California Rodeo Salinas
- About
The California Rodeo Salinas is one of the top 20 Professional Rodeos in the United States and the largest in California. Known in the rodeo world for our big arena and beautiful buckles, we are most proud of being a not-for-profit organization that gives back over $400,000 each year to local non-profits.
The California Rodeo Salinas has been a large part of the Salinas and Monterey County Communities for over 100 years.
This event not only has a huge economic impact on local businesses but also benefits local non-profit organizations each year by donating money back to them, gives the community a sense of pride and identity and puts Salinas on the map for having one of the top 20 professional rodeos in the US and the largest one in California. The California Rodeo Association is proud to impact the community in such a positive way.
- History
- In 1911 the rodeo, known as the Wild West Show, was held at the Sherwood Race Track grounds. It was a week-long event, thus the name, "Big Week". In 1912, playing host to 4,000 people, the rodeo featured mostly local cowboys and cowgirls riding bucking horses. It included visiting cowboys like Jesse Stahl, who was arguably the most famous African American cowboy of all time. Two years later the event became known as the California Rodeo. During this era the El Colmado del Rodeo night parade began. Starting the new millennium in the 2000’s, the popularity of Professional Rodeo continues to grow and so did attendance. The California Rodeo was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. The replay screen was added to bring the action closer to the crowd and mixing technology with tradition. The popular Bull Crossing tent was born offering live music, a full bar, and a mechanical bull for after rodeo entertainment. 2010 brought our Centennial Celebration with a Rodeo full of pageantry even more grand than a normal year at the California Rodeo Salinas. The Grand Entry included a giant boot and a horse and rider emerging from the top presenting the American Flag. 2010 was the first year of our Hall of Fame Inductions. In 2014 a wall was erected to honor those that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. 2013 brought motorcycle jumpers to the track for entertainment and the crowd loved them so much that we brought them back in 2014 and will do the same in 2015. Almost 200 sponsors support the California Rodeo Salinas and other events like the Brad Paisley concert that kicked off the Rodeo in 2014. The Rodeo Association is looking to bring more A-list talent to Salinas in the future.
- Additional Info
- Some of the ways we get involved with the community and local causes are: We hold Patriot Dinners at participating local sponsor's restaurants to benefit the Wrangler National Patriot Program's efforts and our local charity of choice, the Monterey Bay Veterans, throughout the year. The Wrangler National Patriot Program was founded to raise funds for Wound Warriors and the families of fallen soldiers. This national program allows us to choose a local charity to donate our generated funds to and we chose Monterey Bay Veterans Inc-a charity located in Monterey County that takes Veterans and Wounded Warriors out fishing or diving as part of their rehabilitation.
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