How cowboy is Clovis? Rodeo week gives people ‘free rein to be Western’ | Opinion
How cowboy is Clovis?
That depends, pardner. Mostly on how you define the term “cowboy” – and whether there’s a 10-gallon hat lurking somewhere in your closet.
During 11 months out of the year, the city’s Western-themed motif is largely limited to storefronts in Old Town, street signs adorned with a cowboy atop a bucking bronco and public transit services named the Clovis Stageline and Round Up.
But every April, starting at Big Hat Days and culminating with the Clovis Rodeo, cowboy culture goes from slow walk to full gallop. Both as a celebration of the area’s ranching roots and as a modern-day excuse for people to wear high-crowned wide-brimmed hats and leather boots even though home is not on the range but in the ’burbs.
“During this week people have free rein to be Western,” said Tom Warnert, a longtime resident who volunteers at the Clovis Big Dry Creek Museum. “It’s part of Clovis culture, and nobody really questions it.”
While Clovis began in 1890 as a freight stop along the San Joaquin Valley Railroad (before being incorporated as a city in 1912), the area’s cowboy heritage can be traced to the 1860s when cattle and sheep barons settled along Big Dry Creek in the area known as Academy.
“Their code of ethics included loyalty to family, church and country,” wrote Peggy Bos, the Clovis historian, former mayor and longtime museum president. “Cowboys were and remain skilled guardians of their stock, family and community.”
There’s probably no better summation of the cowboy way viewed through a Clovis prism than that. Any resemblance to the city’s unofficial Way of Life slogan is intentional.
In truth, Clovis owes its founding more to railroads and lumber companies than to cowboys driving head of cattle across the open frontier. But railroads and lumber aren’t romantic symbols of the Old West that can be easily linked to the city’s signature event.
Clovis rides rodeo
Now in its 111th year, the Clovis Rodeo is largely responsible for the annual surge of cowboy culture around these parts. California’s second-largest professional rodeo attracts more than 50,000 fans across its five-day run, not including attendance at the Saturday morning parade, and brings a reported $30 million boost to the local economy.
“We do sell a lot of hats this time of year,” Greg Sassano said.
How much does it cost to look like a cowboy? The fourth-generation owner of Sassano’s Men’s Wear in Old Town gave a quick rundown:
“One hundred to 150 bucks” for a good quality hat made from felt or straw (those of lesser quality sell for as low as $35). “Nice shirts” cost $30 to $40, while a pair of Wranglers runs for $32. Boots range from $130 to $330 – at least for what he keeps in stock. Add a belt with a built-in buckle ($30) you’re pretty much good to go.
“Three hundred to five hundred bucks and you can walk out of here a happy cowboy,” Sassano said with a grin. “I don’t care if you’ve got a horse or not.”
Warnert, the museum docent, said suburban-dwelling Clovis residents who wear Western attire during rodeo week are akin to those who party on Cinco de Mayo even though they aren’t Mexican and May 5 isn’t a widespread national holiday in Mexico.
Both simply provide a reason to celebrate.
“I think it’s people’s way of expressing they’re proud to be in Clovis,” he said. “They’re not really cowboys – let’s be honest. But it’s rodeo week, so it’s OK to put on a cowboy hat and dress up like one.”
A few genuine cowboys
Interspersed among the many pretend cowboys are a few genuine articles. And I don’t just mean contestants in bronc riding and team roping.
While Clovis expands subdivision by subdivision, the foothills east of town and along the east side of San Joaquin Valley remain dotted with working ranches and people who exude that lifestyle. Among my favorite stories I’ve ever written for The Bee (sadly purged from the Internet) was a 2007 love story between a Tollhouse man who made his living breaking problem and abused horses and his adopted mustang.
“Every horse on this property was considered crazy or unrideable,” J Allen told me while surveying his seven acres at the foot of Burrough Mountain. “It seems like the crazier the horse, the better I get along with them.”
Doesn’t get any more cowboy than that.
Clovis’ celebration of country traditions is often accompanied by snickers from across the border. And perhaps some of that is good-natured ribbing. But as a reminder to those city slickers, Fresno has plenty of Western apparel stores (i.e. Seis Hermanos, El Caporal, Ariat Brand Shop) and its most popular outdoor concert series is Boots In The Park.
What I’m saying is cowboy culture isn’t exclusive to Clovis. Even though it might seem that way during this time of year.
