Tucson Rodeo Parade

Fiesta de Los Vaqueros Tucson, Arizona

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Enter in the Parade Today!

January 22, 2015 By Chris Durnan

You still have time to enter the Parade

and be a part of history!

slide3EnterTheParade

The entry deadline for the 90th Tucson Rodeo Parade

has been extended to

January 30th.

 

 

  Get your entries in today by clicking here.

Filed Under: Parade

2014 Grand Marshal – Dan Marries

December 31, 2014 By Chris Durnan

 

The Grand Marshal

DanMarries

The G R A N D M A R S H A L
2014 Grand Marshal, Tucson Rodeo Parade

Dan Marries
KOLD 13 NEWS Anchor

Dan Marries Named 2014 Rodeo Parade Grand Marshal

Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. That’s the mantra of the Grand Marshal for the 2014 Tucson Rodeo Parade, Dan Marries. That’s exactly how Dan feels about working as the evening news anchor at KOLD News 13 where he’s been keeping Tucsonans informed since 1999.

Dan got his start in television news in 1995 while he was still a junior at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado. His internship lead to his first job in journalism as the morning anchor and noon weather man. Further news jobs took him to Mankato, MN, Yuma, AZ and finally Tucson. It was also during college he spent four summers as a wildland firefighter for the Bureau of Land Management.

Dan is a self-proclaimed “wanna-be” cowboy and it’s apparent every year during the Tucson Rodeo Parade and Rodeo. That comes from his time in Pawnee, Oklahoma where he spent the latter years of his childhood and high school. Helping his uncle with cattle instilled in him the importance of putting in a hard day’s work. Dan’s grandmother had a heavy influence on his upbringing and she taught him the importance of community service. In high school, as the Master Councilor of the DeMolay chapter and as president of the student council, Dan would help the elderly with mowing their lawns, painting the trim on houses, serving breakfast and lunch at the neighborhood center, and carrying out their groceries as a bag boy at a family owned store.

That spirit of giving back is just as important today as it was back then. Dan is the charter president of the Casas Adobes Optimist Club. For the past four years that club has adopted upwards of thirty less-fortunate families during Christmas, making sure the kids had presents under the tree and food on the table.

Dan is also a founding trustee board member of the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation assisting our local fire community with funding, tools, technology, advanced training, equipment, survivor’s help, and education campaigns to support these brave men and women. He’s also the official “reader” of a book called “Born to Wear Blue” published by the Fire Foundation.

Every year he volunteers during Love of Reading Week, spending time with children letting them know the importance of education. He’s also a frequent visitor to the Southern Arizona VA Medical Center, visiting with veterans to thank them for their service. For the past 8 years he’s served as the official announcer for the Tucson Veteran’s Day Parade and the Tucson Rodeo Parade telecast. His schedule is kept busy emceeing and attending hundreds of fundraisers for a variety of local charities including “BAG IT” that provides vital information for cancer patients, the Tucson Utility Contractors Association, United Way, Boys & Girls Club, the Marana School Foundation, and the Tucson Police Officers Foundation, to name just a few.

Dan has been recognized with numerous awards as a journalist including two Emmys, one which came from a half hour documentary he shot, wrote, and produced on one of his three trips to Vietnam with local veterans. He won a Communicator’s Award for a rodeo story on legendary Ty Murray, and Ty’s efforts to give retired bucking horses a place to live. He’s also been recognized several times by the Arizona Associated Press.

Dan’s community service, civic mindedness, and giving attitude make him a perfect choice for Grand Marshal of the 2014 Tucson Rodeo Parade.

Filed Under: Parade, Past Grand Marshals

RODEO’s Four Horsemen – 1936

November 11, 2014 By Chris Durnan

Tucson NewsPaper 1936

RODEO’s Four Horsemen Tucson Rodeo Parade 1936

Have Eleven-Year Record of Work,
Condron,  Mullins,  Kinney and Marshall Served Through Every Year That Show Has Been Staged in City And Have Had Same Posts Every Season

This is the title which has been bestowed upon the quartet of officials who alone have a 100 per cent record among the many hundreds of’ publlc sirited men and women who during the eleven years of Tucson’s ” La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros” have contributed to its success. Jack Kinney, general chairman, or rodeo boss;. A. H. Condron, secretary; Johnny Mullens, arena director and F. C. Marshall, publicity director, are the four who served in those positons at Tucson’s first rcdeo 11 years. ago, and are serving in those same jobs again this year —and have served in the the same jobs during every one of the 11 years.
The original polo organlzaticn consisted of about .100 members, serving on various committees with Leighton Kramer as president Kramer died several years ago. A number of others have been called by death some moved away While still others had, interests which attracted thelr attention away from Rodeo activities. But the “4 Horsemen” are still in the saddle, and have seen La Fiesta de los Viqueros develop from a mere experiment tov one of the biggest Rodes in North America.
This does not mean that most of the many working for the success of this years show are newcomers. There are many, who haye put forward. their best efforts, but it happens these four are the only ones with 11 out of 11 years.

Filed Under: Parade, Parade History

Cowboys are asked not to shoot up the town – 1925

November 11, 2014 By Chris Durnan

Headline in the Arizona Daily Star in 1925 reads:
“Cowboys are asked not to shoot up the town”

Tucson in 1925 was a frontier town: The first Tucson Rodeo was held in the middle of Prohibition. With so many visitors expected, decisions were made to clean up the town. Arizona State Prohibition Director Frank Pool led a force of federal officials to town two weeks prior to the rodeo. The Arizona Daily Star reported that 25 stills were captured and an estimated 300 gallons of moonshine destroyed. T-bone steaks sold for .27 a pound. A Stetson hat cost $8. Prizes at the 1925 Rodeo Parade included a 750-lb. block of ice, 100 lbs. of potatoes and a “Big Cactus” ham.

Filed Under: Parade, Parade History

Dan Marries – 2014 Grand Marshall

February 6, 2014 By Chris Durnan

DanMarriesDan Marries
2014 Grand Marshall, Tucson Rodeo Parade

Dan Marries
KOLD 13 NEWS Anchor

Dan Marries Named 2014 Rodeo Parade Grand Marshal

Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. That’s the mantra of the Grand Marshal for the 2014 Tucson Rodeo Parade, Dan Marries. That’s exactly how Dan feels about working as the evening news anchor at KOLD News 13 where he’s been keeping Tucsonans informed since 1999.

Dan got his start in television news in 1995 while he was still a junior at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado. His internship lead to his first job in journalism as the morning anchor and noon weather man. Further news jobs took him to Mankato, MN, Yuma, AZ and finally Tucson. It was also during college he spent four summers as a wildland firefighter for the Bureau of Land Management.

Dan is a self-proclaimed “wanna-be” cowboy and it’s apparent every year during the Tucson Rodeo Parade and Rodeo. That comes from his time in Pawnee, Oklahoma where he spent the latter years of his childhood and high school. Helping his uncle with cattle instilled in him the importance of putting in a hard day’s work. Dan’s grandmother had a heavy influence on his upbringing and she taught him the importance of community service. In high school, as the Master Councilor of the DeMolay chapter and as president of the student council, Dan would help the elderly with mowing their lawns, painting the trim on houses, serving breakfast and lunch at the neighborhood center, and carrying out their groceries as a bag boy at a family owned store.

That spirit of giving back is just as important today as it was back then. Dan is the charter president of the Casas Adobes Optimist Club. For the past four years that club has adopted upwards of thirty less-fortunate families during Christmas, making sure the kids had presents under the tree and food on the table.

Dan is also a founding trustee board member of the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation assisting our local fire community with funding, tools, technology, advanced training, equipment, survivor’s help, and education campaigns to support these brave men and women. He’s also the official “reader” of a book called “Born to Wear Blue” published by the Fire Foundation.

Every year he volunteers during Love of Reading Week, spending time with children letting them know the importance of education. He’s also a frequent visitor to the Southern Arizona VA Medical Center, visiting with veterans to thank them for their service. For the past 8 years he’s served as the official announcer for the Tucson Veteran’s Day Parade and the Tucson Rodeo Parade telecast. His schedule is kept busy emceeing and attending hundreds of fundraisers for a variety of local charities including “BAG IT” that provides vital information for cancer patients, the Tucson Utility Contractors Association, United Way, Boys & Girls Club, the Marana School Foundation, and the Tucson Police Officers Foundation, to name just a few.

Dan has been recognized with numerous awards as a journalist including two Emmys, one which came from a half hour documentary he shot, wrote, and produced on one of his three trips to Vietnam with local veterans. He won a Communicator’s Award for a rodeo story on legendary Ty Murray, and Ty’s efforts to give retired bucking horses a place to live. He’s also been recognized several times by the Arizona Associated Press.

Dan’s community service, civic mindedness, and giving attitude make him a perfect choice for Grand Marshal of the 2014 Tucson Rodeo Parade.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly – 2013 Grand Marshals

November 12, 2013 By Chris Durnan

Giffords-Kelly8x10The RODEO PARADE HONORS GIFFORDS, KELLY FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE

Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have been chosen as the Grand Marshals for the 88th Tucson Rodeo Parade. They are honored for their community service to Southern Arizona and the nation.

“Gabby,” as she’s affectionately known, is a native Tucsonan, graduating from University High School before graduating from Scripps College in California and earning a Master’s Degree in Regional Planning from Cornell University. She worked as an associate for regional economic development at Price Waterhouse in New York before becoming president and CEO of the family business, El Campo Tire Warehouses, a local auto service business.

Her political career began as with an election to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2000. In 2002 she became the youngest woman to be elected to the Arizona State Senate. In 2003 she was named the Arizona Family Literacy’s Outstanding Legislator, and in 2004 was named Legislator of the Year by the Mental Health Association of Arizona.

She was re-elected Senator in 2004, but resigned that position in 2005 to begin her campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2006 she became the third woman in Arizona history to be elected to the U.S. congress representing U.S. District 8, and was re-elected in 2008 and 2010. She was an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform that included a secure border, increasing Border Patrol Agents, and a guest worker program. She was also a staunch supporter of the military and increasing the minimum wage. In February 2010, Congresswoman Giffords honored the Tucson Rodeo Parade with an official commendation on the Congressional Record for its 85 years of service to the Tucson and Arizona community.

In January 2011 she was wounded in an assassination attempt, and resigned from Congress in January 2012 to focus on her recovery.

Mark Kelly is a retired U.S. astronaut and former Navy Captain and naval aviator who flew combat missions in the Gulf War. Kelly was selected to become a NASA Space Shuttle pilot in 1996 and piloted the shuttle in 2001 and 2006, and commanded shuttle missions in 2008 and 2001, the latter being his final mission and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. During this mission, he received a call and papal blessing from Pope Benedict XVI; the first such call from a pope to astronauts during a mission.

In 2007 he and Gabby were married. After the Tucson shooting, they were thrust into the media spotlight and he has become a spokesman on what constitutes acceptable civil discourse. They have penned a memoir about their individual and shared experiences after the shooting titled Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope. They have recently launched an initiative called Americans for Responsible Solutions, calling for responsible changes in laws to require responsible gun ownership and reduce gun violence.

The Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee is proud to honor Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelley as Grand Marshals for their history of national and local community service, and their legacy of hope, strength, and love.

 

Filed Under: Past Grand Marshals

Tucson Boys Chorus 2012

November 12, 2012 By Chris Durnan

BoysChorusxaThe Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee typically honors individuals as its Grand Marshal. This year the Parade Committee is honoring a Tucson institution. The Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus will lead the 2012 Tucson Rodeo Parade. The Boys Chorus exemplifies the tradition, culture, and southwest heritage that are epitomized in the Rodeo Parade. They have always included western songs such as “Ghost Riders in the Sky” “Cool Water” and “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” in their repertoire. The Boys Chorus was founded in 1939 by Eduardo Caso, a nationally known tenor who moved to Tucson to recuperate from tuberculosis. Caso took the boys on tours, introducing them to national audiences at the 1950 Chicago World’s Fair and on television programs such as the Bell Telephone Hour, the Ed Sullivan Show, and the Mike Douglas Show. They became international stars on tours of Europe in 1955, and Australia in 1960. In 1963 they sang at the White House at the annual Christmas treelighting ceremony. They are truly Tucson’s “Ambassadors in Blue Jeans.” The Chorus has had only four Directors in its 72 year history. Caso continued as director until his sudden death in 1965. Jeffrey Haskell, a University of Arizona doctoral student stepped in and served as Director for the next 10 years. In 1975 Dr. John Davis, a former soprano for the Boys Chorus, was named Director and continued the Chorus’ tradition of touring and community representation. The Chorus’ current Director, Dr. Julian Ackerley took charge in 1980 and took the boys to tour the Soviet Union, Germany, Austria and Poland to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1990. They continue to tour nationally and internationally to locales such as Mexico, New Zealand, China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and South Africa. They have represented the United States at international choral gatherings in South Korea, Hong Kong, and the Czech Republic and have performed at several American Choral Director’s Association Conferences, AmericaFests singing festivals, the World Symposium on Choral Music, the International Children’s Choir Festival, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In 1996 the Boys Chorus received the Governor’s Arts Award for Arts in Education acknowledging their artistic excellence as well as their aggressive community outreach program. The boys are also recording stars, recording their first album in 1959. They have recorded numerous albums featuring American popular music, Western ballads, patriotic favorites, Christmas and Hanukkah standards, and religious and spiritual classics. The Boys Chorus has passed along the principles of discipline, responsibility, commitment, and hard work to thousands of young men. The Tucson Rodeo Parade is proud to have the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus as its 2012 Grand Marshal.

Filed Under: Past Grand Marshals

Joel D. Valdez – 2011

November 12, 2011 By Chris Durnan

Joel ValdezJoel D. Valdez currently serves as a special adviser to President Robert N. Shelton of the UA Foundation, offering guidance on the University’s growth and development and the UA’s role in the city’s Modern Streetcar Project, the future expansion of the Marriot University Park Hotel, the potential redevelopment of the northwest corner of Speedway and Campbell and much more. Prior his position with the Foundation, Valdez spent 20 years at the University of Arizona as senior vice president for business affairs where he served under four university presidents in his two decades on the job and implemented more than $1 billion worth of construction projects that have changed the face of the campus. Valdez’s work with the University followed a long successful career in Tucson city politics. From 1974 until 1990, he was appointed Tucson City Manager, during which time he oversaw 4,000 employees and administered hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvements in many areas, including housing, water and sewer, public safety, libraries and various private ventures. Throughout his life, Valdez’ sphere of influence as extended far and wide in Tucson. Constantly active in his community, Valdez dedicated much of his free time to help others, where he has served on the boards of the Mariachi Conference (for which he is also a co-founder), Hellenic Cultural Foundation, United Way and the Diocese of Tucson, where he has been named a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre. He received a BS in education from UA in 1957, a Certificate from the Sloan School of Management, M.I.T in 1972 and a diploma fro Harvard University’s Senior Managers in Government school in 1978. Valdez, a Tucson native, and his wife Mary Lee have two children and five grandchildren.

Filed Under: Past Grand Marshals

James “Big Jim”Griffith – Grand Marshal 2010

November 12, 2010 By Chris Durnan

JimGriffithsmlThe Tucson Rodeo Parade is honored to present,
James “Big Jim” Griffith as its 2010 Grand Marshal.
Teacher, founder, anthropologist, author, story teller, award-winning musician, and folklorist all describe the 2010 Tucson Rodeo Parade Grand Marshal, James “Big Jim” Griffith.
For over four decades Big Jim has studied folkways and religious expression throughout the United States-Mexico border region. Griffith’s work as an academic and public folklorist has been extraordinary and his legacy includes founding the Southwest Folklore Center at the University of Arizona and the annual Tucson Meet Yourself Folk Arts Festival.
Jim Griffith was born in Santa Barbara, California, and came to Tucson in 1955 to attend the University of Arizona. He has considered himself a permanent Tucson resident since 1963. He loves Southern Arizona and has said, “I guess I’ll stay in Tucson as long as it gets worse slower than other places.”
He received all three of his degrees from the University of Arizona, the Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and art history in 1973. From 1979 until his retirement in 1998 he ran the University’s Southwest Folklore Center. He is currently a Research Associate at the Center.
With his wife, Loma, he started Tucson Meet Yourself in 1974. The celebration of Tucson’s ethnic and cultural diversity now draws over 100,000 participants annually.
Although he retired as director of the festival in 1995, he is once again heavily involved in this project. Starting in 1985, he wrote and hosted “Southern Arizona Traditions,” a weekly 3-minute spot on KUAT-TV’s Arizona Illustrated program. For 2 ½ years in the late 1980s he wrote a monthly column on “Local Custom” for the now-defunct City Magazine. He was curator for eleven exhibitions of regional traditional arts, the most recent being “La Cadena Que No Se Corta/The Unbroken Chain: The Traditional Arts of Tucson’s Mexican American Community,” at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in the winter of 1996-7.
Griffith has written seven books on Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico folk arts, traditions and religious art. He has been honored by several literary societies and includes such awards as the 2005 Henry Glassie Award and the 2009 Pima County Library Lifetime Achievement Award. He is currently researching for a book on the religious art of Sonora, and finishing a guide to regional folklore.
Big Jim is also an accomplished and award-winning banjo player. He recorded Dixie Cowboy, a CD collection of bluegrass and folk tunes, and also collected the songs and wrote the liner notes for the CD Heroes and Horses: Corridos of the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands,
Jim Griffith’s professional commitment has always been to try to understand the cultures of this part of the border, and to pass along that understanding, as respectfully and accurately as possible, to the general public. His commitment to the history and culture of the Southwest make Big Jim a natural selection as Grand Marshal.

Filed Under: Past Grand Marshals

Mayor Robert E. Walkup – 2009 Grand Marshal

November 12, 2009 By Chris Durnan

MayorMayor Robert E. Walkup was elected to his third term as Mayor of Tucson in 2007.

During his tenure there have been numerous fundamental changes in the way the Tucson region operates.

Under Mayor Walkup’s leadership, Tucson has begun utilizing its share of Colorado River water in 2001 to supplement its potable water supply and reduce its dependence on groundwater.

Mayor Walkup was instrumental in forming our Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) and gaining voter-approval for its $2.1 billion multi-modal transportation plan.

He helped form the Meth-Free Alliance, the Men’s Anti-Violence Partnership, and he led the City Council effort to increase public safety support over a ten-year period with 560 more police officers and 336 more firefighters and paramedics.

Working together with Pima County, Mayor Walkup has engineered consolidations of economic development agencies into one regional entity, the Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, Inc. (TREO), and consolidation of our regional library system funding. His efforts in economic development have contributed to a net increase of 50,000 jobs and $10,000 per year in average worker earnings during his tenure.

Mayor Walkup was the first Arizona Mayor to sign the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement. His local environmental efforts that have resulted in doubling Tucson’s recycling rate, instituting impact fees to make new growth pay its fair share and requiring LEED certification on all new city buildings.

Believing that mayors can play a key role in reducing health care costs, Mayor Walkup initiated the Healthy Tucson Initiative locally and the Global Alliance for Community Wellness internationally. The Global Alliance commits mayors and city governments to partner with local health care leaders to demonstrate healthy lifestyles and support prevention programs in order to improve the city’s quality of life.

Mayor Walkup has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University. He served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and worked for over 37 years in the aerospace industry as an Industrial Engineer and Executive for Rockwell International, Fairchild Republic and Hughes Aircraft. He is Vice President of the Arizona League of Cities and Towns and is a member of the League’s Executive Committee. He also serves as Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee for the US Conference of Mayors’ Transportation Committee.

Mayor Walkup and his wife, Beth Walkup, have five children and six grandchildren. He enjoys astronomy, classical history and is an avid cyclist.

Filed Under: Past Grand Marshals

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We have wagons for rent!

The Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee Offers a Variety of Vehicles for Parade Rental. Offering Wagons, Buggies, Carriages, Flatbed Wagons. We carry it all for your size party to enter the Parade. Prices for Parade entry rented from the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee, Inc. are listed below and … for more info... about Rentals

Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee and Museum P.O.Box 1788 . Tucson AZ 85702
Contact the Parade Office: (520) 294-1280 . Museum: (520) 294-3636
Physical Address: 4823 S 6th Ave, Tucson, Arizona 85714
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