SANTA PAULA — The Vaquero Campfires exhibit is a nostalgic look at the history and traditions of the Vaquero, Spanish for cowboy or cattle driver, who excelled in the art of making a horse as flexible as silk to his rider’s will. Join us at the Ag Museum in Santa Paula from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 28, for opening day activities including a junior calf roping station, rawhide riatas weaving stations, Buckaroo crafts table and chuck wagon style grub by Santa Paula’s famous Hillgrillies BBQ.
The legends of the Vaquero have been passed from one generation to the next through oral storytelling, often around campfires. In an effort to preserve the California Vaquero story, Lou Hengehold, owner of The Mill in Santa Paula, hosted his first Vaquero-inspired handmade horse gear show in the late 1970s. The tradition continued for more than three decades under the roof of The Mill, which now houses the Agriculture Museum of Ventura County.
The Vaquero Campfires exhibit features eye-catching displays of silver-studded saddles, hand-woven rawhide ropes and antique bits and spurs that once lined the former feed store’s warehouse–the space where talented artisans and old-timers would share their Vaquero collections with the public and trade a bit, a saddle or even a story.
The exhibit will be on display through November 25 at the Agriculture Museum of Ventura County, 926 Railroad Avenue, Santa Paula. For more information on the Agriculture Museum, visit venturamuseum.org or call 805-525-3100.