer.

For Hidalgo County, the tournament carries both a recreational and memorial purpose. The Chamber says the event raises awareness for suicide prevention while honoring Jessie Darnell, folding a large-scale competition into a message that reaches far beyond the court. With registrations still open ahead of the June 28 deadline, the tournament is poised to bring another full slate of teams back to Lordsburg and add another crowded weekend to the county’s summer season.