Hondo Rodeo Fest gallops into the Superdome April 10 to 12 | Entertainment/Life

Last week, workers spread 115 truckloads of dirt on the floor of the Caesars Superdome. The soft carpet of earth is meant to break the falls of champion cowboys who will be flung off of furious bulls and bucking broncos during the Hondo Rodeo.

The event, which runs Friday through Sunday, may or may not be the half-century-old Superdome’s first rodeo, but it’s surely the most deluxe. With $1 million in prize money each weekend, the touring rodeo fest attracts the best buckaroo athletes. And each day of the fest concludes with top-flight country music concerts.

The Hondo Rodeo Fest is the brainchild of James Trawick and business partner Blake “Wild Bill” Cody. Trawick said that earlier in life he’d competed as a rodeo cowboy, and Cody had been a rock ‘n’ roll musician. They both came close to stardom, he said, but “not close enough.”

While “licking their wounds,” Trawick said, the two men decided to try to curate the best traveling rodeo show anyone had ever seen. The Hondo Rodeo Fest debuted in Phoenix in 2024.

Million dollar ropers and riders

The name, Hondo, was a nod to the 1953 John Wayne movie and the small Texas town Trawick said. But it was mostly inspired by the all-important eyelet in a cowboy’s rope that lets him lasso cattle, which is called a hondo. It’s an insider’s term, very resonant with the rodeo community, Trawick said.

What conventional rodeos lack, Trawick said, is predictability. Cowboys of various skill levels sign up to ride in regular rodeos, so fans can never be sure of the quality of the competition. The Hondo rodeo, on the other hand, is limited to 76 of the nation’s best cowboy athletes, according to Trawick, who are invited to participate. He describes it as the Super Bowl or World Series of rodeos.

Winning cowboys will take home $100,000 in prize money, Trawick said. Star Louisiana cowpokes Shane Hanchey of Sulphur, Tyler Waguespack of Gonzales and Kade Sonnier of Carencro will be competing on home turf.

Inmates and rock stars

In addition, eight inmate riders from the Louisiana Penitentiary at Angola Prison rodeo will perform in matches under state supervision. Winnings from those competitions will be split between the Louisiana Victims Impact Fund and families of the convicts.

And after the last bull has been ridden and the last cow lassoed each day, comes music. Jason Aldean and southern rock legend Lynyrd Skynyrd take the stage Friday.

Cody Johnson and Old Dominion appear on Saturday, and Florida grunge rockers Creed and Bailey Zimmerman close out the fest on Sunday.

To accommodate both rodeo rides and concerts, the rectangular Dome layout will be divided into thirds. The fenced rodeo section will stretch from the back of the endzone to the 30-yard line on one end. The raised concert stage will occupy the same area on the opposite side. In the middle is the prime floor viewing for both events. Seating on the Dome’s lower decks will horseshoe both the rodeo and concert areas. Trawick said that maximum attendance is 28,000.

Could become an annual event 

The state has committed $2 million from Louisiana’s Major Events Fund to support the inaugural Hondo rodeo in 2026. It was announced after the loss of the annual WrestleMania extravaganza, which decamped for Las Vegas this year. Trawick hopes the rodeo will become an annual event. 

Gov. Jeff Landry appears on The Hondo Rodeo Facebook page touting the upcoming event.

“The cowboy represents to me the icon of freedom and liberty and responsibility — everything American stands for,” Landry says.

Sure, a championship rodeo and country music concert series may seem like an unlikely match for a city where bounce music rules and most people only see horses in Mardi Gras parades.

But, as Trawick pointed out, “all the surrounding areas that span the entire Gulf Coast are heavily agrarian communities, whether that be beef cattle or sugar cane. We are laser-focused on building an environment where those who have never experienced Western culture up close can do just that.”

He added that maybe the people who live that rural lifestyle every day “can enjoy it with some new friends and neighbors.”

Trawick said the Hondo Fest folks “feel really strongly about how rodeo as a sport and music as a form of entertainment can break through and bring a community together.”

An all-day affair

The marathon fest begins at noon Friday and Saturday with a cowboy-oriented marketplace in Champions Square, which will include leather goods and other C&W crafts, plus food and beverage vendors and a “mutton bustin’” mini rodeo for kids, featuring sheep instead of horses and bulls. On Sunday, the fest begins with an outdoor church service led by Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson at 11:30 a.m.

At 4 p.m. each day, the Superdome doors open, with the Angola Rodeo competition from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., followed by the two-hour main-event rodeo. After the dust has settled, a DJ will provide music, leading up to the live two-hour-plus concerts, which will end at 11:30 p.m.

Admission ranges from $35 to $250, with VIP tickets as high as $1,000. Visit the Caesars Superdome website for more information.