If you're going to Tucson's rodeo parade this year, you might want to find a new spot to watch the bands, horses, and floats come and go.
The 99th annual parade will take a new path to the rodeo grounds Thursday.
Members of the Little Mexico Restaurant Float wave to the crowd during the 98th Annual Tucson Rodeo Parade on February 23, 2023.
Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star
The parade's new route begins at South 12th Street and West Drexel Road. The race started on East Ajo Way, but this route required participants to cross the railroad tracks just west of South Park Avenue.
The parade will now continue east through Drexel to South Nogales Highway. From there, head north until you reach East Irvington Road just before the rodeo venue.
The parade is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, February 22nd.
This is only the second route change in the parade's history. In 1991, the parade's route moved from downtown to its current location, with riders and marching bands moving south down Park Avenue to Irvington, then stopping near the rodeo venue on South 6th Street. Did. The route crossed the railroad tracks twice.
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Photo: Historical Tucson Rodeo Parade
1934 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade along Congress Street.
arizona daily star file
1936 Arizona Daily Star coverage of the Tucson Rodeo Parade.
arizona daily star
Little Cowpuncher rides in the 1939 Tucson Rodeo Parade. Victor Aroz is in the front left. Pete Aros stands in the center, the only one not wearing a cowboy hat.
Provided by: Victor Aros
1940 Tucson Rodeo Parade (6th Avenue and Alameda Street)
Alicia Bustamante Meza
In the 1940s, the popular Budweiser Clydesdales came to town for the Tucson Rodeo Parade. They stopped at Jake's Liquor Store on the southeast corner of Meyer and Broadway. Jake's (for Jacobs) was owned by the Jacobs family. Edward C. Jacobs is second from left and his father, EA Jacobs, is third from left.
Provided by Vera J. Bowerman
1949 Tucson Rodeo Parade heads north from Pennington Street up Stone Avenue. You can see the historic Pioneer Hotel in the upper right.
Reginald Russell/Tucson Citizen
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base wife photo at the 1950 Tucson Rodeo Parade. Geraldine Casey is pictured at the front of the parade.
Provided by the Casey family
Bud Ramsey (right) with his bulldog won an award for being the most unusual entry in the 1950 Tucson Rodeo Parade. This photo was taken at Scott's Avenue and His 12th Street.
arizona daily star file
It was ridden in the 1951 Tucson Rodeo Parade by William Boyd, who played the role of cowboy Hopalong Cassidy.
Reginald Russell/Tucson Citizen
Stone and Alameda crowds in downtown Tucson participate in the 1951 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade.
Reginald Russell/Tucson Citizen
1953 Rodeo Queen Diane Moore at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo & Parade
Bernie Sedley / Tucson Citizen
St. Mary's float in the 1953 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade featured nuns and nuns in Native American costumes.
Bernie Sedley / Tucson Citizen
Copy of Historic Tucson Daily Citizen. The headline reads, “Record Crowd Watches Tucson Rodeo Parade on February 23, 1956.”
tucson citizen
In the 1959 Tucson Rodeo Parade, the Alice Vail Junior School band, rated the best in its division, headed along West Pennington Street between Stone and Church avenues.
tucson citizen
The Pomeroy Elementary School band marches along Congress Street in front of the Fox Theater during the 1961 Tucson Rodeo Parade.
tucson citizen
A parade warden with a 35 mm rangefinder camera and an 8 mm film movie camera during the 1961 Tucson Rodeo Parade in downtown Tucson.
tucson citizen
People watch the parade in the cool morning air during the 1961 Tucson Rodeo Parade in downtown Tucson.
tucson citizen
An adult keeps a boy at a safe distance during the 1961 Tucson Rodeo Parade on Stone Avenue in downtown Tucson.
tucson citizen
1962 Tucson Rodeo Parade.
tucson citizen
The aftermath of the 1962 Tucson Rodeo Parade in downtown Tucson.
tucson citizen
Mariachis march in the Tucson Rodeo Parade in downtown Tucson in 1962.
tucson citizen
February 26, 1968: Tucson Rodeo Parade Equipment Manager Harry Blackledge, 85, born in Tucson, takes over the reins of an artificial horse tied to the famous Maximilian carriage housed in the Parade Museum.
Bruce Hopkins/Tucson Citizen
A young spectator blows a plastic horn as the entrance to the San Xavier Women's Club approaches during the 1971 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade.
Bruce Hopkins/Tucson Citizen
February 24, 1971: Mr. and Mrs. Otto R. Eicher (bound in nooses) are welcomed in traditional Western style to Tucson's Fiesta de los Vaqueros by city vigilantes and rodeo princess Barbara. -Bell told them to reach out. Fly over Interstate 10 and stay for five days, courtesy of the City of Tucson and the Tucson Jaycees. The Eichers, from Sandusky, Ohio, were chosen at random.
tucson citizen
Quadrille, a coed, stands in front of the University of Arizona marching band during the 1971 rodeo parade in downtown Tucson.
tucson citizen
Some things never change. These passionate rodeo fans lined up along the rodeo parade route in 1972.
tucson citizen
The rodeo parade winds south down Church Avenue and turns east at 1972 Cushing Street. The then new Central Fire Station is on the right. The empty space in the upper left was filled by the La Placita office complex and the Superior Courthouse complex.
tucson citizen
University of Arizona Marching Band, Pride of Arizona during the 1973 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade
The 1976 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade drew an estimated crowd of 200,000 people.
PK Weiss/Tucson Citizen
Members of the U.S. 5th Calvary Regiment warm up by a fire before the 1976 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade.
PK Weiss/Tucson Citizen
The Las Vegas Casino stagecoach entrance passes in front of the “new” La Placita Village office complex on Church Avenue during the 1977 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade.
Former Gov. Jack Williams was one of the many dignitaries riding in the “Maximilian Coach” in the 1978 Tucson Rodeo Parade. The 100-year-old vehicle has been the subject of anecdotes and controversy since it was purchased by the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee in 1932.
Harry Lewis / Arizona Daily Star
It was a rainy and windy day in 1983 as the parade made its way down Pennington Street. Due to the narrow downtown area, this route was moved to South Park Avenue in 1991.
arizona daily star
A wagon driver enrolled in the Young Explorers School struggles to control his frightened horse during the 1986 La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade. A second van plowed into the crowd, injuring at least one person.
Xavier Gallegos / Tucson Citizen
La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo Parade turns from Fifth Avenue to 12th Street, north of Armory Park. Note the old National Guard Armory building on the left side of the park. It was demolished to make way for a senior center. Additionally, Fifth Avenue once ran directly in front of Safford School. Now it's a dead end there.
Ray Manley
The parade is free. However, tickets are still on sale for the grandstand, located on Drexel Road near South Liberty Avenue, according to the release.
Grandstand tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under.
The parade features more than 120 participants, including those on horses, wagons and marching bands.
Louise Thomas, founder of Angel Charity for Children, Inc., is this year's Grand Marshal.
