EVENTS

SHOOT OUT SPORTING CLAY TOURNAMENT

October 1, 2019 // $143,481 Raised

The Rodeo Austin Shoot Out Sporting Clay Tournament was held on October 1st at the Texas Disposal Systems Exotic Game Ranch. Twenty-seven teams of five participated in the tournament, with a course comprised of 50 clay targets over a 5-station course. The tournament was based on a peer-topeer fundraising format that encouraged donations and pledges based on an individual and team basis. After the shoot, participants were invited to attend an awards dinner where prizes were awarded to individuals who raised over $5,000 and teams who raised over $10,000. Other fundraising and sporting prizes were awarded. The top fundraiser won a brandnew camo Kubota RT V500.

BBQ AUCTION & DANCE

November 16, 2019 // $72,780 Raised

BBQ Auction & Dance was held on November 16th and was hosted on the Rodeo Austin property. The event was held in a 16,000 square-foot tent and featured a live and silent auction with two bands! Over 580 guests were in attendance and started their night off with an auction preview and cocktails from the open bar. SLAB BBQ served a buffet-style dinner and the silent auction opened for mobile bidding. A Rodeo Austin scholar shared his experience of being a scholar and the impact it has had on his life. Attendees enjoyed dinner and dancing on the large dance floor as Texas Jamm Band played followed by popular cover band, Suede. The live auction alone raised $48,600. Overall, BBQ Auction & Dance raised over $72,780. It was a wonderful night with friends raising money to grow the next generation of Texas kids.

RODEO AUSTIN GALA

February 8, 2020 // $305,052 Raised

On February 8th, nearly 1,800 guests gathered for the Rodeo Austin Gala & Youth Art Auction. The event featured a live and silent auction with plenty of bidding excitement on items ranging from puppies to luxury vacations and artwork from the Youth Art Show. The Stand Up for Scholars initiative raised $38,000 for deserving young students. Guests also enjoyed a concert performance from Gary Allan with special guest Bri Bagwell. Overall, the Rodeo Austin Gala generated $305,052 toward Rodeo Austin’s mission.

WEEKEND OF FEBRUARY 7-8, 2020&RODEO AUSTIN GALA YOUTH ART AUCTION

YOUTH ART SHOW

February 7, 2020 // $60,000 Raised

Held at the Palmer Events Center on Friday, February 7th, 350 art pieces were submitted to the Youth Art Show in the divisions of Traditional, Photography, Digital, and Sculpture/3D by students all over the state of Texas. These pieces were judged by a panel of esteemed artists in the community. The Youth Art Auction provided the opportunity to support 40 young artists through the live and silent art auctions, raising a combined $60,000. The success of the Youth Art Auction ensured that these students took home 50% more money than last year!

COWBOY BREAKFAST

March 6, 2020 // 25th anniversary

More than 5,000 hungry guests attended the 25th Anniversary of Rodeo Austin’s annual Cowboy Breakfast on March 6th. Cowboy Breakfast kicked off our annual March events on opening day of BBQ Austin and was free to the public. As the sun rose, guests enjoyed an assortment of food items including biscuits and gravy, pancakes, doughnuts, catfish toes, breakfast tacos and pie! Western entertainment included live music, a trick roper, a branding station, two-stepping lessons and a petting zoo. The 25th anniversary of Cowboy Breakfast was also excited to have special guest, BEVO XV!

BBQ AUSTIN

March 6-7, 2020 // $551,495 Raised

BBQ, beer and bands filled BBQ Austin weekend. The event hosted 165 teams and 30,000+ attendees. BBQ Austin again partnered with Texas Pork Producers to provide free samples to the public and had a full fireworks show on Friday evening. In addition to the carnival, petting zoo and pony rides, BBQ Austin added vendors to this year's event. The Jr. Pit Master competition returned and the event added BBQ Austin University and the Agricultural Mechanics Competition.

BBQ Austin Champions

TEXAS STATE

Grand Champion La Grange Champion

TEXAS STATE Reserve Grand Champion

Lone Star BBQ

Society Champion BBQ AUSTIN Grand Champion Burnin’ Money

BBQ AUSTIN Reserve Grand Champion

Double Barrel BBQ

TOTAL TEAMS: 165

BBQ AUSTIN UNIVERSITY

New in 2020, BBQ Austin hosted BBQ Austin University - a master chef cooking class with BBQ Pitmaster Aaron Franklin and friends. Seventy participants were able to select their choice of chicken or beef ribs that they cooked during the class. The sessions covered the basics of lighting your own fire, making your own rubs and marinades, and best wood and meat pairings.

JR. PITMASTER COMPETITION

The Jr. Pitmaster Competition returned in 2020, with 34 participants ranging from 8-17 years old. Saturday morning, participants were given a pork chop and a grill to show off their young master chef skills. They competed for the coveted titles of Grand Champion and Reserve Champion in a senior and junior division.

SR. DIVISON GRAND CHAMPION, Megan Tomko JR. DIVISON GRAND CHAMPION, Logan Woydziak

AG MECHANICS COMPETITION

The inaugural Junior Agricultural Mechanics Contest was held on March 7th with 70 entries. In the spirit of BBQ Austin, five divisions ranging from towable BBQ pits to picnic tables were submitted. Participants worked all year to fine-tune their skills and prepare to exhibit their projects at Rodeo Austin to be awarded over $5,000 in premiums and awards. Unique to Rodeo Austin’s contest, one team member was selected at random to complete a skills test. The selected member competed in a specified skill component of welding or woodworking.

GRAND CHAMPION Zephyr FFA

RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION Glen Rose FFA

CARNIVAL

Rodeo Austin is proud to host Austin's largest carnival in partnership with Texas family-owned and operated, Crabtree Amusements. The carnival opened to patrons in early March at BBQ Austin with one new ride. Other new additions included a guest hospitality area complete with automatic sunscreen dispensers and charging stations and automated Magic Money kiosks that sold wristbands within the carnival area.

Carnival Austin's largest

58 CARNIVAL RIDES

29 CARNIVAL GAMES

COVID-19

Rob Golding, Rodeo Austin CEO, addresses volunteers, staff and vendors.

Strong character determines everything.

SPONSORSHIP

Rodeo Austin is fortunate to have more than 50 corporate partners who believe in the mission of growing the next generation. Rodeo Austin staff works year-round with sponsors to build relationships as well as on and off-site promotions, branded activations at events, and custom sign exposure. On March 12th, all sponsor activations were in place and ready for Rodeo Austin to open. After the cancellation, the Rodeo Austin staff reached out to each sponsor to reconcile each partnership. More than 40% of Rodeo Austin sponsors chose to donate their sponsor contributions to the organization for 2020. Another 32% stayed committed to Rodeo Austin’s mission by rolling over their sponsorship to support the Fair & Rodeo in 2021. Rodeo Austin continues to be extremely thankful to each of these corporate partners for the dedication to banding together.

LIVESTOCK

Thousands of Texas students from across the state worked tirelessly on their show animals for the 2020 season. Unfortunately, due to the impacts of COVID-19, students, parents, teachers, and advisors were devastated to learn they would not have the opportunity to show at Rodeo Austin. Upon notice of the cancellation, the Livestock Department worked to communicate options for entry fee refunds. The 2020 Ultimate Scramble Championship was set to make history with the first-ever, all-girl division. At the time of cancellation, the Ultimate Scramble Committee had raised funds from 100 contributors within the community. Contributors were given the option for a full refund, rollover contribution to 2021, or donate the funds to Rodeo Austin. Seventy-three percent of contributors rolled over to 2021 or donated to Rodeo Austin.

RECORD BREAKING ENTRIES Junior Breeding Heifers – 1411, up 4.68% Junior Market Steers – 1274, up 8.87% Junior Market Lambs – 927, up 6.15% Junior Market Barrows – 1984, up 5.44%

OPERATIONS

The Rodeo Austin operations team is the true definition of grit. The team is comprised of three fulltime staff members, several interns, many volunteers, and a few service vendors. This crew has the tough task of transforming the Travis County Expo Center grounds into Rodeo Austin's Fair & Rodeo in only three weeks. After spending countless hours working to open the gates to the public, the operations team quickly switched gears upon cancellation and began to tear down the Fairgrounds. Despite the Rodeo Austin office shifting to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, the operations team spent the following weeks physically removing equipment and items from the Travis County Expo Center and re-packing the Eddie Ledesma Center for next year's Fair & Rodeo.

TICKETING

After the heart-breaking news of canceling the Fair & Rodeo, the ticketing department, comprised of two full time staff members, executed a refund program that allowed patrons to request a refund, rollover tickets to 2021 or donate the money to Rodeo Austin. This included season tickets, Kick Open the Chutes, Fairgrounds admission tickets, as well as the everpopular Rodeo & Concert tickets. Staff members across all departments helped process approximately $2 million in ticket sales to 65% refunds, 16% rollovers and 9% donations. More than 2,000 man-hours were spent processing these requests and providing customer service for Rodeo Austin ticket buyers, all while working from home.

VENDORS

At the time of cancellation, nearly 100 commercial, food and beverage vendors were set up on the Fairgrounds and ready to open to the public only 40 hours later. The Rodeo Austin Exhibits Department, consisting of one staff member, personally visited with each vendor and provided updates as they happened. Rodeo Austin volunteers jumped into action to help vendors pack their exhibits and move off the Fairgrounds. Rodeo Austin offered vendors the option for a full refund, the ability to roll over their exhibit space fees to 2021 or donate to Rodeo Austin’s general fund. Each vendor expressed their understanding of the situation at hand but remained optimistic for 2021.

STAY HOMEWORK SAFE

RODEO AUSTIN OFFICIALLY BEGAN WORKING REMOTELY MARCH 24, 2020, WHEN CITY AND COUNTY OFFICIALS ISSUED THE STAY HOMEWORK SAFE ORDER IN LIGHT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

After tearing down the grounds of Rodeo Austin 2020, Rodeo Austin continued to monitor local news and recommendations from health officials. Many local governments began issuing the Stay at HomeWork Safe Order around the country. Rodeo Austin quickly began making preparations to work from home by equipping staff with remote access to the server and setting up phone trees to assist with refund processing for tickets, vendors, and livestock entries. Rodeo Austin took full advantage of the new phone technology implemented last year. The phone system is equipped with digital lines that staff can use directly from their laptops or personal cell phones, accommodating video conferencing and chat capabilities to stay in touch and continue working productively from home.