This Thursday community members are expected to line the streets
of downtown Hollister for the 71st Annual Saddle Horse Show
Parade
– or so they think.
This Thursday community members are expected to line the streets of downtown Hollister for the 71st Annual Saddle Horse Show Parade – or so they think.
What many residents may not know is the parade was called off for at least 10 years, and has only been running consistently every year since 1978.
San Benito Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Theresa Kiernan said “parades are about the entire community,” and for a brief period during the 1960s, the community here decided to not march through town and celebrate the up coming Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo.
“The parade just stopped for at least ten years,” Sharlene Van Rooy of the Chamber of Commerce said. “It was in the newspaper archives all through the 70s and then when you get to the 60s it just stops.”
Van Rooy spent some time looking through those archives, but couldn’t find out why the parade stopped.
Long-time Hollister resident Bill Hawkins said the parade has been going on since the 1930s and was the main event of the years after World War II.
“This was before the bike rallies,” he said.
Hawkins thinks it must have stopped because the community didn’t support it.
“I’m not exactly sure why it stopped, but they probably didn’t have enough people interested in it,” he said.
Hawkins also said most of the traditional aspects of the parade are the same as they were 70 years ago. One reoccurring highlight of the parade is Miss San Benito Rodeo. Hawkins hopes the interest in the parade continues for years to come.
“It seems to me there is more interest today than there has been in past years,” he said. “I think part of this has to do with people who are new to the county. They’re finally getting to know about the community events.”
New county resident and old can head to downtown Hollister this Thursday for the parade, which just like years past, will be followed by other activities. After watching more than 75 local businesses and organizations stroll down San Benito Street, community members can enjoy a barbecue dinner and dancing at the Veterans’ Plaza.
The parade kicks off the Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo, which will be held at Bolado Park Friday, June 25 through Sunday, June 27. Along with plenty of horses, visitors can enjoy a wine and cheese reception and the Hand Crafted Equipment and Western Art’s Fair for free on Friday. On Saturday there is a family barbecue at 1 p.m. and there will be a corral for kids all weekend at the north grandstand.
For more information on the parade call the chamber at 637-5315 and for the Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo call Bolado Park at 628-3421.
Christine Tognetti can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 330 or at [email protected].
