No joy in H-Town over the Mayor’s decision and the Harris County Judge to shut down the Rodeo.
In 88 years the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has grown to be the biggest and greatest money generating annual event for Houston and Harris County….second only to the infrequent Super Bowl we might land. So while the rest of the country laments the loss of NBA games, St Patrick Parades, we know more about the personal loss. It’s because the Rodeo is ours….the idea of individuals, their work, their money, their generations of support, volunteers, some 37,000 of them currently, who built that. Local government did not, nor did professional sports owners. In fact, Rodeo is a paying partner in the buildings on the land owned by Harris County.
The anger expressed on social media is indicative of the lack of transparency in how the decision was reached. What was the rationale? The Houston area has a total now of 15 confirmed and still presumptive cases of covid 19…. One of the presumptive cases is a guy from Montgomery County who attended the barbecue cook off, February 28th. We’ve had no deaths here, so far anyway, from Coronavirus. What else do officials shut down….to “keep us safe”.