Rodeo Parade a Family Tradition

Children, parents, cousins, grandparents and everyone in between lined the streets of downtown San Angelo Saturday morning, all eager to see the floats and horses in the annual Rodeo Parade.

Countless floats from various businesses and local organizations rolled down the streets, the bang of drums and tunes of various local marching bands carrying the beat.

“This is probably the best one (parade),” says Mia West, an annual attendee of the rodeo parade. “There’s more entrants and better floats.” West and her family are faithful attendees of the rodeo events each year, and she herself enjoys the mutton bustin’ the most on the fairgrounds.

Ann West, President of Friends of Fairmount, added, “I think [the parade] is good for the community, because maybe the people that don’t go out to the rodeo or the fairgrounds, they get a chance [to participate]. A lot of the old folks—you’ll see every age group imaginable out here and they come out. They might not want to go to the fairgrounds, but they always come out for the parade, so it’s awesome.”

Ann West’s husband is the former president of the rodeo and her children have been working with the rodeo committee for years.  “We’ve just been involved with it for about 24 years now,” she said.

Like many rodeo patrons, West says her favorite part is the performances, but she also enjoys seeing the exhibitors. “You learn something new at all of them. The amount of work and preparation that it takes—it takes a year to put this thing on. They start right now preparing for next year, so a lot of work goes into it. They really take a lot of pride in it. It’s good for our city.”

Another parade attendee, Melinda Torrez, says she brings her family to the parade every year and is a big fan of the event and the related activities. Her favorite part, she says, is the exhibitors, but the parade is also high on the list. “Just watching all the kids in the parade and the bands playing [brings me back every year],” she says, adding that it’s fun for the kids.

Frank and Josie Flores stood with their family in front of the Wells Fargo building on Irving Street. Frank Flores says he’s been attending the parade since roughly 1969, the year he was born. “[I come out] just to bring the kids so they could see everything and enjoy it. It gives us a chance to all come out here and have fun,” he said.

Flores’ wife Josie chimed in, “[The parade] just completes it," she said.

The Flores family are also die-hard rodeo fans. "I like the clowns," Frank Flores said as his wife Josie laughed, "they're just funny." Josie added in, "I like anything that involves racing horses."

The 82nd Annual Stock Show and Rodeo will continue through March 2 at the San Angelo fairgrounds. Schedules of performances and events may be found under our events tab.

More pictures from the parade can be found here.