Rodeo’s big business

Odessa restaurants, stores and hotels could see up to a collective $2 million boost due to increased traffic from the 75th SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo, which kicks off today.

Linda Sweatt, director of the Odessa Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that each year the rodeo comes into town, local businesses benefit because of increased patronage.

“The city as a whole is impacted by the SandHills — tremendously,” she said.

The SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo starts today with events like the lamb and steer and heifer shows at the Ector County Coliseum. The annual stock show and rodeo runs today and Saturday, and picks up again Wednesday through Jan. 12.

SandHills officials have 905 contestants signed up and expect thousands to watch the events. Representatives of restaurants, a feed store, hotels and motels said they’re preparing for increases in business.

Roy Gillean, owner of the Barn Door, said he’d like to have up to 16 servers on the floor today and Saturday to help with any type of rush the restaurant may encounter.

The restaurant relies on events coming into town, he said.

“We base our budgets on that,” he said. “We know the entire community has to work together to bring events to Odessa.”

The Chamber of Commerce and other organizations like the rodeo committee have collaborated to bring more events to the city, he said.

The steakhouse is also a rodeo sponsor.

SandHills media director Jim McLain said many other local and national businesses from Coors Brewing Co. to Wrangler to Permian Distributing and Diamond Tank Rental in Odessa advertise and sponsor the rodeo.

The sponsors are the lifeblood of the operation, he said, noting sponsors and their clients seem to appreciate the family atmosphere of professional rodeos.

“Without the sponsors, the rodeo doesn’t happen,” McLain said, noting one sponsor contributed up to $30,000.

The spike in business affect more than just where people eat. At Odessa hotels and motels, many managers and owners expected increased occupancy.

Harry Oza, manager of the 40-room Villa West Inn on Interstate 20, said he usually has increased business on the weekends, but events like the rodeo increases his occupancy.

“It positively helps our business,” he said.

Back on the restaurant scene — in fact, across Andrews Highway from the Coliseum — Keith Johnson, who co-owns Keith’s Hamburger Station with his wife, Christina, said the restaurant sees an almost 10 percent increase when the rodeo’s in town.

Much of the increase is due to the restaurant being near the rodeo itself, he said, noting patrons don’t have to drive to another place.

“We’re so close that your cowboys can ride on over and tie up,” he said.

On Golder Avenue, Alicia Montgomery, Circle P Ranch Supply Inc. manager, said she’s expecting more business with the rodeo in town, especially since the company supplies the feed for the rodeo livestock.

“It has a very positive effect on our business,” she said.

She said the company, which has provided supplies for the rodeo for many years, expects most people to come in for or request feed or shavings for their animals and livestock.

“We’re close to them, so we can make the deliveries to them,” Montgomery said.

Back at the Barn Door, Gillean said the rodeo traffic would help continue the same busy trends the business experienced during the holiday season.

“It just keeps on going,” he said. “Before you know it, we’re going to have Valentine’s Day … Business is really good right now.”

>> What: 75th SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo.

>> When: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and Jan. 9 through 12.

>> Where: Ector County Coliseum.

>> Cost: Tickets are on sale at the Coliseum box office or at Cavender’s Boot City in Midland. Tickets for the first five performances are $14 for box seats, $12 for reserved seats and $10 for general admission. On Jan. 12, admission goes up $2 for each ticket performance price.

>> Note: Today, as well as Jan. 9 and 10, $40 will get a group or four-member family four tickets, four hot dogs, four drinks and four bags of chips.

>> Call: 366-3951.

>> $325,000 to 350,000: Estimated total prize money for 2008.

>> 905: Rodeo contestants in 2008.

>> $1,000 to $30,000: Cost range for advertising sponsorships in 2008.

>> $2 million: Projected impact on Odessa business, economy in 2008.

>> $342,000: Total prize money for 2007.

>> $150,000: Scholarship and contribution money for 2007.

SOURCE: ODESSA CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU.