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Tacos Everywhere At San Antonio Rodeo's Cowboy Breakfast

Joey Palacios
/
Texas Public Radio

Thousands of people crowded the parking lot of Cowboys Dancehall this morning for the 35th annual Cowboy Breakfast in what has become a San Antonio Rodeo tradition. Although people show up for the free food, one local college benefits from the remaining sponsorship money

Roughly 35,000 people turned out for this year’s breakfast, and the unseasonably warm 60 degree weather and overcast skies only helped attendance.

Taking in the music, Brenda Duarte was waiting in line for food and said this is her third year attending with family.

“It’s just the experience, just being out here with a  bunch of other people. It’s the kick off the the rodeo, it just puts a smile on your face; wakes you up,” Duarte said.

Under a tent, flat top stoves were manned by about 100 people cooking 760 pounds of chorizo along with sausage, eggs, and biscuits.

"With the amount of product that we’re cooking, we start cooking at midnight in order to have our product ready at 4:30 in the morning in order to serve our guests," said Art Deitle who is in charge of managing the food.

Serena Hood, a culinary student at St. Philip’s College, is helping warm 38,000 tortillas. She and other students are one of the largest volunteer groups.

"It’s giving back so if this is the way for me to help give back then I really love being here," she said, also saying that this is her second year volunteering.

St. Philip’s is the biggest benefactor of the Cowboy Breakfast.  Leftover sponsorship money is donated to the school to be used for scholarships which totals between $10,000 to $25,000.

Planning for the next Cowboy Breakfast begins next week. 

Joey Palacios can be reached atJoey@TPR.org and on Twitter at @Joeycules