Houston has been struggling hard for the last few years to shed its “hick” and “cowboy” labels and take its place as a cosmopolitan city that it is and as a nexus for several different cultures to mix and mingle. Yet at its core it still retains some of that wild west persona.
This becomes extremely evident at the end of February and in early March when the Houston Livestock show and Rodeo takes place. The Rodeo was and is a celebration of Houston’s agricultural and ranching ties. A throwback to the days when cattle trails wound their way up and down the state and more people worked in and around Houston in the cattle and livestock industries.
For generations, Houston kids could go downtown with their families and watch goggle eyed as the cowboys rode in a parade in their western finery and marching bands played and all manner of floats and displays rolled past. They could then go to the Rodeo and look at the animals and talk to the cowboys and just take in the country culture.
Eventually music acts were added to the Rodeo. Some of the music isn’t even country music and truthfully the musical acts are now a big part of the Rodeo. In fact for some that’s all that the Rodeo represents to them. I think without the music the Rodeo itself would have been much diminished and would not be having record crowds.
As it stands now the Rodeo is an integral part of the Houston experience. Something that can really be only found here. I think that it’s a positive for Houston. As much as I would like to see Houston “grow up” and become more worldly, to have more culture, to be thought of as a first rung city (and it is, I admit it we’ve done amazing things in the last 20 years), I still want it to retain some of its own character.
I don’t want us to become a clone of one of the eastern cities, or another Los Angeles. I want us to become our own city. Incorporate the best aspects of other cities, add in the valuable contributions of our large immigrant populations from all over the world, but retain something of what Houston was.
If we can do all those things we can build a city that people will want to come and see, a city that others will want to emulate. Part of that process is embracing events like the Rodeo and helping it flourish. Events like this give us something special and point to as uniquely Houstonian.
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