Cowboys Rule

It's another record Rodeo: All-time attendance mark falls thanks to monstershows, monster barbecue

Jason Aldean set an all-time record for RodeoHouston concert attendance: Nearly75,000 fans packed the stadium for his third performance.
Photo by © Michelle Watson/CatchLightGroup.com

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo proved to be more successful than ever in its 80th year: The all-time record for paid attendance was broken with 1,283,419 paying to attend the three-week event, breaking a mark set in 2010. The total attendance of 2,257,970 visitors on the show's grounds ranks recond all time.

The World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest upped the ante early on with record attendance (260,033 over three days), but a daily carnival, a jam-packed rodeo schedule and an unforgettable lineup of musical performers ensured full crowds nightly for the remainder of RodeoHouston.

"We enhanced sound in the stadium, which we know makes a big difference," Wagner said.

"The main things were improvements in terms of presentation," Skip Wagner, RodeoHouston president and CEO, told CultureMap. "We enhanced sound in the stadium, which we know makes a big difference."

Three shows — Jason Aldean's RodeoHouston performance on March 15, Duelo and La Original Banda El Limón on March 11 and The Band Perry on March 14 — drew more than 74,241 fans each, earning them all spots among the Top 10 Rodeo-attended concerts of all time.

Neither spring break travels nor St. Patrick's Day festivities could keep fans away from Reliant — the Saturday crowd set a single night total-attendance record of 153,159, with 73,757 attendees venturing inside of the stadium for the Brad Paisley concert.

With all of these records, how can RodeoHouston 2012 be topped?

"Next year, you can expect to see continued fine-tuning," Wagner said, specifically mentioning expansions to the horticulture program, horse shows and ranch and wildlife exhibits.

unspecified series568664023

SAFE SPACE

2 Houston neighbors ranked among the top 10 safest cities in Texas

Steve Francis home estate Memorial Villages

Photo by Kevin Ward

undefined

Judging by the headlines, locals might think they're going to be accosted every time they leave home, but a new report says the Houston area is home to two of the safest cities in Texas. Home security review site SafeWise has ranked the communities of the Memorial Villages (No. 3) and Fulshear (No. 8) on its recent list of towns unburdened by crime worries.

For its 2026 report, SafeWise factored in FBI-reported property and violent crime data for 343 cities, then adjusted it for population in order to fairly compare metros to rural and suburban towns. Although the rankings do provide a snapshot, the site says “a number of factors, including local agency reporting practices, community resources, prevention efforts, and lived experience all influence how safe a place is (or is perceived to be).”

The rankings were released with SafeWise’s State of Safety survey, which found that perception didn’t always gel with reality. Although the statewide property crime rate of 23.4 incidents per 1,000 people is slightly higher than the national rate, Texas’ violent crime rate of 4.44 incidents per 1,000 people is consistent with the national average.

Still, Texans feel less safe than the average American. Only 49 percent of the survey’s respondents say they feel safe in the state compared to the national norm of 52 percent. 55 percent said they worry about their safety on a daily basis, a year-over-year increase from 52 percent. The data contrasts with first-hand reporting. For the second year in a row, Lone Star State participants said they have had few personal experiences with property crime and package theft.

Elsewhere in Texas, Fair Oaks Ranch was the only San Antonio area city to make it to the list, which favored towns of 30,000 residents or fewer. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan statistical area had the most ranked cities. The full top 10 includes:

No. 1 — Trophy Club (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 2 — Parker (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 3 — Memorial Villages (Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land)
No. 4 — Melissa (Dallas-Fort Worth)
No. 5 — Fair Oaks Ranch (San Antonio-New Braunfels)
No. 6 — Whitehouse (Tyler)
No. 7 — Murphy (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 8 — Fulshear (Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land)
No. 9 — Colleyville (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
No. 10 — Lumberton (Beaumont-Port Arthur)

safety suburbs crime rankings