California Rodeo Salinas to feature Charro riders in special exhibition

The California Rodeo Salinas and the Charro horse riders are coming together to put on a special show for fans this year.

Charros, or Mexican cowboys, are a symbol of Mexican culture with a history rich in tradition.

Now they’re sharing some of those traditions with rodeo fans at the 108th annual California Rodeo Salinas.

“We want everyone to come see something different. It has been 108 years for the rodeo and I guess this never happen so now we’ll have little piece of Charros horses dancing horses, Aztecas and playing rope were going to do little bit of everything,” said Adan Gomez, with the Salinas Valley Charro Groups.

The Charros will be bringing a little bit of the past to the sport of rodeo as we know it.

“We understand that before John Wayne the true cowboy was the Charro,” said Brent Eastman, President of the California Rodeo Salinas.

Brent Eastman said the rodeo already pays tribute to the Mexican heritage with the pronunciation of its name, but this year there will be a special exhibition on Sunday to highlight the Mexican culture along with more Charro riders on the track before each performance.

“We are super excited. Every day we’re going to have mariachi music playing during the Charro portion of the grand entry. We’ll have a Spanish announcer doing a brief introduction and we’re going to slow the parade down a little bit and let them do what Charros do which is dance on the track so instead of rushing down the track we’re going to let them dance down the track.”

It has been a long time coming, several years in fact and it is something the Charros had been fighting for.

“We’ve been trying to participate in the rodeo, but it has been kind of back and forth yes, no, we can’t, stuff like that and finally it was to a point where there was going to be a boycott for the rodeo and we don’t want that. We want this to keep going, we want to participate. We love the rodeo,” said Adan Gomez.

Adan Gomez is talking about a Facebook post from a local attorney back in January calling on the Latino community to boycott the rodeo if the Charros weren’t given more time to perform.

After many meetings between Eastman, the Charro groups and Salinas City Council members, both sides recently came to an agreement which included the special exhibition on Sunday.

“We did reconvene with another group with about 8 individuals of Charro groups from this area and we just sat there for almost two hours and we just listened and they listened to us and the logistics issues that we have and coordination issues we have and we found that we wanted the exact same thing which is to put on one of the best shows in the western united states,” Eastman explained.

“I think the entire council wanted to come together and figure out how we can put this thing together so every member of the council had some good to do with it so it was a great collaborative effort,” said Councilmember Tony Barrera.

“Everybody is going to get what they wanted. When people see Charros and Mexican music it is going to be phenomenal. I’m happy with the outcome and I think everyone is going to have a great time,” said Barrera.

With talks of a boycott now behind them, the Charro horse riders and other Mexican performers are also happy to be a larger part of the largest rodeo in California.

“It means a lot. It is nice to actually come give a show for the city of Salinas and show these kids what you can be doing instead of causing trouble,” said Javier Coyt, Salinas Valley Charro Groups.