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Back in March of 2020, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was cancelled while it was in progress. The news was a huge bummer to people across the state who were either set to compete in events or just enjoyed visiting for the concerts and festivities.

Well, someone must have hit the repeat button, because this year's rodeo has been cancelled as well.

Organizers announced Wednesday that the events like the Junior Livestock and Horse Show competitions will still be held in March, while the Junior Market Auctions and Champion Wine Auction will be held in May. However, they'll be private events with health and safety guidelines in place.

Other big events like the Downtown Rodeo Parade, Trail Ride, Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup & Best Bites Competition, and the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest have been scrapped for this year. The ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run will be a virtual event, but officials have not yet settled on a date and time.

Chris Boleman, president and CEO of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, said organizers had hoped moving rodeo events to May would give them the chance to put on great shows once the pandemic had, they hoped, started to die down. However, the health and safety situation in the Houston area hasn't even come close to improving enough for the show to go on.

“Throughout these uncertain times, we have remained committed to upholding our mission and our support of Texas youth and education,” Boleman said. “We are proud to host Texas 4-H and FFA members, as well as the Horse Show exhibitors, who will all be participating this March. And, thanks to the support of our 35,000 dedicated volunteers, we were able to commit nearly $21.7 million in 2021 educational support.”

I hate to see big events like the Houston Rodeo and the State Fair of Texas be called off, but until we truly get this pandemic under control, at least organizers are trying to look out for people's safety. There are still youth livestock events going on in Houston, which is the silver lining here. The organizers are clearly committed to at least giving these hardworking kids the opportunity to present their livestock and earn scholorships, which is what's most important at the end of the day.

Hopefully by this time next year COVID-19 will be just a bad memory

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