Rodeo devotees brave the elements in Los Fresnos

LOS FRESNOS — Oceans of mud couldn’t keep die-hard rodeo fans away from the Los Fresnos Rodeo Grounds on Sunday as the Los Fresnos PRCA Rodeo wound down to a wet but exciting close.

While the weather was cold and tractors had to tow cars out of thick mud, vehicles lined up on a stretch of Farm-to-Market Road 100 for barrel racing, bronco busting, calf roping and bull riding.

Hawk Scott and Jessica Rae of Brownsville did their best to stay warm. While this wasn’t Scott’s first rodeo, it was Rae’s. But Scott said he never misses rodeo Sunday.

“I come every Sunday each year,” he said. “I’ve been coming since I moved to Brownsville. I’m originally from El Paso. So this is as close as I can get to that.”

Scott and Rae were two of approximately a couple hundred people unswayed by the weekend’s cold front because they just love the rodeo.

“But my favorite event of the day was mud wrestling,” Scott said with a laugh. “No, I liked the bareback riding. There have been some good runs. These guys seem to stay on long because they don’t want to get muddy.

“It’s just a cool event.”

However, the cold Texas weather wasn’t a big deal to Carolyn Knopp, a volunteer at the rodeo. She is from Indiana.

“The rodeo’s been wonderful,” she said. “This weather isn’t bad compared to Indiana.”

Knopp said she spent the last three days helping rodeo-goers find their seats.

“They do an excellent job here and the rodeo’s been very, very entertaining,” she said.

While the PRCA Rodeo, Cameron County Fair and Livestock Show had its share of weather-related hiccups this year, rodeo chairman Mark Milum said the 23rd annual event was a success.

“It’s been a tremendous success with great numbers of fans and contestants,” he said. “We had great numbers of cowboys and cowgirls. And Friday and Saturday we had great numbers in attendance. People even sat through the rain.”

Milum estimated that 12,000 people attended the event.

The rodeo got a late start Saturday due to lightning and rain and the Little Joe Y La Familia and Tracy Lawrence concerts were canceled. Milum said he is negotiating with the performers to schedule another performance and all tickets will be honored.

But the smaller crowd Sunday was to be expected because of the weather and the Super Bowl, he said.

And as for all that rain that fell Saturday, a team of volunteers spent the early part of the afternoon rescuing stranded motorists in a field turned to mud.

“We have a lot of great people that help us. It’s unfortunate about the rain. But it’s good that we have people that care enough to help get people out of the mud and out of the water,” he said. “They were part of a group that always helps us because when we put these things on we plan for all kinds of things. You never know what Mother Nature will do.”

As for the cowboys and cowgirls, weather is just part of the game. In the contestant area, cowboys taped up cuts and saddles sat like small leather islands in the mud.

“They’re used to it,” Milum said. “They travel all over the U.S. and weather is a part of it. So is mud. So is cold. And while we think it’s cold, it ain’t cold to them.”

After the last bull had been ridden, families posed for photos and cowboys and cowgirls picked up their soaked gear to move on to the next rodeo. For now, the biggest little rodeo in Texas will start preparing for next year.