Houston Livestock Show + Public Art Project = Fiberglass Horses?

It’s true. By the start of the Houston Livestock Show on March 3rd, the city of Houston will play art gallery to a small herd of its own livestock–28 hand-painted fiberglass mustangs. The Houston Chronicle reports Houston’s latest public art project in the style of Chicago’s Cow Parade in 1999.

Houston started its own Cow Parade in 2001, just two years after the huge success of Chicago’s. The project matches big-name local sponsors with local artists, who adorn the chosen motif with a unique theme for each piece. After public display, the works’ original sponsors usually buy the pieces and auction them for charity or keep them in their own private displays. In keeping with Houston’s public art project last year, which was a collection of gigantic cowboy boots, the mustangs will be as much advertising to add to the Houston Rodeo as it will be charity fundraiser.

Most of the mustangs will be on display at Reliant Stadium for the duration of the livestock show, so try not to confuse the real livestock with fiberglass.

Matching the Houston Livestock Show

If you want to arrive at the Houston Livestock Show in style, you might check out all the cool mustang-themed accessories you can wear to match the city of Houston. You can sport your own livestock show in Houston–the style of choice in 2008.

Houston, the Rodeo Show is coming!

The Houston Rodeo Show will be here before you know it, and tickets are selling at a frantic pace. By all indications this will be one of the most crowded rodeos in Houston Rodeo history, so polish up your cowboy boots show up early if you want to avoid the crowds.

Speaking of Houston Rodeo tickets selling out, Hanna Montana’s concert, set for Sunday, Mar. 9th of the Houston Rodeo Show, has completely sold out. That’s no surprise, considering the ticket scandals that have made news throughout her “Best of Both Worlds” shows. One Ticketmaster official compared the intensity of show demand to that of the Beatles or Elvis. Let’s hope that’s a bit of a stretch, but some of the shows on the tour sold out in less than five minutes, and then showed up on StubHub or eBay at prices as much as 10 times the face value. But even if promoters didn’t see all of the money from Hannah Montana madness, the tour was still the 15th highest grossing in 2007, with a total show revenue of $36 million.

Hanna Makes It Hard to Get Houston Rodeo Show Tickets

Performing as Hanna Montana, Miley Cyrus set the Houston Rodeo Show’s paid audience record with 73,291 fans. She also played the Houston Rodeo show last year, as did her cowboy dad, Billy Ray, in 1993 through ‘95, when Miley still went by Smiley. (Her real name is Destiny Hope Cyrus, but her dad called her Smiley because she smiled so much, which later morphed into the nickname Miley.)

Other entertainers on the Houston Rodeo Show bill include country music staples Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Big & Rich, Brooks and Dunn, and Pat Green, to name a few. So line up your Montana Silversmiths Jewelry, lay out your best Western wear, and show up early for those Houston Rodeo shows, too!