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March is just around the corner and that means three things to my friends and me. Spring Break, March Madness, and the Houston Rodeo. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo takes place throughout the month of March and dominates most of my friends’ social calendar. For those not from Houston, the Houston rodeo is one of the largest entertainment and livestock exhibitions in the world. It has a carnival and nightly concerts featuring popular country singers as well as some pop singers. If thats not enough, the people who put on the rodeo insist on selling cheap concert tickets so everyone can afford to enjoy the Rodeo festivities. For comparison’s sake, I went to the carnival and Blake Shelton concert for $18.
My first time at the rodeo was when my mom took my siblings and me nearly 18 years ago. She dressed us up in boots, jeans, flannels, and cowboy hats and we had the best time. She took us to the rodeo every year and insisted on going to see her favorite country singers in concert, but we hated the loud noise. As we grew older and began appreciating the music, we began going more than just once a year and now attend the rodeo almost three times a week during “rodeo month”.
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Like I said before, my friends and I went to listen to Blake Shelton last year and loved every second of it. He not only plays great music, but he engages the crowd and puts on a great show. He joked about his work on The Voice, and just seemed like an all around great guy. I’m so glad we got to see him live because it really gave me a new perspective on celebrities. I had previously considered him just another good country singer, but his performance really made me respect him as a person and now I listen to more of his music.
I left out one important aspect of the Houston rodeo: the food. Everything is deliciously fried, battered and topped with powdered sugar or chocolate (or both). I tried my first fried oreo, fried ice cream, fried cookie dough, fried coke, and fried snickers at the rodeo and now frequently fry my own candies at home, despite my doctor’s warnings. Every trip to the rodeo leaves me feeling gross and yet oddly satisfied with my dietary choices.
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The Houston rodeo is the best month of the year and we are all lucky to go to school so close to Houston. As soon as Spring Break comes, you can bet that my friends and I will drive back to Houston, ready to rodeo (yes, it is a verb too). We’ll cheer on the random cowboys we have never heard of, pay way too much money to go on somewhat unsatisfactory rides, eat gross amounts of fried foods, listen to excellent music, and have an overall great time. I love rodeo season.
I loved this post! I haven’t been to the Houston Rodeo yet but I hope to maybe this year! I grew up going to the rodeo in San Antonio, and when I think of some of my best times in high school, most of them took place during rodeo season. I feel like people who aren’t familiar with rodeo life are really missing out, because it brings together a mass of people who all share a similar liking for country music, animals, and carnival food. Last weekend I went and tried something called a beef sundae… I wouldn’t recommend it but it was pretty funny. I am going to the rodeo again this saturday night with all of my high school friends like old times, and I cannot wait to be there and do all the crazy things we used to do. The rodeo truly is my favorite time of the year and I will continue to go for the rest of my life.
I really enjoyed reading your post! I also really look forward to rodeo season. Usually around the first week of January I start stalking the different webpages and twitter sites of the different rodeos in Texas to see when they will be and which performers they’re bringing. I’ve never been to the Houston Rodeo but I have heard that it’s really great. I’ve been to the San Antonio one once, and being from Austin, I go to the Austin Rodeo every year. I try really hard not to miss it! I enjoy going because there’s always things to see and do! Although, I love going to see the artists perform (sometimes the main reason I attend), I do love seeing the mutton bustin’! The kids are super adorable! I’m planning on seeing Josh Turner this year at the Austin Rodeo and hopefully I’ll be able to go to the Houston with some friends!
Wow, I wish I had grown up with the rodeo. Being from California the only rodeo I have seen was “Bulls on the Beach” on Huntington Beach. It has been a dream of mine to attend a Texas Rodeo and the Houston Rodeo seems like the perfect fit. The line up looks so good this year! In California we have the Del Mar Fair with all the delicious fried food but lacked in the country aspect! Hopefully I can make it this year. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Great post Kevin, reading it made me want to go to the rodeo as soon as possible. Rodeo season is such a great time of the year, I think it is interesting to see how different the rodeo is in each Texas city. Each location has their unique traditions and charm, but in the end they are all about bulls, beer and some good fried food. The Houston rodeo is a spectacle itself, it’s so much bigger than any other rodeo I have ever been to. Glad to hear Blake was a good performer, he really looks like he could get a crowd going.
I loved reading your post! The Rodeo is truly the best time of year in Houston. There was actually one year I went to 10 concerts!! I don’t even know how/why my parents let me spend so much money. Anyways, this year is the first time I will actually be working at the Rodeo! I will be working in the television department filming cows and pigs all day. But the plus side is that I get free concert tickets so that’s exciting! This year I’m going to try going without eating so much fried food because it really does leave you feeling gross, but knowing myself I probably wont be able to resist the fried cookie dough, that one is my absolute favorite.