HEMPSTEAD, Texas – The Waller County Fair Board is expanding the community’s annual exposition, and that means bigger opportunities for fairgoers at this year’s event.
The Waller County Fair and Rodeo will begin Thursday, Sept. 26, and continue through Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Waller County Fairgrounds in Hempstead. It’s two days longer than years before, and that’s a good thing.
“It gives our community more to come watch,” said Paul Shollar, the fair board’s president. “The CPRA is having its finals at our facility, so that’s what’s going to kick off our fair and rodeo. We’re bringing in our carnival a day earlier. Our vendors are coming in a week earlier to make sure that we have vendors on site for everybody coming to the CPRA Finals.”
It’s a big step, but that’s been a common trait for the fair board. Over the last decade, many infrastructure and other upgrades have been added. There’s a fresh look and a fresh feel to everything happening inside the fairgrounds.
That includes the rodeo arena, which was reconfigured, updated and covered in time for the 2023 fair. The plan behind that was to have a facility that could be used more often by as may suitors as possible. It seems to be working.
The CPRA Finals will encompass the opening three days of the fair, but the rodeo arena will be busy during all 10 days of the expo. The Sydney Arthur Memorial Breakaway roping will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 29.
“We wanted to do something special when the CPRA said they wanted to come,” said Shollar, who pointed out that local fan favorite Glen Templeton will perform in the CRC Hospitality Building the first two nights of the CPRA Finals. “We wanted to make sure we give those cowboys and cowgirls a full effect of a finals and not just a rodeo on Thursday and Friday.”
The Josh Abbott Band will be the headliner for the opening Saturday. Hudson Westbrook will be the opening act that evening, and the Lonely Road Band will perform at the Wagon Wheel.
“Our opening weekend has always been a big deal for us, but I think we’re offering so much more than we ever have,” Shollar said. “By adding two more days to our schedule, it’s a great chance for our community to see some excellent rodeo action the entire fair. We’re also showing off our community and this fair to a new set of people who are going to come to the CPRA Finals.
“I really think this is going to open a lot of things up for the fairgrounds and the community.”
In fact, the fair board is really opening opportunities for fairgoers on that first Saturday. The day begins with the fair parade at 10 a.m., followed by the Little Mister and Miss Waller County pageant at noon. From 12:30-3:30 p.m., all children 12-under get in free with a paying adult, and the fairgrounds are theirs.
“We had two generous sponsors that wanted to bring back the good old days of a county fair,” said Sharon Burger, a fair board member. “We will have a greased-pig contest, a pet show, the duck-pond game and the old bucket-ball toss.
“We’ll also have complementary snow cones and popcorn for the kids. We’ll close out the day with mutton bustin’ at 4 and the queen coronation at 5, and the final performance of the CPRA Finals will start at 7.”
While that is considered the opening weekend, festivities begin six days prior to the exposition with the Next Generation Barrel Race on Friday, Sept. 20. The Next Generation Junior Breakaway Roping and the Next Generation Junior Tie-Down Roping will run Saturday, Sept. 21, and the Waller County Youth Rodeo is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 22.
“We’ve extended that to put on the kids’ deal they have down at Houston,” Shollar said. “That all takes place the weekend before, along with the largest welding competitions going on, so we’re actually going to have three full weekends of activities.”
It adds up to another growing trend for the Waller County Fair and Rodeo.