For the 2nd Year in a Row, COVID-19 Cancels Angola’s Prison Rodeo

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If you were still hoping that the current COVID-19 infection rates were just a bump in the road at the end of the pandemic that started more than a year ago, I've got some bad news for you.  What we experienced during the brief window in summer when we thought we were emerging from the lockdown was apparently just the eye of the storm.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 infection rates are skyrocketing once again thanks to the more-infectious "Delta Variant" of the original coronavirus that started this whole thing.  Most experts agree that our false hope of freedom actually made things much worse.  We were so excited about gathering together again, we most likely overdid it.  Since so many remained unvaccinated, the virus was (once again) passed around like a bread basket at an Italian dinner.

Since we have already gone through this process before, we kind of knew what was coming next: Closings and cancellations.  The latest Louisiana event to fold in the name of public health is the famed Angola Prison Rodeo.  Disappointed state corrections department officials made the announcement on Wednesday that the rodeo featuring inmates from one of the toughest maximum security prisons in the world would not be wowing crowds with bull riding, bronc busting, calf roping, or any of the real rodeo action they had planned for every weekend in October.

According to a report from the Intelligencer, this is only the 2nd time since the rodeo's inception in 1965 that it has been canceled.  According to the report, officials with the office of corrections will refund money to those who have already purchased tickets for the event.