So I missed the Mardi Gras parade on Saturday in Galveston, but I heard my sister went. As big as Mardi Gras is in southeast TX and Louisiana, I’ve never gone. And since I was a kid until a few years ago, I wasn’t allowed to go to the parties my aunts threw for the adults where they had hi-steppers and played zydeco. It got to stay home and watch the parade on TV…fun. I did get to see my cousin be a Mardi Gras Indian in New Orleans one year though. Of course since Katrina and then Ike, festivities aren’t what they used to be.

Until recently I never thought much about the regionally specific events of this season. After Valentines Day, Mardi Gras kicks off with purple/green/gold beads everywhere for two weeks, then you get the Rodeo parade that signals the beginning of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The rodeo lasts about a month with events every weekend. I always go to the carnival on Black Heritage Day. That’s the only day (besides Go Tejano Day) they have a performer that isn’t country western. In the past I’ve seen Beyonce/DC (duh), Alicia Keys, Kem, and others I can’t remember. And this isn’t a dinky little concert either. It’s usually a sold out event in our football arena (the one where Janet Jackson had her infamous “wardrobe malfunction”).

The biggest event of the year in Houston is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Ranked consistently as the world’s largest rodeo—in events, entertainers and spectators—and drawing top competitors searching for a piece of the world’s largest regular season purse, the Houston Rodeo is like the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July all rolled into one.–Houston.com

I spend all day riding rides at the carnival, eating BBQ/gumbo/sweet cakes, and taking pictures of the baby animals. Then when the sun goes down, I settle in to watch the last of the actual ‘rodeo’ before the featured artist comes out. I mean who actually sits up there and watches the rodeo? ‘Cause I haven’t.

I remember when I was in elementary school and my mom would dress me up in cowgirl outfits for our school’s ‘Go Western Day’, that always occurred sometime in February. I can’t stand ‘western wear’ by the way; I cringe every time I drive passed a Cavender’s Boot City with that obnoxious inflatable boot on the top.

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