Despite the last two-day attendance draw coming in at fewer people than last year, attendance at the 120th Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo reached an all-time record 1,257,900, an estimated final tally up by about 9,400 people from the previous peak, posted last year, according to Stock Show records.
Stock Show publicity manager Matt Brockman agreed that the 23-day show’s increase was helped by mostly decent to lovely warm winter weather during the last half of the show.
Other attraction factors likely stemmed from the new Tower Promenade, upgraded Cattle Barn 2 facilities, 22 sellouts among the 36 packed rodeo performances, the Coors Light Roadhouse tent-venue featuring more popular singers and bands, and the always popular junior livestock shows with their high to record-high participation from 238 of the 254 Texas counties.
Stock Show daily tallies – including show/rodeo visitors, participants and workers on the 85-acre city-owned Will Rogers Memorial Center grounds – were 73,700 on Friday and 95,400 on Saturday, compared to 73,900 and 100,100, respectively, for the last two days in 2015.
But the new record total got two big earlier boosts, both on the Stock Show’s third weekend, Jan. 30-31: the one-day/any-day total, set at 163,200 people on Saturday, and the new record peak for all Stock Show Sundays, set at 105,600.
Last year’s grand total of 1,248,500 was the previous peak.
“We are very grateful to everyone who came out and experienced the 2016 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. We’ll always strive to make the Stock Show an affordable, fun attraction that connects our visitors with the western way of life,” Brockman said.
“There are several factors that go into the experience,” he said. “We’ll always strive to make the experience better every year.”
After the record third weekend, Brockman said: “When the stars line up with great weather and offerings the public enjoys, we are humbled to host large crowds at the Stock Show.”
Apparently the stars continued to align with the other factors.