San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo Welcomes Several New Events

The San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo is here again, and San Angeloans are very familiar with this event, as it only occurs once a year; not to mention, it brings a rather large carnival and students even get a day off from school specifically for "Rodeo Day."

Of course, there's also the impact to the city.

"The San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo is by far the largest economic event in the City of San Angelo," Executive Director Justin Jonas said during a press conference to kick off the annual event. 

This year's Stock Show and Rodeo will begin slightly earlier than usual, February 5 through 21. While all of the events that citizens are familiar with, such as the livestock shows, Cinch Shoot-Out, and the Cookoff, will take place, there are several new events added to 2016's schedule.

Brittni Kaczyk explained that a junior robotics competition will be held this year, and it the first junior robotics competition associated with a stock show and rodeo in the state of Texas.

"One of the great things about livestock projects is we always say it prepares young people to be successful later in their lives. It teaches them great communication skills, life skills, and time-management skills," she said. "Offering contests like the robotics contest gives us an opportunity to provide those same opportunities to students with a non-traditional background."

For some cute entertainment, a miniature Hereford show has been added, which Kaczyk described as "little bitty kids with little bitty cows and it is seriously adorable."

Included in this year's Creative Arts Contest will be a youth food challenge.

"Not only do they have to come up with a dish, they [also] have to tell you the nutritional value of the meal and estimated cost of the meal," Kaczyk explained.

Finally, the Stock Show and Rodeo's event schedule will include an Ag-Speaking Contest. Kaczyk described this as "another great opportunity to encourage young people to research different issues that currently exist in agriculture and ways to solve those problems."

Tickets for San Angelo's Stock Show and Rodeo go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. and will be available at all of City of San Angelo ticket outlets.

A full schedule of events and times can be found at sanangelorodeo.com.