After 80 years, the San Benito County Saddle Horse Show & Rodeo is firmly placed in the county’s lore. Through multiple generations, the annual rodeo has seen many changes with participants and those in attendance.
The 80th anniversary of the show, which kicks off Thursday with the Saddle Horse Parade and Fiesta, which goes through downtown at 6:15 p.m., will once again showcase a youth movement as more and more younger generation cowboys make their mark at Bolado Park.
After 16-year-old Cash Robinson took home the all-around senior award last year, rodeo organizers expect a bigger youth infusion in 2013.
“There was a break in the action,” President John Barrett said. “When we were growing up everyone was participating and then when we had kids and they were participating. Then there was this dry spell and nobody knew why. But that’s coming back. The next generation is going out there. The interest is coming back.”
All contestants must be at least 16 years or older. With a large number of Hollister residents in high school and junior high school rodeo, the participation should grow over the next few years, arena director Mark Skow said.
“There are a lot more younger classes,” he said. “Ever since I’ve been involved I always looked at that to judge certain things. There have been some classes that have seen a steady interest over the years.”
Those events include rough stock and roping, Skow said.
“If we opened roping up, we would be doing it for four days,” he said.
Two weeks before the rodeo kicks off, ticket sales were up and the participation list continues to grow larger than 430.
After a stagnant couple of years in attendance, 2013 is expected to be the largest show in a few years. To get the interest of the community outside the ranchers, the saddle horse show committee has been focused on getting the word out.
“It’s been stagnant over the last few years because so many people aren’t that interested for some reason,” Barrett said. “That’s one of the reasons for the downtown parade. A lot of people don’t realize that we have the rodeo. We are hoping to get increased ticket sales this year.”
For many, though, the rodeo is the biggest social event of the year, with generations upon generations of Hollister families in Bolado Park.
“There are people that anticipate this for months ahead of time,” Barrett said. “Someone, who I just saw the other day, told me that it’s better than Christmas. I’m not going to name names but he gets so excited about it.”
Adding to the tradition, the show will see a few changes this year. For the first time, the rodeo will add a second announcer – Ted Dwyer – to join Eddie Kutz. The hope is that with two announcers, they will have better coverage of all the events.
“A lot of the time, he would be focused on one thing while something else was going on,” Barrett said. “We wanted another announcer to be able to cover that to.”
And for the second time in three years, the California Professional Rodeo Association will participate in all rough stock events – which include bull and bronc riding. After such success in 2011 – the first year when CPRA riders were allowed to participate – the rodeo wanted to bring it back in 2012 but couldn’t because of a scheduling conflict. That conflict isn’t there this year.
“It’s not the total big leagues but it’s up there,” Skow said. “90 percent will be from out of the area.”
Featured entertainment includes rodeo clown Jonathan Cabral and J. Parson during the pre-show and Saturday barbecue.
Tickets to the show are available at the Bolado Park rodeo office and at Ranchers Feed. Tickets for adults on Friday are $7 and $4 for children under 11 years old. On Saturday and Sunday, adult tickets are $10.
For the full schedule and other information, go here.
