Rodeo season began this weekend with the annual cookoff. The cookoff, revolving around the World Championship Bar-B-Que contest wrapped up Saturday after three days of food and fun at NRG park. Over 250 chef led teams from across the world competed in the various competition categories including Brisket, Ribs, Chicken, Go Texan, Dutch Oven Dessert, and Open Contest. In the end the Taste of South Texas Bar-B-Que Team won out as the grand champions overall with Rancho Cerveza coming in as the reserve champion. While the champion won the brisket competition there were plenty of other winners in the individual categories including Pitmaker in Ribs, S&S Club, Inc. in Dutch Oven Dessert, and Desperados Cook Team for Best Facade.
While congratulations go out to the victors the real winners were the 234,000 people that descended on NRG park to experience the food, rides, drinks, and games. That number is up from last year’s 214,000 and set an attendance record for Thursday and Friday. While Saturday had 100,349 people in attendance, that was still not enough to break the record for the day. If that bump in attendance is any indication, the grounds and NRG stadium will be packed this year so plan accordingly. Westridge, the street leading towards the stadium, still has major constructions and Kirby is usually blocked off, so people wanting to participate should keep that in mind as they head down to Main & 610.
The Rodeo will officially start February 27th and run through March 17th. You can still get tickets at the rodeo’s official website. The lineup for this year is listed below and contains a mix of Country, Hip Hop, Christian, Pop and more.
2024 Houston Rodeo Entertainer Lineup
Tuesday, February 27: Blake Shelton (country)
Wednesday, February 28: Carly Pearce (country)
Thursday, February 29: For King & Country (Christian)
Friday, March 1: 50 Cent (hip-hop/rap)
Saturday, March 2: Hardy (country)
Sunday, March 3: Ivan Cornejo (Latin)
Monday, March 4: Hank Williams Jr (country)
Tuesday, March 5: Oliver Anthony (country)
Wednesday, March 6: Jelly Roll (country)
Thursday, March 7: Luke Bryan (country)
Friday, March 8: Major Lazer (EDM)
Saturday, March 9: Lainey Wilson (country)
Sunday, March 10: Los Tigres del Norte (Norteño)
Monday, March 11: Whiskey Myers (country rock)
Tuesday, March 12: Bun B’s All-American Takeover (hip-hop/rap)
Wednesday, March 13: Nickelback (rock)
Thursday, March 14: Zac Brown Band (country)
Friday, March 15: Jonas Brothers (pop)
Saturday, March 16: Brad Paisley (country)
Sunday, March 17: Eric Church (country)
