HUMBLE, Texas – The 74th annual Humble Rodeo kicked off at the Humble Civic Center Arena on Friday among COVID-19 restrictions and a strong desire from the community to hold the event.
“It’s a live, full blown rodeo,” said rodeo vice president Robert Sitton.
Full-blown in terms of the events -- scaled back in terms of the crowd this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Humble Rodeo was able to proceed in part because of a smaller venue. Compared to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo -- which had to cancel this year’s event -- Humble had less to manage.
“What we’ve had to do is tier our ticket sales,” Sitton said. “So we had to really manage our online ticket sales, Cavender’s ticket stores.”
The vendors were thrilled. Brandi Hurley sells apparel and home decor. She had considered applying to sell at the Houston Rodeo, but wasn’t confident the event would happen.
“We’re looking for more opportunities to do events like this as well,” Hurley said. “This is our livelihood. This is feeding our families.”
For the families who become their customers, vendors are adapting to the new rules.
“We keep our distance from the people, they keep it from us,” said vendor John Bollom, who sells wood-crafted American flags. “We have casual conversation, and it all works out well for everybody.”
Some vendors have reserved two or three spaces this year to help comply with social-distancing rules and allow customers more space to move around the merchandise.