RodeoHouston Cancels 2021 Edition Entirely

– Houston Livestock Show And Rodeo / RodeoHouston

The Houston Livestock Show And Rodeo (RodeoHouston), having already rescheduled its date to May 4 – 23 this year, has now decided to cancel the 2021 edition of the event completely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While we were optimistic that moving our Rodeo to May would provide a better opportunity to host our annual community event that Rodeo fans have come to love and expect, unfortunately, it has become evident that the current health situation has not improved to the degree necessary to host our event,” Chris Boleman, president and CEO of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo said in a statement. “While this is an extremely heartbreaking decision for our Rodeo volunteers and the larger Rodeo community, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the health and well-being of our community.”

The Junior Livestock and Horse Show competitions will still be held as private events in March and the Junior Market Auctions and Champion Wine Auction will be held in May as private events following local guidelines.  Associated events, including the Downtown Rodeo Parade, Trail Ride activities, Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup & Best Bites Competition, and the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest are all canceled as well. The Rodeo Run, presented by ConocoPhillips, will be held in a virtual format.

Organizers cited community health and safety and financial concerns as contributing factors in the decision. Coachella and Stagecoach were both recently ordered canceled by local health officials and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival announced it was moving to October.  Glastonbury has been called off entirely in 2021. 

RodeoHouston was canceled in the middle of its 2020 edition last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the closure it was having a decent year in terms of total attendance (including the Bar-b-que contest), with high points coming March 7 with Maren Morris (102,009 tickets reported) and March 8 with Ramon Ayala (109,857 tickets reported). 

Kane Brown, Cody Johnson, Lizzo, Jon Pardi, Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban, Gwen Stefani, Chris Stapleton, Brad Paisley, and Luke Bryan all ended up being forced to call off their RodeoHouston engagements last year.