Lafourche council shoots down Company Canal deal
June 8, 2010Thursday, June 10
June 10, 2010With oil still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, the area’s most prestigious rodeo, the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo, has been canceled.
The rodeo, which was established in 1928, has long served as one of the oldest and most competitive fishing rodeos in America.
In place of the event in 2010 will be an Island Aid Concert, and proceeds for the event will go to the Grand Isle Alive Promotion Fund.
That fund was established in the wake of the oil spill, and it is designed to help rebuild the fishing and tourism industries within the island during and after the spill.
The concert will take place July 23-25 – the same weekend the rodeo was originally scheduled.
A press release issued by rodeo officials said the event was canceled to allow workers and fishermen to focus on cleaning and containment.
There are currently no fishing zones open on the island.
In addition to fishing, the rodeo brings millions of tourist dollars to the island each year – dollars that may now be lost by people who will not come to the 2010 event.
Buggie Vegas with Bridgeside Marina in Grand Isle said two weeks ago before the event was canceled that a cancellation would be harmful for the island’s economy.
“That’s a big time of the year for us,” she said. “That would deal everyone a pretty severe blow.”
The Tarpon Rodeo’s cancellation is just one of many rodeos in the area to be halted.
The Montegut Lions Club Annual Speckled Trout Rodeo, the Krewe of Terreanians Fishing Rodeo and the 63rd Annual Golden Meadow-Fourchon International Tarpon Rodeo have all been halted thanks to the oil spill.
