07:31 AM CST on Monday, March 13, 2006

By Karla Barguiarena / 11 News

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More than 60,000 people put on their cowboy attire to attend this year’s Go Tejano Day.

KHOU-TV

Music draws the masses to Go Tejano Day at the rodeo.

It’s the music that draws the crowd.

“I feel right at home, I feed on it,” Eddy Gonzalez said.

Every year, Gonzalez takes his family to the Houston Rodeo only on Go Tejano Day.

It’s what his wife and relatives want — all of his relatives.

“It’s my husband, my three kids, my mom, my mother in law, my cousin, my sister in law her husband and their families,” Elizabeth Gonzalez said.

It’s that kind of traditional Hispanic unity that Rodeo officials said make Go Tejano day the most popular of the 20-day event.

In fact, Go Tejano day has had the highest attendance in all of the rodeos in 10 of the last 15 years.

“We as marketing people are not stupid we know what the demographics are,” Rodeo official LeRoy Shafer said. “And this won’t just be one day it’ll be multiple days.”

It’s also the day with the most walk-up ticket sales. In the past, up to 11,000 concert tickets have been sold on a walk up basis on Go Tejano Day.

High attendance means high profits for Rogelio Luna.

“Typically we get about 5 thousand dollars more than the average day,” Luna with the Go Tejano diner said.

No one better than Eddy knows where that money comes from.

He said he spent around $300 on Sunday.

“All this family, I have to invite them to eat,” he said.

Money well spent for his family and for the Rodeo.