What Rodeo Austin Means To Us
I’ve often heard that humor is rooted in truth, and I tend to agree. Generally speaking, there has to be a certain element of truth to a joke for it to be funny. That may be why comedians are often on the frontlines of the freedom of speech wars that happen from time to time across the globe; limiting a comedian’s speech destroys their ability to do their job similar to an HVAC tech being without his gauges. Certain tools are absolutely required to complete certain jobs, and in that sense, a comedian must always be armed with the truth.
That might be why we had so many people laugh when we’d introduce ourselves at Rodeo Austin’s BBQ Austin competition. All we did was tell them the truth: “We’re a bunch of rednecks who fix A/C’s, but once a year, we get to be something besides working stiffs and smoke a whole bunch of meat for the good people of Austin.” Ironically, we’re actually diving head first into the BBQ competition world now after the success we had at Rodeo Austin, but at the time it was plenty true. And while we’ve had smoke running through our veins for decades, it truly was the excitement and adrenaline of Rodeo Austin’s BBQ Austin event that turned us into competition addicts.
You see, Rodeo Austin isn’t just one of the largest rodeo events in the nation. It isn’t just an amazing opportunity to enjoy the carnival with your friends and family, and it isn’t just an excuse for us rednecks to sit around, drink beer and smoke meat. No, what Rodeo Austin really is is a nonprofit powerhouse, improving people’s lives across the greater Austin area in a wide variety of ways. For example, annually they set up twenty students for internships, with their donations towards this totaling over one million dollars to date. On the scholarship side of things, Rodeo Austin has donated over eight million dollars to date, with almost twenty five hundred deserving local students receiving this assistance.
As a locally owned family business, as a family who has called the amazing city of Austin home for over three generations, we couldn’t be more proud to be associated with an amazing organization such as them. Knowing that there is an organization dedicated to making sure no child is left behind 12 months out of the year just lets you feel good about your city, and the fact they do it through hosting one of the most fun events in Texas is all the more impressive. There are so many bright, young minds in this world that go to waste, but not so much in Austin, all thanks to Rodeo Austin.
This year was extra special, as many of our friends sponsored us in our journey to feed as many people as possible. To start, our good friends at GoodStock by Nolan Ryan hooked us up with the absolute best beef one can find not just in Texas, but in the entire of the country (as far as we’re concerned). Our really good friends at FastSigns of Pflugerville, who has a designer who could be working in Hollywood and office staff who could train people at any print shop in professionalism and accountability, created a bunch of cool promotional materials and banners for us as well. Under Pressure Screen Printing created some amazing team t-shirts for the event using their environmentally safe screen printing machines too (if you need shirts, theirs last A LONG TIME too!).
McMillan James Equipment Company & MORSCO HVAC Supply, two of the hardest working companies we know, also joined us on this venture in a big way. Sergio Loyola from McMillan James partied with us all day Friday too! Even our good friends we went a PO Box from at The UPS Store # 0289 off Balcones Woods Drive got in on the fun, offering us an awesome sponsorship. Really, the more people we mentioned what we were doing to, the more people who joined up, including my Dad’s business partner and commercial real estate agent Joe Hoover and a Realtor friend of ours who is with Keller Williams, Reggie Donaldson.
Just knowing how much money we raised while on site made the whole weekend worthwhile, even if we had had a miserable time. Luckily for us, we’re equally addicted to smoking meat as we are helping our community.
To learn more about Rodeo Austin, check out their website HERE.
To learn more about Austin Refrigeration, check out our website HERE.
And if you want to learn more about how dirty air is killing you and your family, visit our clean air site HERE.