BIG SPRING, Texas – The anticipation begins long in advance and continues to build around west Texas.

The Big Spring Cowboy Reunion and Rodeo – which begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 19-Saturday, June 21, at the Surge Energy Rodeo Bowl – was developed 91 years ago as a way for locals to gather and celebrate their way of life. It has always been a community festival, from those early days so long ago to this year’s gala.

Organizers understand that. Many of them have had family members involved in the annual event that brings thousands to town, and they’ve worked to not only continue the tradition but to also enhance the experience. It’s why the rodeo has included a musical presence for several years with the uptick in established concerts.

This year’s rodeo will feature the perfect blend of party atmosphere and down-home dancehall music on the Star Ford Stage inside the Franklin & Son Pavilion with Roger Creager playing after the Friday performance of the rodeo and the Josh Abbott Band closing down the festivities Saturday night.

“Roger Creager is going to play music that a lot of people really like,” said Derek Wash, a longtime member of the volunteer committee that organizes the event.

Creager was born in 1971 at Corpus Christi, Texas. He attended Sam Houston State University, then went on to Texas A&M, where he really delved into his music career. He’s been entertaining crowds for decades. In fact, he’s played in Big Spring before.

“We’re pretty excited to get Roger and have hm back in town for our rodeo concert,” Wash said.

The same can be said about the Josh Abbott Band, which is originally from Lubbock, Texas, and has been a potent fixture in the Texas County music scene. Fronted by singer-songwriter-guitarist Josh Abbott, the seven-piece band has established a powerful following based on the strength of the group’s live performances.

“That band is more for the ‘Take your sweetheart out and have some good dancing music’ type of show,” Wash said. “They’re big around here because they’re from Lubbock originally before they went to Nashville. It’s the kind of music most everybody can enjoy.”

That helps make for an entertaining final two nights of the weekend. To help facilitate the concert-goers’ experiences, the volunteers have made some upgrades to the pavilion. Workers improved sound-proofing insulation on the front and back walls to serve as a barrier and help avoid excessive rattling and extreme volume that has been a bit of a hinderance in the past.

“We also put in roll-up doors around the whole thing, so if it rains, we close it up and still party,” Wash said. “We’ve spent a ton of money in there, and it looks great. We just want to make the overall experience better for everyone that wants to enjoy the show.

“This is just something added to our rodeo that we want to do to help make it exciting. There’s still a $10 ticket to get in the rodeo, and then it’s $20 to get into the dance. We’ve still got a few tables available for the dance, but we’re almost sold out of those. If anyone wants to get a table and have a good place to sit, they’d probably better act quickly.”

For those who just want to be part of the show, there are still plenty of standing-room-only tickets for sale each night. As the rodeo has grown over time, there is so much more going on for ticket-buyers who want an evening out at a reasonable price.

This is, after all, why the local folks volunteer their time and their energy into producing an event with more than nine decades of tradition.

“This is something people look forward to in the summer,” Wash said. “We’ve promoted ourselves as having the biggest acts in Big Spring at the most affordable price you’ll ever find. We didn’t increase our prices to these concerts, even though the concerts cost more now than they ever have. We’re not doing this to try to make a bunch of money. We’re trying to bring something into this community. If you can’t go out on vacation or don’t get to do all these things, you still get a chance in your hometown.

“That’s what the rodeo is about. We’re just trying to put on something that really makes the people of Big Spring proud, gives them a whole weekend of fun to look forward to all year. It’s why we do this selfless job, so that folks who can’t afford to go out of town or don’t want to have to go really far can take their kids to do something really fun here in town.”