2024 Houston Downtown Rodeo Parade

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Downtown Rodeo parade took to the streets of Houston to celebrate Western heritage and mark the beginning of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

The City of Houston has been celebrating the launch of rodeo season with the Downtown Rodeo Parade since 1938. Using three cameras set up along the parade route, ABC13 first televised the Rodeo Parade live in 1959, marking the beginning of a long-term relationship between the station and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Channel 13 has been televising the parade every year since.

We went into the ABC13 Vault to find video of the 1959 celebration

In this news clip from 2014, ABC13 marked the Downtown Rodeo Parade's 55th year by looking back at the first televised Rodeo Parade in 1959.

WATCH: Rodeo Parade rolled through Houston in 1966

1966 Rodeo Parade

ABC13 provided a front-row seat of all the pageantry as the trail riders converged in downtown as the exclusive television partner for the grand event.