RodeoHouston 2020

The RodeoHouston 2020 guide to parking and transportation

Thousands will descend on the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo each day.

Photo courtesy of RodeoHouston

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is here, which means an annual journey of more than 2 million attendees who will flock to the various venues and events. For rodeo veterans and newbies, navigating the tens of thousands of daily visitors can be challenging. Here, then, are some parking and transportation options to help make enjoying RodeoHouston 2020 a boot-scootin’ success.

One tactic rodeo goers might consider is combining transportation options. Take the METRORail to Midtown or downtown to make a speedy exit from the Rodeo grounds, then use a ride sharing app to get home. This method will also help avoid any potential surge pricing in the immediate area (a common rodeo complaint).

METRORail
Attendees can catch a ride for $2.50 on the METRORail. Northbound Service runs Monday through Saturday until 1:40 am and Sunday until 11:20 pm. Southbound Service runs Monday through Saturday until 3:25 am and Sunday until 1:15 am.

Ride-sharing
Drop-offs and pick-ups are in the Miller Lite Yellow Lot 38. Entrance Gate 16B off Main Street from the north-bound lanes of Main Street is the only access to the lot. There is no left turn lane access allowed from the south bound lanes of Main Street.

Limousines
Arriving in style? High-rollers should plan for drop-offs and pick-ups at the southeast side of the Miller Lite Green Lot, Gate 13 off Lantern Point.

Public drop-off
Use Gate 9 off Kirby Drive. Kirby Drive is closed at 9 pm on weekdays and 6 pm on weekends. Take Main Street to Westridge, and head east to Gate 9.

On-site parking
Look for three parking lots near NRG Park: the Yellow Lot, the 610 Lot, and the OST 1 lot, located nearby. Parking is $20. The Yellow Lot opens daily at 6 am, the 610 Lot opens daily at 9 am, and the OST 1 opens weekdays from5 pm to 1 am and weekends 11 am to 2 am.

Park and Ride
The Rodeo Express Shuttles offer convenience; locations can be found on this map. Parking is free at all of the lots (except in the OST lot, which charges $20). Shuttle costs range from $4 to $7 per rider.

Midtown Park
Rodeo fans in the Midtown are can hit the parking garage at Midtown Park (2811 Travis St.), with a flat rate of just $5 on weekday evenings (beginning at 6 pm) and all day on weekends. The garage offers direct access to the METRORail McGowen stop at an additional rate of $1.25 each way.

South Main Innovation District parking, food, and fun
The Ion, the anchor of the future 16-acre South Main Innovation District, will be hosting free rodeo parking and fun weekend activations during the weekends of March 7-8, 14-15, and 21-22 — sponsored by Rice Management Company. The lot at 4203 Fannin St., at the future innovation district, will be open on a first-come, first-served basis from noon to midnight on those weekend dates. Look for food trucks and custom laser-engraved keychains from noon to 3 pm on each weekend.

After parking and grabbing grub and swag, take the adjacent METRORail Wheeler Station to head to the rodeo grounds.

Trams
Trams operated by rodeo committee members offer visitors free rides to and from parking lots and the grounds, as well as to and from NRG Center and NRG Arena. Click here for a tram map.

Woodland Express
This year, rodeo fans from The Woodlands can hop on the Woodlands Express, a new shuttle service. Woodlands riders should park at the Sawdust Park and Ride for drop-off at NRG Park. Return trips will depart from the METRO Rodeo Express pickup location at NRG. The service departs the Woodlands is 9 am; the last departure from the Rodeo is 11 pm. The Woodlands Express runs $13 for a round trip.

houston-rodeo

Movie Review

Rachel McAdams goes feral in Sam Raimi's gory new comedy Send Help

Photo by Brook Rushton

Rachel McAdams in Send Help.

Director Sam Raimi has gone through different phases as a filmmaker, including leading the first Spider-Man trilogy and joining the MCU with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But he first gained notice with the gory and funny Evil Dead movies, a sensibility he’s returning to with his latest film, Send Help.

Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is a meek and eccentric middle manager at a financial firm that’s just named Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) as its new nepo CEO. Bradley’s dad had promised Linda a promotion to vice president, but she gets passed over in favor of one of Bradley’s frat buddies, sending her into a mild rage. Still, she gets invited along on a planned business trip to Thailand, during which she hopes to prove her worth.

Unfortunately for most of the passengers on the private plane, it crashes into the ocean, leaving only Linda and Bradley alive on a deserted island. Linda, who has privately developed survival skills, adapts quickly to the forbidding environment, while Bradley tries to revert to bossing her around. But Linda quickly understands the power dynamic has shifted, and she uses this knowledge to try to keep Bradley in line, turning their stranding into a battle of wills.

Directed by Raimi and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the film is the classic “so bad it’s good” kind of experience. McAdams, inarguably an attractive and charming person, is given stringy hair, an antisocial personality, and quirks like eating tuna fish at her desk to make her as off-putting as possible. Bradley, along with almost everyone else at her office, is stereotyped just as hard in order to set up the twist of fate.

When the action shifts to the island, things get even more over the top. The audience has already been primed for Linda to demonstrate her survival expertise, but the film does way more than just show her making fire. Whether it’s flawlessly building a shelter or hunting a wild boar, everything Linda does is portrayed in a slightly off-kilter manner. Then they turn everything up to 11, indulging in gore that is so unnecessary that you can’t help but laugh.

The filmmakers prove they’re in on the joke the rest of the way, including a variety of preposterous but hilarious scenarios that would cause massive eyerolls if they were actually trying to take the film seriously. While they do a great job of showing Linda’s ability to handle herself in the wild, they also show that she is somehow the only person in the world who could get a glow up after a plane crash and weeks living in nature.

McAdams, an Oscar-nominated actor for Spotlight, is way too high class for a movie like this, which makes her presence here all the more interesting. She is all-in on whatever Raimi wants her to do, and she’s at her most fun when she goes the animalistic route. O’Brien, who was great in the recent Twinless, doesn’t get as much of an opportunity to show his range, but he still proves to be an interesting foil for her.

Were it released in any other month, Send Help might be looked at as bottom of the barrel material. But with the movie year just getting started, it’s easier to forgive its outrageous plot twists and just have fun, especially since Raimi and his team put the rest of the film together so well.

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Send Help opens in theaters on January 30.

movies film

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Movie Review

Rachel McAdams goes feral in Sam Raimi's gory new comedy Send Help