Prairie View trail riders settled in motor homes around campus Sunday evening after kicking off activities for the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.More than 4,000 riders saddle up each February to relive the essence of the pioneers’ journey, and these cowboys and cowgirls make up 13 trail rides to Houston, in preparation for the annual rodeo.
The Prairie View Trail Ride, one of the senior groups of riders, was established in 1957. This determined community travels 102 miles from Sunnyside, Texas to Memorial Park in Houston, Texas. Sunnyside is a black community near Brookshire, just south from Prairie View’s campus, and riders register their wagons from Houston and surrounding areas.
Monday, the riders made their way to H.T. Jones Elementary School to educate students about agriculture and their way of life with a “show and tell.”
Sherry Duncan, the wagon boss of wagon number four and assistant to the trail ride, said, “These kids need to know about these events and the things that take place in our culture from another point of view. My grandson has been riding for as long he could sit up straight.”
Duncan said her whole family has been riding for years. “It’s truly a family thing, I’m actually going to pick up my grandson in Austin next week,” she said.
After their parade through campus, they had a chili cook-off and other presentations.
Marion Smith, president of Circle 44, said, “Our chili cook-off is our yearly deed to represent scholarship here at the university. This is why we’re here, to preserve the minds and hearts of these young people.” The proceeds from the cook-off will go to the Rodeo Club, an organization on campus.
Sophomore Jamie Green, an agriculture major, from Houston and a member of the Rodeo Club, said “I like these events. My family is always a part of it.”
Nightly, the riders will have a camp social as they make their way to central Houston. These parts of their ride promote the hospitality and friendliness that they are all about.