K is for . . .

Still kicking!

And, still kicking is the San Benito County Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo, which began in 1929. Every year, the event takes place at the Bolado Park Fairgrounds in Tres Pinos, about 8 miles south of Hollister. This year, the weekend event will be Friday, June 26 to Sunday, June 28.

As in past years, The Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo will kick off on Thursday evening (June 25) with the a parade through Downtown Hollister.

 

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A Sunday Flashback: Not Too Long Ago

Once upon a time, not too long ago, a couple of horses grazed in that narrow field that ran alongside Black Forest Drive (north of Sunnyslope Road). These friendly horses shared the field with the gophers, bugs, birds, and other creatures that roamed the grass.

Today, construction is going on in that field. The last set of houses to be built in the neighborhood with the streets named after WWI battles and agreements, which went up in the late 1980s. Before the housing development? I remember an orchard as far back as the mid-1960s. Someone said a chicken farm was once there, too. And, before that? I don't know. Does anyone recall?

J is for . . .

Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

Though in my case, it was more like being pushed out of the plane. I got to the edge of the door. No problem. But, then I looked down and hesitated. The instructor to whom I was firmly attached gave me a friendly nudge.

Voila! We began falling from 18,000 feet high. 

What a rush! What an experience!

That was back in 2006. Some friends and I wanted to celebrate being in our 50s, and skydiving was the party we chose. So, we did our tandem jumping with Skydive Hollister, located at the Hollister Airport.  We took off in Hollister and jumped out above Tres Pinos, landing in the field across from the Immaculate Conception Church, alongside Highway 25.

Yeah, I'd do it again.

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I is for. . .

It!  Hollister has it!

Cuteness

Agriculture

Compassion

Culture

Excitement 

Preservation

Open Space

Eccentricity

Sweetness

And, that's just the start of the It! that Hollister has!

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H is for . . .

Hollister, California.

A no-brainer for the letter H, right? Instead of reinventing the wheel for this post, I thought let me just republish something I wrote on October, 15, 2014 about my hometown. So, here you go.

Methinks it's time again to say that Hollister, California, the store, is not the same as Hollister, California, the city.

Yup.

Abercrombie & Fitch began selling apparel with the Hollister brand in 2000, which is weaved around the fictional beach town of Hollister in Southern California where the made-up Hollister Company is located. Either the fantasy town or company was established in 1922 by an imaginary  Dutch East Indies immigrant named John Hollister. The marketing team must've had fun dreaming up the fanciful, fake Hollister, California story.

Hollister is in the far distance, at the foot of the mountain range

The real city of Hollister is located in San Benito County, the only landlocked county of the Central Coast region of California, which is about 45 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. The ocean breeze, as well as the fog, comes through the low mountain passes on most days. Thank goodness for that, otherwise the temperatures, especially in the summer, would be unbearably hot.

Hollister was founded in 1868 and, until it incorporated as a city in 1872, the town was part of Monterey County. Two years later, Hollister became the county seat of the newly formed San Benito County.

The main industry in our county is agriculture. It has been from the start and unless all the ranchers and farmers sell their land to housing developers and oil companies, we shall always be an agricultural community. Something for which we, locals, ought to be proud. The number of local farmers and ranchers choosing to follow sustainable and organic farming practices continues to increase, which I think is good for both our health and the environment.

The mascot for our local high school is the Haybaler, also called Baler. Not a machine, but a young farmer. Everyone who goes--and went--to San Benito High School, also known as Hollister High School, is a Haybaler, regardless of whether the person played a sport or not. Once a Haybaler, always a Haybaler.

I don't know about the history of the mascot, but in the late 19th century, our area was known for the quality and quantity of its Hollister Hay. During the summer of 1892, for example, 5,412 tons of hay was shipped from Hollister to Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, New York, and other parts of the United States.  In fact, the Lathrop Hay Company, owned by Hollister pioneer resident Levi B. Lathrop, constructed some of the largest hay warehouses in the world back then. Lathrop built the first hay warehouse to have a railroad track running through it and to have railroad track scales. That's rather impressive.

Hey! How did I end up talking about hay?

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