The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo said it will fulfill its scholarship commitment, despite the event’s closure over coronavirus concerns.

Houston mayor Sylvester Turner announced the event was ending early on Wednesday.

Andy Gardner, vice president of Go Texan for Nacogdoches County, spoke with KTRE News before making an emergency trip to Houston to help his wife and daughter. Gardner’s wife teaches agriculture at Chireno High School, and his daughter was an exhibitor in the 2020 rodeo.

Gardner said the decision to close this year’s Rodeo and Livestock Show is causing “chaos.” He said most exhibitors were hopeful organizers would allow exhibitors to could continue to show their animals without spectator participation.

All of them have worked for close to a year with show animals with hopes of winning scholarship money. Officials announced after the decision that the organization would fulfill its scholarship commitments.

According to the rodeo’s scholarship page, more than 800 scholarships are expected to be awarded through the events nine scholarship programs, with each recipient receiving a $20,000 scholarship, money that can be used to go toward a four-year undergraduate degree.

The decision was announced Wednesday at noon that all participants had to be off the grounds by 4 p.m. Gardner said it would be an impossible feat due to the show’s large size.