Ticket Sales Down for SLE Rodeo
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The 58th annual Southeastern Livestock Expo Rodeo was a success if you look at just from the quality of the show.
“The rodeo was the best ever. We’ve got one of the top contractors in the country. We had world champion cowboys and bucking horses and bulls here this year. We’ve had a lot of compliments,” said Exec. Director Billy Powell.
But Powell says the rodeo has seen a decline over the past few years.
This year it brought in 15,600 people and 170,000 dollars.
That’s down about 8 percent from the year before.
“Other states GA, MS, TN, FL, have all seen the benefit of having these livestock shows in their state and have new modern facilities. And we’ve not been able to get that done at the Garrett Coliseum,” said Powell.
While Garrett Coliseum has been the home of the rodeo for decades, Powell says they may have to find a new place for it.
“We will also look at other possible venues like the arena in Huntsville or somewhere but there is no place in the state that you can have 500 animals tied and having a horse show and cattle show at the same time, so it will be a difficult decision,” said Powell.
A Rodeo committee will meet in April to make some decisions on how to enhance the attendance and ticket sales. There is also discussion on whether to move the dates of the rodeo to February or early March.
