While the establishment of the organization took place in 1949, the first rodeo occurred in 1950. Since then, the annual event takes place over three weeks in February. The rodeo began in the
Joe & Harry Freeman Coliseum until 2003 when its primary events moved into the
AT&T Center (now known as the Frost Bank Center). The adjacent Freeman Coliseum became available to add on-site access for retailers to sell western wear, furniture and other items during the annual rodeo. The
San Antonio Spurs of the
NBA who are the primary tenants of the arena, spend 3 weeks playing only away games while the rodeo is in town, dubbed the "Rodeo Road Trip". The Western Heritage Parade & Cattle Drive is the kick-off for the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo and celebrates Texas heritage. The mile long route through the streets of downtown San Antonio. Hadley Barrett (1929–2017), for twenty-eight years the voice of the San Antonio Rodeo, had just completed announcing twenty-one rodeo performances a few days before he died of heart failure in
Colorado on March 2, 2017. According to the
San Antonio Express-News, Barrett was known for his "distinctive voice and folksy blend of cornball jokes, faith, patriotism, and rodeo wisdom." A native of
North Platte,
Nebraska, Barrett was reared on a ranch, was a weekend bull-rider, and a traveling musician who with his brothers under the name Hadley Barrett and the Westerners performed with, among others,
Carl Perkins and
Little Jimmy Dickens. He also announced for other rodeos, the
Calgary Stampede, the
Canadian Finals, and
Cheyenne Frontier Days in
Wyoming. 2021 saw the carnival &
charreada part go on hiatus, but other parts continued during the
COVID-19 pandemic. == Supporting groups ==