Kyla is in the middle and Jake is to her left.

Members of the Grimes County Sherriff’s Jr. Mounted Posse were invited to ride in the 73rd annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade Saturday, February 26th.  They led in the Sam Houston Trail Ride. 

It was an honor to be a part of such a great family-oriented event that also promotes agriculture and education.  The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR) is the world’s largest livestock exhibition held in the 4th largest city in the United States.  Needless to say it is a big event. 

The parade route stretched for about 20 city blocks with an estimated 50,000 spectators right through the heart of downtown Houston.  Beautiful floats, bands at both the university and high school levels, and several trail rides gave the parade diversity.  Antique fire trucks delighted my son, Andrew. Politicians from the Senate, House of Representatives, and city officials were part of the procession.  Not to mention all the dignitaries riding horses or in buggies from the HLSR, which were so numerous could have been a parade all by themselves.

The Posse in Downtown Houston.

As you watched the parade travel past, you felt like your senses were betraying you.  The contrast was striking.  Our Western heritage converging on a modern city.  Skyscrapers towering over the streets while hearing the click, clack of horse’s hooves striking the pavement.  Street sweepers removing manure from the concrete.  Covered wagons rolling along where noisy traffic usually crawls at rush hour.  It was definitely a memorable experience.

I salute the city of Houston for not forgetting our past.  Celebrating our heritage as a state and a city is important.  As evident by the turn-out and public support of the parade, livestock show, and rodeo, Texans embrace their Western heritage.

It was a joy to see my children ride through downtown Houston as part of the parade.  They not only represented the Sam Houston Trail Ride, the Grimes County Jr. Posse, but our family as well.  A family that has called Texas home for seven generations now. 

We sometimes forget how quickly our lifestyles have changed.  My great-grandfather was a true hard-working cowboy.  Riding horses or riding in wagons was the most common mode of transportation.  He witnessed the shift from an agrarian to an urban society.  The United States became such a technologically advanced society that in his lifetime Americans walked on the moon.  We have come a long way in a relatively short time.

The HLSR and the Downtown Houston Parade are two events that remind people of our past.  They teach our children, who cannot fathom a world without the Internet, that milk comes from cows, cotton comes from plants, honey comes from bees, etc.  Children learn about the importance of agriculture even today in the midst of the computer age.

If you get a chance, take your family to see the parade next year.  Go to the HLSR or any other local fair to expose your children to agriculture.  Without farmers and ranchers, everyone would have to homestead to live.  Knowing that this lifestyle is not for everyone, we all need to support agriculture in any way possible.

Tags: agriculture, Downtown Parade, Grimes County Jr. Posse, HLSR, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Mounted Posse, Sam Houston Trail Ride

This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 6:22 am and is filed under Homesteading, Texas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.