Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce: Clear Lake Connections Podcast Episode 59 | Back And Better. The 90th Anniversary Of The Houston Li ...

Press release from the Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce:

March 4, 2022

This week on Clear Lake Connections Podcast presented by UTMB Health: Meet Richard Gruen, Vice Chairman of the RODEOHOUSTON Speakers Committee. In this weeks episode, Richard discusses the highlights they are looking forward to this year for the Rodeos 90th Anniversary, the importance of helping the youth of Texas go to college with their many scholarship opportunities and how the Rodeo is constantly evolving to be bigger and better. Richard also talks about the true mission of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and how the help of their volunteers and committees make every year such a success.

Richard’s group is responsible for finding opportunities to go out into the community and talk to businesses, schools, civic clubs, and organizations about all that is going on with the 90th Anniversary of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Richard would say some of the highlight of this year would be that they are going to have their complete show. They just wrapped up the BBQ cookoff, the downtown parade, the Memorial Park trail riders. There’s also a lot going on that is new and exciting since they wanted to come back bigger and better since it is the 90th anniversary celebration and due to the fact that they haven’t had a livestock show and rodeo in 2 years due to the pandemic. They are planning to come back better than ever.

Richard feels like the rodeo is always evolving because their committees and volunteers are always striving to make it such a family friendly event that’s reflective of our entire community. You will see diversity in the entertainment, best practices when it comes to health and safety, and they are doing a lot to make sure people come out and have a good time. The first time Richard got a taste of the Rodeo was February of 1970 when he moved to Houston and went to the Rodeo in the Astrodome, and he thought it was amazing. He says that the reason the Rodeo decided to move the events from early February to late February is because the weather could be unpredictable. They also wanted to intertwine with Spring Break.

He became involved as a volunteer because he just really wanted to get involved. When his schedule allowed it, he was able to join the Rodeo committee and the rest is history. The tenure of Rodeo volunteers has made the culture seem like they’re doing it forever. These volunteers are giving up at least two months of their time to volunteer for this event every day. People enjoy and do this because they know the volunteer work and the other things that are done help benefit the youth of Texas through the scholarships and education programs it becomes a lot of fun. The 35,000 volunteers become a huge family and are very supportive of one another.

Very few nonprofits can do what they do without the support of volunteers. A lot of the fundraising activities that are critical to the longevity and support of these organizations achieving their mission it is because of volunteers. For the Rodeo to do what it does on a cost-effective manner to cover the scope of activities they do; it requires all the help from their volunteers. On Fridays during the Rodeo, the speakers committee dresses up at Rodeo Clowns and go to Elementary schools in the area to celebrate western heritage, the rodeo, teaching kids about all the history of the old west and leading up to this rodeo. This gives him the opportunity to go places and do things in ways he has might not have had the opportunity to do so otherwise.

If you go back to the history of the Rodeo, back in 1931, seven men met at the then Texas State Hotel and they were concerned because there we’re cattle on the Texas gulf coast and they weren’t being marketed well. Cattle was only being marketed well in cities that major livestock expositions were going on. The follow year in 1932, they had the Houston Fatstock Show and Livestock exposition and that was the beginning of the now Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The rodeo generated money and wanted to do something to educate people on agriculture but also help the youth of Texas go to college. Then back in 1957, a Senior at Bellaire high school received a $2,000 scholarship and that was the first one ever given out. Today, a 4-year scholarship is valued at $20,000 and as of today the Rodeo has surpassed $550 million dollars in educational support such as scholarships, assistance ships and grants to community organizations.

His tips for those going to the Rodeo are:

Downloading the Rodeo app that works in real time and has maps, traffic, entertainment updates etc. They also have physical visitors guides in the grounds of the park.

The rodeo also has family Wednesdays for those over 60 years of age and 12-year old’s and younger where you can go for free on the grounds and if gives you access to all the free things on the grounds.

His favorite rodeo moment ever must be seeing the joy of the young artists and unbelievable performances. Armed Forces Day when Brooks and Dunn brought representatives from every branch on stage for a tribute. There’s to many more to count and it is all good.

This press release was produced by the Clear Lake Area Chamber Of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.