Thousands of people gathered on Saturday morning, Feb. 23, in downtown Houston to watch runners, trail riders, floats and Howdy march through the city streets in the Downtown Rodeo Parade, officially kicking off the 2019 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
The 32nd annual Rodeo Run, presented by ConocoPhillips, led the celebration downtown and had more than 9,000 entries in the 10K race and 5K fun run/walk.
2019 RODEO RUN WINNERS:
- 10K Overall Male – Calum Neff
- 10K Overall Female – Lauren Smith Stroud
- 10K Masters Male – Nathan Harkins
- 10K Masters Female – Allyson Serrao
- 5K Overall Male – Adolfo Gomez
- 5K Overall Female – Anne Gonzales-Luna
- 5K Masters Male – Patrick Wills
- 5K Masters Female – Lisa Rocca
The Downtown Parade began at 10 a.m. and was led by Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. Nearly 30 floats and wagons traveled the parade route which began at Bagby and Walker streets and concluded at Lamar and Bagby streets. Along the route, floats were judged based on creativity, originality and presentation.
2019 DOWNTOWN RODEO PARADE FLOAT AWARD WINNERS:
- Sweepstakes – Fiesta Mart
- Theme – University of Houston Alumni
- Originality – Houston Community College
- Most Beautiful – El Ahorro Supermarkets
- Chairman’s Award – International Committee
- President’s Award – Goya Foods
Trail Rides at Memorial Park
More than 2,000 trail riders from across Texas and Louisiana arrived in Memorial Park Friday, Feb. 22, just in time to lead the Downtown Rodeo Parade on Saturday morning. The 12 participating trail rides were Mission, Northeastern, Old Spanish, Prairie View, Salt Grass, Sam Houston, Southwest, Southwestern Trail Riders of Houston, Texas Cattlemen’s, Texas Independence, The Spanish and Valley Lodge.
Each trail ride was judged on appearance, authenticity and overall Western spirit.
2019 TRAIL RIDE WINNERS:
- Scott Bauman Spirit Award (in memory of past Trail Ride Committee Chairman) – Texas Independence
- Division I Award (Large Trail Ride: 145+ participants) – Prairie View
- Division II Award (Medium Trail Ride: 50 – 144 participants) – Sam Houston
- Division III Award (Small Trail Ride: 49 or fewer participants) – Mission
2019 TRAIL RIDE PARADE WINNERS:
- Best Show Wagon – Salt Grass #13
- Best Appearing Riders – Salt Grass #7
- Top Trail Ride – Prairie View