Scaled-down Cattle Call expected to be costly to local community
BRAWLEY — The Brawley Cattle Call Rodeo, the signature event here, starts today, but businesses and residents will not be able to enjoy it like past years.
The rodeo, as usual, will consist of three performances over the course of the weekend. This time, however, the arena and grounds are closed to the public. What’s more, the series of community events leading up to the competitions, including the annual Cattle Call Parade, were all given the kibosh due to COVID-19 concerns.
The impact on the local economy is expected to be significant. Brawley Cattle Call Rodeo Committee President Carson Kalin said the loss of revenue countywide could be close to $10 million.
He said the loss of spectators means there will be no parties and celebrations, and the stores, hotels and other businesses will experience loss of a lot of revenue.
Kalin said it’s not just the city of Brawley that will be negatively impacted. For example, the Cattle Call gets its beer from El Centro, so with no spectators and no beer gardens there is little need to make that purchase.
In the past, the rodeo would hire Sheriff’s Office personnel for security purposes, meaning these jobs also are no longer necessary.
“All the non-profits that depend on the rodeo for their annual budget (will be impacted),” Kalin said. “Everyone in the county will be affected.”
Brawley Chamber of Commerce Director Katie Luna said that the chamber and city will lose tourism, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars.
Between the businesses’ lost income, the city loss in sales tax and the chamber’s lost revenue it will be a huge hit for the community.
“We will feel the effects throughout next year to three years if not longer,” Luna said in text message.
She wrote that many of its local businesses rely on Cattle Call to bring them out of a slow summer.
“Unfortunately, we won’t see that fully happen,” she said. “We hope that businesses are taking advantage of any financial assistance available to them, so they can weather the storm through next year and into next fall when we hope to have Cattle Call again.”
She said it was important that gatherings were not encouraged this year, so COVID numbers would not spike to allow businesses better opportunities to reopen.
She said the chamber wants to be a champion for the community by adapting the Cattle Call festivities to be virtual.
“Our virtual Cattle Call has been a total success,” Luna said. “The most important concern for the chamber was to ensure we didn’t contribute to any spikes in COVID.
“Our virtual events (were) a way for the chamber to contribute to healthy practices while enjoying our traditions.”
However, she said the chamber’s most crucial role right now is being a convener of leaders to find solutions for economic stability during COVID.
Brawley City Manager Tyler Salcido said the loss of the events and all of the activities associated with Cattle Call will have an effect on the city.
Because the city expected Cattle Call to be a lot different this year, it was included in the list of activities that were going to take a loss or be cut, like the skate park and pool.
“It’s our cornerstone and biggest event of the year for the city of Brawley,” Salcido said.
He said the hotels and businesses in the city will be highly impacted by Cattle Call going virtual.
He said businesses rely on those tourists to shop and even purchase fuel during Cattle Call week.
All of the vendors at Cattle Call would need to get licenses and permits from the city, so this, along with a decrease in sales and hospitality tax, will have a dramatic impact on the community, Salcido said.
“I think it will affect individual businesses,” he said. “All businesses will be hurting. They will be losing tons of revenue.”
He said the jobs Cattle Call offered in past years will no longer be needed.
Brawley Councilman Luke Hamby looked at it a little bit differently.
While it’s true the Cattle Call brings in a lot of revenue, the city pays to block off streets among other things to help the rodeo and the associated activities, he said.
Hamby did say the local businesses will experience a big loss in sales from past years with a virtual Cattle Call rodeo.