Every summer for the past 71 years, lifetime Hollister resident
Dick Vieira has headed to Bolado Park to watch the Saddle Horse
Show and Rodeo.
Every summer for the past 71 years, lifetime Hollister resident Dick Vieira has headed to Bolado Park to watch the Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo. Some years he went to compete, others he went to watch his daughters, then granddaughters, compete, and next year he’ll watch his great grandson do the same.
Vieira, 77, said it’s just a family tradition.
“Oh yes, it’s just a great tradition to those who have been involved for a long time and it’s a chance to catch up with old friends,” he said.
Vieira was only 6-years-old when he attended his first rodeo.
“We had a neighbor who had a ranch, and they would give us each a horse and we would ride through the hills from Santa Ana Valley Road to Bolado Park,” he said. “Back then, things in town were much more isolated. It would take us around an hour-and-a-half to two hours to get there.”
In the early days, Vieira said the rodeo didn’t have dozens of food vendors and booths. Back then, it was more about a bunch of friends getting together to ride and rope, he said.
“In those days, people didn’t have trailers so they would come and pitch tents by the creek side and camp out for the weekend,” he said. “There weren’t food vendors, but you could find one booth with hot dogs and popcorn by the arena.”
Before Hollister was filled with housing developments and new urban neighborhoods, Vieira said the ranch houses were great distances from each other, so the rodeo was a common place for community members to catch up.
“We didn’t see our neighbors a lot of the time, so Bolado Park was a great place to meet them,” he said.
His wife, Carmen Vieira, agrees.
“Oh, it’s been great,” she said. “We always see old friends there.”
Just as the city of Hollister has grown, Vieira said the rodeo has too. He remembers a tradition he and his family shared for years at the rodeo that has sort of died off in the past years.
“After the show, us and some of our friends would stay around and have a drink and talk about the day’s events and just enjoy each other’s company,” he said. “Now, it just seems like a lot of people just load up their horses and take off.”
Throughout the years, Vieira said the rodeo has remained family oriented, and he commends the organizers board for keeping activities like the family barbecue, which will be held on Saturday.
“I think it’s a definite plus,” he said.
Along with all the usual faces from the county, Vieira said the rodeo is a great place for out-of-towners to see a unique, rural county tradition.
“My wife and I have friends from San Francisco, and when they come down for the rodeo they always say ‘how can you stand it so quiet?’ and when we visit them we say ‘how can you stand it so noisy?’ ” he said. “People can go to any rodeo whether it be Salinas or wherever, but they won’t find the kind of county tradition you find here.”
The 71st Annual Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo will be held Friday, June 25, through Sunday June 27. For more information call 628-3421.
