Rodeo: the more you know

Despite what Houstonist's out-of-town friends seem to think, there's really only one time of the year when you're likely to run into people around town dressed as cowboys or get stuck behind a wagon train on the freeway. It's Rodeo time, of course — and though we're all familiar with the world's biggest cow-and-pony show, how much do we really know? Amaze your friends with the following Rodeo facts and figures:

• The Houston Fat Stock Show and Livestock Exhibition — the Rodeo's original name — was established in January 1931, and the first show was held in 1932.
• The show's first home was the Democratic Convention Hall, which was located where the Hobby Center now stands. It moved into the Sam Houston Coliseum in 1938, the Astrodome in 1966 and Reliant Stadium in 2003.
• The Fat Stock Show was just that until 1938, when the first rodeo events were added. The name was changed to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo in 1961. (In the '90s, the Rodeo took advantage of the combined-capitalized name trend by naming the rodeo portion of the event RodeoHouston.)
• Not all Rodeo traditions were around in the beginning: the first parade was held in 1938, the calf scramble was added in 1942 and the first trail rides headed to Houston in 1952. One of Houstonist's favorite events, the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, started in 1974.
• The first big-name Rodeo entertainer was Gene Autry in 1942. The single-show attendance record was set in 2005, when 72,843 crazed Hilary Duff fans packed Reliant Stadium. Elvis holds the overall attendance record: 295,743 fans in six shows in 1970. Charley Pride played the Rodeo 37 times in 20 years, more than anyone else.
• 17,000 volunteers work to put the Rodeo on, each working an average of 67.7 hours a year.
• The Rodeo is actually a charity benefiting Texas students: Since 1957, more than $100 million in scholarships has been given out. Overall, organizers estimate the Rodeo has a $386.8 million worldwide economic impact each year.

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Photo from flickr user R&R Finn