“Cowboys are asked not to shoot up the town.”
Source: tucsonrodeoparade.org citing request made before first rodeo parade, 1925.
We’ve come a long way since that first rodeo parade.
But next week, as participants saddle up their horses, don their vintage cowboy boots and hats, and ride alongside horse-drawn buggies through the streets of Tucson, one might have to do a double-take to make sure they haven’t slipped into a time machine.
The streets may not be made of dirt anymore, Prohibition and outlaws aren’t exactly splashed across the headlines, and while the town itself has grown, the Old West spirit of that first parade lives on.
Next Thursday, the 90th Tucson Rodeo Parade will roll down the streets. It’s proudly dubbed the longest non-motorized parade in the country.
The event is a way for Tucson to explore its past and to uphold a community tradition.
The Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum, packed with historic parade information, will have several of its antique carriages and buggies on display.
What will be different from the parade’s 1925 counterpart is the number of spectators. Tucson was no more than a frontier town at the parade’s inception — Pima County’s population was estimated at about 35,000. Today, Herb Walker of the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee, estimates there will be about 150,000 people lined up to watch the parade’s 120 entries.
This year’s grand marshal is University of Arizona baseball legend Jerry Kindall. After a career both as a player at the college level and as a pro in the major leagues, Kindall led the Wildcats to three national championships, and became the winningest head coach in UA baseball history.
