HOUSTON — Mark your calendars! The Houston Livestock and Rodeo announced dates for some key events for the for the 2022 celebration.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo will be celebrating their 90th anniversary in 2022. The rodeo itself will be from Feb. 28 to March 20.
The pre-rodeo festivities begin on Friday, Feb 25 with the Rodeo Round-up and Go Texan Day. Typically, the Rodeo-Round-up is held on a Tuesday, but will be moved for the 2022 celebration.
All Houstonians are invited to attend this free event in downtown Houston, Friday, Feb. 25, at Houston City Hall in Hermann Square. Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Go Texan Day proclamation will kick off the event followed by free chopped barbecue sandwiches provided by the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Committee.
Attendees can enjoy live music, have their photo taken atop a Texas Longhorn steer and visit with rodeo volunteers representing the more than 100 committees to learn more about the event.
Go Texan Day, the city-wide celebration of Western heritage, will also be held the same day. Everyone in the Houston community is encouraged to wear their best Western attire.
The World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest will be held Thursday, Feb. 24 to Saturday, Feb. 26, with more than 250 barbecue teams will competing.
Over the course of three days, teams from across the state of Texas and the world will compete for champion titles in the following categories: brisket, ribs, chicken, Go Texan and Dutch oven dessert.
The Jr. Cook-off Contest includes children between the ages of 8 and 14 competing with a single steak judged on appearance/presentation, tenderness and taste.
Also on Friday, Feb. 25, horses and wagons from 12 trail rides will make their way through the city streets to merge and camp one final night at Memorial Park before participating in the Downtown Rodeo Parade, Saturday, Feb. 26.
This continues a 70-year-old tradition that keeps Western heritage alive in the nation’s fourth largest city.
For the parade, decorative floats intermingle with thousands of men and women on horseback to fill the streets with hoof beats and marching bands.
Rodeo Run, presented by ConocoPhillips, will be held Saturday, Feb. 26. The run will precede the Downtown Rodeo Parade and will kick off with the wheelchair race, followed by the 5K and 10K elite, 10K timed and 5K timed events.
Additional details will be announced once finalized.
