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.”

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H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).