{"id":2229499,"date":"2026-01-10T13:03:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2229499"},"modified":"2026-01-10T13:03:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:03:29","slug":"hondo-rodeo-fest-brings-angola-prison-rodeo-to-superdome-entertainment-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/hondo-rodeo-fest-brings-angola-prison-rodeo-to-superdome-entertainment-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Hondo Rodeo Fest brings Angola Prison Rodeo to Superdome | Entertainment\/Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For a rodeo built around spectacle and scale, the idea that most captured the imagination of Hondo Rodeo Fest\u2019<\/a>s founders during their early planning for New Orleans came from a place few outsiders ever see: the dirt arena inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.<\/p>\n

Last October, Hondo co-founders James Trawick and Blake Cody made their first visit to the Angola Prison Rodeo \u2014 the inmate-run spectacle long billed as \u201cThe Wildest Show in the South\u201d \u2014 expecting little more than research. What they found instead was a six-decade-old institution that had become world-famous not only as entertainment, but as a behavioral incentive and rehabilitation program inside one of the country\u2019s most notorious prisons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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That visit has now become the most unexpected and distinctly Louisiana element of Hondo Rodeo Fest\u2019s inaugural New Orleans run, set for April 10\u201413 at the Caesars Superdome.<\/p>\n

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Signs of rodeo sponsors line the fence along the entrance to the Angola Prison Rodeo on Sunday, October 12, 2025.<\/p>\n

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\n Javier Gallegos<\/span>
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Organizers say a select group of top-performing Angola rodeo participants will be brought to New Orleans under state supervision to compete in their own rodeo segment on the Superdome floor \u2014 a rare and high-profile moment for a prison program that typically plays to crowds of 10,000 to 12,000 spectators in rural West Feliciana Parish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went out there just curious and had no idea what we were walking into,\u201d said Trawick, a former professional rodeo competitor who now serves as Hondo’s CEO. \u201cNot just any inmate gets to compete. You earn your way there through behavior, and then you earn your way again through performance. It\u2019s structured around accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A Superdome stage \u2014 and a purpose<\/h3>\n

Under the plan, eight Angola participants will compete in a standalone rodeo segment lasting roughly 30 minutes each night, staged after Hondo\u2019s professional rodeo events and before the evening concerts. Organizers say the Angola competition will feature two to three disciplines per night, likely focused on rough-stock events such as bull riding and bronc riding.<\/p>\n

Prize money earned during those competitions will be split evenly, with half going to Louisiana\u2019s Victims Impact Fund and the remainder earmarked for the inmates, with the stated intention of supporting their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the victim, and then there are the families left behind \u2014 kids who had nothing to do with what happened,\u201d said Cody, an Alabama native and former professional musician, in an interview Friday. \u201cThis is about creating purpose and dignity where it\u2019s been earned, while still honoring responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Riley Green played the Hondo Rodeo Fest in Phoenix on Sunday, November 9, 2025, closing out the three-day event with Jason Aldean at a sold-out Chase Field.<\/p>\n

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The logistics, Cody and Trawick say, have been vetted at the highest levels of state government, including the prison\u2019s warden and Gov. Jeff Landry\u2019s administration. Inmates would be transported under strict supervision and will not compete directly against Hondo\u2019s professional athletes.<\/p>\n

Landry spokesperson Kate Kelly said the governor planned a formal announcement on the initiative and declined to comment Friday.<\/p>\n

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary Gary Westcott confirmed via email that the department is in discussions with Hondo Rodeo officials to bring a part of the Angola Rodeo to Hondo. “The Department is excited about this opportunity to showcase the amazing Angola Rodeo to a larger audience,” he said, adding that more details would be forthcoming soon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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To prepare the Angola participants for the scale of a Superdome crowd \u2014 potentially exceeding 40,000 spectators \u2014 Hondo plans to send professional rodeo athletes to the facility in advance to walk them through the format and production demands of a major league event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to throw anyone out there unprepared,\u201d Trawick said. \u201cThis is about respect for the athletes and the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hybrid built for scale<\/h3>\n

Hondo Rodeo Fest is not a legacy rodeo brand but a deliberately engineered entertainment product, launched in Phoenix in 2024 with the goal of pairing elite-level rodeo with arena-scale music production.<\/p>\n

Trawick has described the concept as an attempt to solve what he sees as a longstanding problem in rodeo: inconsistent quality from event to event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIn most professional sports, you know you\u2019re seeing the best in the world every night,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create that same consistency \u2014 the same elite level of competition every single ride, every single run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hondo\u2019s professional roster features a cast of roughly 76 top-ranked competitors per city, designed to be recognizable and repeatable as the brand expands.<\/p>\n

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Blake Cody and James Trawick, co-founders of the Hondo Rodeo Fest, speak with members of the media during the Hondo Rodeo Fest lunch and learn event at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

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The concert lineup for New Orleans, now confirmed, underscores Hondo\u2019s ambition to operate at the scale of a major touring festival. It will feature Jason Aldean and Lynyrd Skynyrd on Friday; Cody Johnson and Old Dominion on Saturday; and, Creed and Bailey Zimmerman on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Cody, who spent years touring as a professional musician, said the booking strategy deliberately blends stadium-level headliners with regional and local acts that reflect each host city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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An inmate rides a horse bareback during the Angola Prison Rodeo on Sunday, October 12, 2025.<\/p>\n

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\n Javier Gallegos<\/span>
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\u201cWe\u2019re also going to feature local artists,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got long-standing relationships in places like New Orleans \u2014 including musicians like Trombone Shorty \u2014 and we want this to feel connected to the local music culture, not parachuted in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local artists are expected to open each night\u2019s show, creating what organizers describe as a bridge between the rodeo crowd and the city\u2019s broader music scene.<\/p>\n

Filling a spring gap \u2014 with state backing<\/h3>\n

While the Angola component provides a powerful local hook, Hondo Rodeo Fest is also a calculated bet by state and city officials seeking to plug a conspicuous hole in New Orleans\u2019 spring 2026 tourism calendar.<\/p>\n

The event was first announced last October<\/a> after New Orleans unexpectedly lost WrestleMania, which had been slated for the same spring window and promised one of the decade\u2019s biggest tourism spikes. In response, the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and state tourism officials began searching for a multi-day replacement capable of delivering comparable hotel demand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Hondo fit the profile: three days of professional rodeo, paired with nightly stadium concerts by major national acts, all inside the weatherproof Superdome.<\/p>\n

The state has committed $2 million from Louisiana\u2019s Major Events Fund to secure the event, with economic development officials viewing it as a platform not unlike Super Bowl LIX, which was used last year to court potential investors and business relocations.<\/p>\n

Gov. Landry and his economic development chief, Susan Bourgeois, have both signaled hopes that Hondo could become an annual spring fixture, filling a gap between Carnival season and summer conventions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is exactly the kind of event that drives tourism, supports local businesses, and gives us a national stage to showcase Louisiana,\u201d Landry said when the event was announced.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jay Cicero, president of GNOSF, said the governor has taken a personal interest in both the Angola and economic development aspects of the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor understands how meaningful the Angola story is to Louisiana, and at the same time how important it is to bring in events that generate real economic impact,\u201d Cicero said. \u201cHondo checks both boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Hondo\u2019s New Orleans debut is a one-year booking. But state officials and GNOSF have made clear that a successful 2026 run could lock in multiple future dates.<\/p>\n

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People gather for the Hondo Rodeo Fest lunch and learn event at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

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\n STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE<\/span>
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If that happens, the Angola Prison Rodeo partnership may become one of the defining features of the New Orleans stop.<\/p>\n

New Orleans may have lost WrestleMania. But with bulls, broncs, stadium rock, and a prison rodeo that has quietly shaped lives for 60 years, officials are betting Hondo Rodeo Fest can fill the Superdome \u2014 and the spring tourism calendar \u2014 in a way few other cities could replicate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a rodeo built around spectacle and scale, the idea that most captured the imagination of Hondo Rodeo Fest\u2019s founders during their early planning for New Orleans came from a place few outsiders ever see: the dirt arena inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Last October, Hondo co-founders James Trawick and Blake Cody made their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2229500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2229499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Hondo-Rodeo-Fest-brings-Angola-Prison-Rodeo-to-Superdome.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2229499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2229501,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229499\/revisions\/2229501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2229500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2229499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2229499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2229499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}