Hayden Ferrari
Year: Senior
Major: Writing
Hometown: Houston, TX
The FWSSR provides an exciting and traditional experience for families, TCU students, locals and visitors. The carnival is a fun-filled and family friendly event accompanied by rodeo performances from talented cowboys and cowgirls.
Though many Fort Worth locals appreciated the character and tradition of the Will Rogers Coliseum, the new Dickies Arena features comfortable seating and a 360 big screen for easier viewing. The Dickies Arena provides an elegant variety of food as well as suites and boxes for premium ticket holders.
Whitney Kelly, a TCU alum from Fort Worth, explained, “The new arena is really nice and pretty, but it doesn’t have the same feel and character as the Will Rogers Coliseum. I miss eating corn dogs and funnel cakes with my friends from high school.” She also explained that even though she is excited for the new arena, the arena has had issues selling rodeo tickets due to the increase in ticket prices and larger number of seats.
The FWSSR creates the legendary Texas experience for locals and visitors with carnival rides, live music, livestock and horse shows, and exciting rodeo performances. The rodeo performances feature a variety of themes, including Bulls Night Out, Rodeo X, Best of the West Ranch, Best of Mexico Celebraciõn, TCU Night, and Cowboys of Color. The Bulls Night Out includes intense bull riding and the Rodeo X performances include extreme competitions in barrel racing, bull riding, bare-back bronco riding, and saddle bronco riding. TCU night features fun and spirited performances from the TCU Showgirls and Superfrog. Other performances showcase steer wrestling, calf scramble, mutton busting, and team roping.
The FWSSR provides many scholarships to participants of the Texas 4-H and FFA youth, including the Art Contest, Texas M.A.D.E., Texas FFA, and Calf Scramble. The Calf Scramble is an enjoyable and exciting experience where 20 students attempt to catch and harness 10 calves in order to receive scholarship money for their college education. “It’s really entertaining to see all of the kids try to catch the calves,” said Whitney Kelly, “It’s awesome that the rodeo gives out scholarships every year to help the students pay for college.”
The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo ends February 8th. Join the experience by visiting https://www.fwssr.com/p/tickets to buy tickets before the rodeo ends.