Properties Vol 4 2015 - Rodeo

John DeMers is the author of 52 published books and the host of the Delicious Mischief radio show, heard weekly in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

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Every year except one since 1932, for

According to Hancock, the 2016 edition

twenty nonstop days and nights, otherwise

of “Rodeo Houston” will award $2 million

responsible Houstonians throw various

in prize money for all the agriculture,

cautions to the wind, don outfits they wear

roping and riding competitions, making

at no other time and pay good money for an

the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

extravagant event staffed primarily by more

one of the richest rodeos on earth. Yet,

than 32,000 unpaid volunteers.

an even bigger result will be $25 million in

scholarships, grants and other financial aid

It’s all for an excellent cause – some

would say the best cause: helping the young

to Texas teenagers, including some who are

people of Texas find their way into a more

destined to become the first members of

promising future. Fascinatingly, for all but

their families to go to college.

the five percent still living and working on

farms and ranches, this future tends to be

monochromatic – a chance for Houston city

reached by way of the half-remembered

folk to indulge in a combination of fantasy

past.

and memory of the Wild West – but today

the actual event is anything but. It is indeed

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

The rodeo’s origins may be somewhat

is upon us, once again. “I benefited as

a nationally important livestock show

a youth who grew up showing livestock

mixed with a nationally important rodeo.

in Wyoming and Colorado,” offers Joel

Yet, it has with dozens of other unique

Cowley, president and CEO of HLSR. “I lost

components, such as 20 nights of top-name

both parents

entertainment,

at a young age

a vast array of

and went to live with my grandparents on a fixed income.

I understand the value of the scholarships and other programs we offer because programs like

“What we do out here has tremendous, tremendous impact.”

this helped

by John DeMers

retail offerings with a decidedly Western flair, a carnival with rides and classic American midway food, a popular barbecue championship and a series of surprising events

me. What we do out here has tremendous,

showcasing the finest in world cuisine and

tremendous impact.”

wine. People who think they know what a

rodeo is are in for some surprises if they

Joe Bruce Hancock still sees the rodeo

less from his current position as general

encounter Houston’s version without some

manager and more from his 25 years as

kind of warning.

a volunteer in the vast committee system

that keeps the moving parts, well, moving.

executive director of the exhibits and

To Hancock, there have been few things in

attractions division, “and buy anything from

life more satisfying. “As you’re doing your

a purse and earrings, to a mattress, to a

volunteer work on the grounds and you

hot tub. You can spend a lot of time going

see the effect this is all having on kids and

through all the shops, shops that you’ll

the public and you know the result is kids

never see all in one place except here. You

going to college who wouldn’t have had

might see things here that you’ve never seen

that opportunity, it’s a neat feeling. We are

before. Our vendors are always looking for

blessed to have a mission that affects a

new products to keep it exciting.”

whole lot of people.”

“You could come here,” says Julie Bass,

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo March 1 - 20, 2016

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No one can say for sure whether today’s

after the seven businessmen

multi-day, multi-experience, multi-media

met, taking over the old Sam

Rodeo Houston was exactly what the seven

Houston Hall downtown that

local business leaders had in mind when

had hosted the Democratic

they met for lunch at the Texas State Hotel

National Convention four years

in January 1931. Their goals at the time

earlier. The hall, its boosters

involved cattle and the complex economic

said, would make a terrific

situation that needed more than a nudge

central location for a city in

from behind – a swift kick was more like it.

which most people did not own

After all, there were 2+ million cattle living in

a car. The location was near

the 16-county area that made up what we’d

the Houston Farmers Market,

now call Greater Houston, but there were

where it enjoyed easy access

only 400,000 people.

from the streetcar lines that

then ran all over the city.

The 1920s and 1930s were a time of

dramatic advancement for the area’s

ranchers, not least with the introduction of

thing, getting people to show

the Zebu (Brahmin) and Zebu-Cross cattle

up for it was quite another. Free barbecue

that could withstand heat, humidity and

was promised to anyone attending the

insects better than the English variations

livestock show after 6 p.m. And thanks to

flourishing in the Midwest, where such

an area rancher named Emil Marks, there

things were far less of an issue. Even so,

were a few bucking broncos for cowboys

most cattle raised here still were shipped

and wannabes to ride in the arena. The

to Chicago or Kansas City for slaughter,

first Grand Champion Steer was exhibited

with a small but slowly growing percentage

by Texas A&M and bought by Houston

heading for the now-famed stockyards in

restaurateur George Kelley, who paid $504

Fort Worth. Houston ranked a pathetic 37th

for his purchase.

among the livestock centers in the nation.

Livestock Show and Rodeo was planned,

Throughout Texas, cattlemen of the

Creating a show was one

Intriguingly, what became the Houston

day were talking about ways to increase

organized and successfully launched in the

awareness of their product in hopes of

depths of the Great Depression, when few

developing a market and meat-packing

people other than President Roosevelt’s

center. And, they noticed, every city that

cabinet in Washington were creating

had a major economic impact from cattle

anything new. Local business leaders,

also had a major livestock show.

however, knew it was do-or-die for the

cattle industry, and they joined others in

This fact was hardly lost on James W.

Sartwelle, owner of Port City Stockyards,

the community slipping a bit extra into the

who attended the 1931 lunch and emerged

coffers to make sure the show would go on

as the first president of what was then called

year after year, as it has.

the Houston Fat Stock Show and Livestock

Exposition. His fellow businessmen (there

fire in 1936, causing the city to tear it down

were no women at that lunch) came from

and build the new Sam Houston Coliseum

every nook and cranny of Houston’s

where the Hobby Center for the Performing

financial life: J. Howard West of Fogle-

Arts stands today. The time to do that gave

West Funeral Home, attorney Julian

the rodeo’s organizers a year off in 1937; but

Weslow, Marcus Meyer of Foley Brothers

far from taking an extended vacation, they

department store, dry goods merchant W.C.

met and talked and conspired even more

Munn, Haygood Ashburn of the Chamber

feverishly in hopes the rodeo would be a true

of Commerce and W.S. Cochran of First

“Show of Shows” when it returned. That’s

National Bank. The seven reached out to

when things started to really pop, from

their influential contacts filling a 25-member

promotional motor tours staged throughout

board of directors with industry leaders and

the Texas Gulf Coast and as far away as the

even Governor William P. Hobby of Houston.

Hill Country (with one mission even to

The first show was held just over a year

The Sam Houston Hall was damaged by

what became the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was planned, organized and Successfully launched in the depths of the Great Depression, when few people other than President Roosevelt’s cabinet in Washington were creating anything new

“It’s like Mardi with smoke and boots.”

Carnival at Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo Photo Credit - The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau

Clothing Vendor at Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo Photo Credit - The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau Julie Soefer

Mexico City), to innovative ticket-selling

Styx, John Legend and Pitbull.

partnerships with the Junior Chamber of

Commerce, to the already-gathering army

diverse cities in the country, possibly the most diverse,”

of volunteers. These were challenged by

says Cheney. “To find the artists that people want to

their leadership to “grow beards and wear

listen to each year, we cast as broad a net as we can.”

big hats, boots and spurs” and “put a touch

of Wild West and Western heritage into the

entertainment, two other Houston passions have

show.” This they did beginning in 1938, and

attached themselves to the rodeo in recent years, and

most of them still do – except that with

their popularity shows no sign of letting up: food and

thousands of women volunteers, there are

wine. The celebration gets kicked off annually by The

fewer beards.

World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest – a title

bolstered thanks to participation by each year’s winners

By the outbreak of World War II,

“We understand that Houston is one of the most

Still, for all the agriculture, heritage, shopping and

and particularly after the United States

of the Jack Daniels and American Royal competitions.

entered the fray in the aftermath of Pearl

The event stretches across what seem to be miles of

Harbor, there were many who thought

NRG parking lot, filling the air with what rises from 250

staging a rodeo was inappropriate. Many

teams doing their best work. “It’s like Mardi Gras with

voices suggested the event be

smoke and boots,” laughs Jeff Jones, vice

shelved for the duration of

president and officer in charge of the

the war, along with quite a few other

bar-b-que committee.

traditions across the country.

And if a first-timer came

By then, however, the show

to the rodeo from someplace

was a major attraction and a

like Mars or New York City, he

significant economic catalyst

or she would surely be caught

for Houston. If anyone needed

off guard by the importance of

further direction from above,

fine wine - yes, in many cases,

President Roosevelt exhorted

the expensive stuff. A series of

the American cattle industry

events have come together that

to produce 18 percent more beef

reflect wine’s growing appreciation

in 1942. The livestock show that

in what was once a small segment

supported the Houston cattle industry

of the Texas population but isn’t small

suddenly seemed the only patriotic response.

In a sense, this rodeo’s near-obsession with top-

anymore – especially since Texas became the nation’s fifth-largest wine-producing state.

name, top-dollar entertainment grew out of World War

II. With the carnival portion shut down by the nightly

major honors bestowed by sommeliers, wine critics,

blackout, it became more important than ever to

industry professionals and selected wine enthusiasts,

produce something lively and memorable indoors. A

plus the always-packed Rodeo Uncorked events

company owned by cowboy movie and music icon Gene

(including the Best Bites competition for food), and the

Autry had recently been hired to produce the rodeo,

Champion Wine Auction that tosses $2 million into the

so Autry himself was invited to perform. He became

rodeo’s charity hopper after rating and ranking 12,000

the Houston rodeo’s first real star. Autry strummed

bottles of wine. And every day during the rodeo, there’s

and sang shortly before entering the military in 1942,

a Wine Garden where Houston’s Joes and Josephines

spending $100,000 of his own money to stage a new

can purchase glasses or bottles of the vintages getting

type of “Rodeo Glamour.” And he returned the following

the best scores.

year on leave, arriving in Houston by train in his

sergeant’s uniform.

this actually fits really well,” says Allyson Tjoelker,

executive director of the agricultural exhibits division

According to Dan Cheney, the former professional

There’s The International Wine Competition with

“Our mission is to promote agriculture, and

steer wrestler now in charge of the rodeo’s booking

that coordinates these wine events. “Viticulture is

department, country artists remain the heart and soul

agriculture. We also have the passion of our volunteers

of those 20 headline performances – with names like

that adds to the quality of the competition. A lot of

Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Keith Urban

people can relate to wine.” She ponders a moment, then

and, of course, George Strait to prove it. But just as

states the semi-obvious. “We have plenty of demand to

legendary rodeo concerts featured the likes of Elvis and

be on this committee.”

Selena, modern schedules feature the likes of Kid Rock,