RodeoHouston 2020

How to help vendors affected by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's sudden closure

Thousands of exhibitors and vendors have been affected by the rodeo's closure.

The sudden cancellation of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on Wednesday, March 11 sent shockwaves through the local and regional community. Some exhibitors, upon hearing the news, burst into tears when interviewed, such as one young entrant, who told CultureMap news partner, ABC13:

We spent so much time with these animals and thousands of dollars with these animals, and so to [not] get the chance to win back our money, that's devastating, because we're going to be in debt for a long time. That's my college money. So to spend all this time and all this money, it means nothing now.

Rodeo CEO, Joel Cowley, quickly noted during a press conference that rodeo scholarships would be fulfilled this year, meaning millions of dollars would go to deserving students.

But the issue of vendors, many who plan all year for the rodeo and base quarterly survival on the event, still remains. Public concern for exhibitors and vendors even sparked an online petition to keep the rodeo going, boasting more than 23,000 signatures. One local Mexican restaurant chain is giving students who missed out on showing their animals a chance to compete.

Some vendors have already set up a Facebook group that takes shoppers directly to products. To help interested fans support those who are suddenly without their biggest venue, the rodeo has released a spreadsheet containing all affected vendors. Many entries include individual website, Facebook, and Instagram information.

The spreadsheet is divided into shopping and dining, which makes it easy for fans to stock up fashion, leather good, art — and even on foods during this hunker down period.

Interested rodeo fans can also directly donate to the cause on the rodeo’s website, which notes that “donations made will go directly to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Educational Fund, supporting Texas youth and education, including our show exhibitors and scholars.”

houston-rodeo

holiday budgeting news

Here's how much Houstonians are budgeting for holiday gifts in 2025

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

San Antonio residents are expected to spend over $900 on their Christmas gifts this year, WalletHub found.

Residents living in Houston's well-to-do suburbs aren't stressing about stretching their holiday spending this year: A new report from WalletHub found Pearland, The Woodlands, and Sugar Land residents are all among the top-25 biggest holiday spenders in the nation for 2025.

Pearland gift givers are expected to spend $3,277 on their festive presents, says WalletHub's 2025 "Holiday Budgets by City" report.

Pearland's holiday budget earned it No. 19 in WalletHub's national ranking of cities with largest holiday budgets, with The Woodlands and Sugar Land appearing right behind as No. 20 and No. 22, respectively.

To determine the U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets, WalletHub's experts compared 558 cities across five categories: Income, age, a debt-to-income ratio, residents' monthly income-to-monthly expenses ratio, and their savings-to-monthly expenses ratio.

The three U.S. cities that boast the loftiest holiday budgets are Palo Alto, California (No. 1); Mountain View, California (No. 2); and Newton, Massachusetts (No. 3). Palo Alto residents are expected to spend nearly $4,500 on their Christmas gifts this year, with the latter cities budgeting for $4,266 and $4,069.

Pearland's current holiday budget is $711 higher than it was in 2024, when the city ranked No. 31 in WalletHub's list of U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders. It's also much higher than the $2,127 projected budget from the 2023 report, when Pearland ranked No. 36 nationally. They're definitely competing with Mr. Claus for the "best Christmas present" award.

Festive neighbor The Woodlands ranked as the city with the 10th-highest holiday budgets last year, so its current rank as No. 20 is a bit surprising. Even with a dip in the rankings, The Woodlands residents are still expected to spend a lofty $3,265 on their holiday presents this year, or about $51 less than last year.

Residents living in No. 22-ranking Sugar Land are projected to spend $3,191 on their holiday gifts this year, or $19 less than last year, the report found.

Houston proper ranked 285th on the list with a $1,302 projected holiday budget this year, or $6 more than last year's budget.

Five more Houston-area cities landed in this year's report on the heftiest holiday budgets:

No. 34 – League City ($2,997)
No. 291 – Pasadena ($1,294)
No. 321 – Missouri City ($1,233)
No. 412 – Conroe ($1,063)
No. 490 – Baytown ($890)

Regardless of the dollar amount, Houstonians should pay attention to their spending and pick a budget that works for their financial situation, experts say. The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales to surpass $1 trillion this year, and the report warns credit card debt is a major challenge faced by many Americans as they plan their holiday shopping sprees.

"The holidays bring plenty of joy, but they can also spark seasonal stress, much of it tied to overspending," the report's author wrote. "In Q3 2025, the average household carried $10,227 in credit card debt, up 2.3 percent from the year before, according to WalletHub data. Adding holiday shopping on top of that can quickly increase the financial strain, especially if balances roll into the new year."

Other Texas cities that ranked among the top 100 biggest holiday spenders include:

No. 4 – Flower Mound ($3,941)
No. 12 – Frisco ($3,491)
No. 28 – Allen ($3,055)
No. 31 – Cedar Park ($3,028)
No. 40 – Plano ($2,812)
No. 47 – Round Rock ($2,641)
No. 55 – McKinney ($2,502)
No. 56 – Carrollton ($2,498)
No. 82 – Richardson ($2,146)
No. 96 – North Richland Hills ($1,985)

According to the study's methodology, a consumer is considered to be in a "comfortable financial position to engage in holiday spending if they have: 1) enough emergency savings to cover at least six months of expenses and 2) a debt-to-income ratio smaller than 22 percent for a renter or 43 percent for a homeowner."

holiday budgets holidays christmas wallethub houston pearland the woodlands sugar land suburbs