by Wesley W. Busch
HOUSTON, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which run from Feb. 27 through March 18 in Houston, Texas in southern United States, promotes agriculture through a family-friendly experience that educates and entertains the public, supports Texas youth, showcases Western heritage and provides year-round educational support within the community.
Since its beginning in 1932, the Rodeo has committed more than 450 million U.S. dollars to the youth of Texas.
Last year more than 2.6 million people attended the various activities of the 20-day event. The rodeo, alone, had more than 1.37 million tickets sold.
First held in Houston during 1933-1937 as the Houston Fat Stock Show and Livestock Exposition, the Sam Houston Coliseum was built in time for the event to move there in 1938, and the Rodeo, horse show and downtown parade became part of the event.
In 1942, Gene Autry was the first entertainer signed to perform at the Rodeo. Since then many entertainers, including some world-famous ones, have performed during the rodeo.
In 1957, the first major scholarship was presented. It was 2,000 U.S. dollars and was presented to Houstonian Ben Dickerson.
A name change in 1961 to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was followed four years later by a new home, the Houston Astrodome, or NRG Astrodome, which served as home to the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB) from its opening in 1965 until 1999.
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo continued to be held at the Astrodome until the opening of the adjacent NRG Stadium in 2002.
NRG Stadium, formerly Reliant Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Houston which has a seating capacity of 71,795 with 9,000 square meters playing surface. In February 2017, NRG Stadium hosted Super Bowl.
The stadium is part of a collection of venues, which are collectively called NRG Park.
Aside from the Rodeo activity in NRG Stadium, NRG Center hosts vendors, the livestock show and more. For those wanting to enjoy the outdoors, there is a carnival and other exhibit areas that do not require a roof.
Last year, the world's largest Livestock Show and Rodeo welcomed a record of more than 2.6 million people to the grounds, including more than 1.37 million people with paid attendance to the Rodeo and concert inside NRG Stadium.
Each day during the 20-day event, visitors can walk through the livestock show, have fun at the carnival, browse the wares of vendors who rent space inside a large convention hall, watch various competitions and livestock shows and of course the Rodeo, a competition of professional competitors who ride broncos, horses and bulls and others who rope steers.
At the end of each Rodeo performance, musical performers entertain the Rodeo attendees. These performers have included Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Beyoncé, Johnny Cash, Jackson Five, Bruno Mars, Willie Nelson and Banda El Recodo Siggno, which drew the largest crowd to a Rodeo performance at 75,557.
This year, Garth Brooks is performing in the first rodeo and then again in the last rodeo of the year.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo event is run by 33,000 volunteers who work during the Rodeo and through the year to ensure each year's event goes off without a hitch.
Bonnie Blumberg, a Bar-B-Que Contest committee member for many years, was proud of the work the volunteers do for the community.
"The volunteers work hard; many of them work harder than they do for their paying jobs. Many of us put in eight- to 10-hour a day and love it. I've done it for 19 years," she said.