by Eric Martinez | staff writer

The rodeo is a Texas tradition that happens every year, starting in 1888 and has carried on for 130 years. During that time a lot of weird activities and tradition have sprung up, from fried food to pig racing, yes pig racing, the rodeo has always been a weird but fun montage of Texas culture.

One of the more common, but bizarre events, would have to be mutton busting. The main goal is to strap a toddler to a sheep and hope they’ll survive for six seconds. Afterwards they’ll be scored on their ride. This act of “child endangerment” is one of the more popular events at the rodeo.

Another thing that is weird about the rodeo is fried food. While fried food is a staple of any western celebration this is different. The normal fired stuff might be chicken. At the rodeo it’s Oreos. Seriously… Oreos! It goes on to be fried ice cream and possibly even fried soda, and that’s not even the tip of what food the rodeo has to offer. 

The rodeo is Texan culture at its finest, from the cowboys to the actual cows, yet it isn’t afraid to go full on Crocodile Dundee on its visitors. This is where Florida and it’s gators come in. Alligator trainers come in from Florida come to do shows at the rodeo and display their gators tricks and abilities.

Gators aren’t the only trick pulling animal at the rodeo, dogs also compete in races while going through multiple obstacles. This is what you might expect in Westminster, yet it’s at the rodeo. But if it’s going to be in Texas it has to have a cooler name – extreme dogs.

Last but not least we have pig racing  which is another fun and adorable racing event. This event is pigs running around a track to get a good old Oreo cookie. That’s quite a lot for one Oreo cookie.

While the rodeo is known for its many wacky events and stunts, from gator training to bull riding, the most out of this bunch has to be the Trickline Collective and the Off Axis stunt shows. The Trickline collective performs stunts while , unsurprisingly, on a trickline. Meanwhile Off Axis performs gravity defying stunts using trampolines.

The rodeo is an interesting place to spend the weekend or a couple of hours at. No matter what entertainment preference people might have the rodeo most likely has it, and it won’t be boring.