Houston Downtown Rodeo Parade: ABC13 Vault footage reveals the primary televised Rodeo Parade in 1959

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The Metropolis of Houston has been celebrating the launch of rodeo season with the Downtown Rodeo Parade since 1938.

Yearly, 1000’s of Houstonians collect to see the ornamental floats and path riders on horseback.

Utilizing three cameras arrange alongside the parade route, ABC13 first televised the Rodeo Parade reside in 1959, marking the start of a long-term relationship between the station and the Houston Livestock Present and Rodeo. Channel 13 has been televising the parade yearly since.

We went into the ABC13 Vault to search out video of the 1959 celebration. You may see the footage within the video participant above.

Black and white video reveals spectators lined up alongside the streets downtown as marching bands, coated wagons, and males on horseback glided by. “Gunsmoke’s” James Arness led the parade.

Earlier than ABC13 had SkyEye, a digicam was mounted on prime of a tall constructing downtown to get a hen’s eye view of the celebration.

Earlier than the primary televised parade, Channel 13 was additionally the primary tv station to do a reside broadcast of the rodeo’s opening night time ceremonies in 1958. Cowboy Western film star Hoot Gibson was the celeb visitor at that 12 months’s present.

ABC13 is the unique tv accomplice of the 2024 Rodeo Parade on Saturday, Feb. 24. You may watch it reside on tv or wherever you stream ABC13 at 10 a.m.

Eleven path rides with greater than 2,000 riders have been making their technique to Houston and can converge in downtown to participate within the parade.

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2024 Houston Downtown Rodeo Parade: What to know earlier than you go

Trying again on the Houston Downtown Rodeo Parade’s early days