Inaugural Cowboy Festival: A Celebration of Urban Cowboy Culture and Rancho Heritage!
On Saturday, June 21, RLC hosted the inaugural “Cowboy Festival,” celebrating our exhibition: Untold Legacies: Rethinking the American Cowboy, urban cowboy culture, and the Juneteenth holiday. The event featured activities and demonstrations from the RLC Education team, and spotlighted event partner Urban Saddles and their horses, Duke and Coco, who brought smiles to all who visited and took photos. Other vendors and supporters included Adam’s Forge with their blacksmithing demonstrations, Untold Legacies featured Artist, Daniel Gaitor-Lomack; food and drink vendors such as Beachwood Brewing, Lola’s Mexican Cuisine, Battambong BBQ, Shady Grove BBQ; and local bands “The Daring and the Darling”, “Pio Gabriel”, and Ghuan Featherstone, founder of Urban Saddles!
Throughout the day, families and kids enjoyed activities such as roping games, panning for gold, making “lariat” bracelets, playing Loteria (a lottery card game), and decorating cowboy vests to wear and take home. Kids were encouraged to express themselves through art, which added color and creativity to the activity area. At the same time, many guests enjoyed fabulous food and refreshments as they relaxed to entertaining musical performances. One festival attendee commented, “I’m so glad we decided to come [to the festival] today—there is something for everyone, and we love seeing the horses up close!”
The festival was well attended, with over 400 guests enjoying games, activities, musical performances, demonstrations, and tours of the Rancho’s historic adobe. A special shout-out to Blacksmith’s Corner Feed and Pet Store donating a portion of the hay bales used for event decor and cattle roping games to enhance the day’s experience. Alison Bruesehoff, Rancho Los Cerritos Executive Director, stated,”With overwhelming positive feedback from visitors and vendors, RLC hopes to make this event an annual summer celebration. We want to extend our sincere thanks to the Port of Long Beach for making this event possible!”
