The Santa Ynez Valley’s annual Vaquero Show & Sale returns to the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum & Carriage House for the 38th year Friday through Sunday, Nov. 11-13, with two dinners, a live auction, day-long demonstrations, and a sale of collectibles.
The museum houses a collection showcasing the valley’s rich cultural history, and is considered one of the most detailed in the Western United States, according to museum representatives.
Included are antique, horse-drawn carriages, horse saddlery and tack, Western sculptures, paintings, books and handicrafts. The Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum is a 501c-3 nonprofit, and was founded in 1961.
The Vaquero weekend will kick off with Friday’s multicourse gala dinner, where organizers will honor the 2022 Vaquero of the Year, Paul McEnroe, owner of Rancho La Purisima in Buellton.
Following dinner will be the weekend’s live auction that includes more than a dozen donated special packages.
Representatives of the Historical Museum outlined the prolific career of McEnroe, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio.
As a boy, he relished the Midwest’s agrarian way of life, but was fascinated by his father’s stories about the West — in particular, the importance of horses. However, he knew that school and education were the key to his future.
At Purdue University, McEnroe discovered that the college had a saddle club, and there began his lifelong relationship with horses. He read up on equine behavior at the college library, and soon befriended a “difficult” horse named Colonel with soft words and a snack.
Post-Purdue, McEnroe jumped headfirst into the technology world, in particular at IBM in New York. Armed with engineering and business degrees from Purdue, Stanford and an honorary doctorate from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, McEnroe led the critical thinking that led to inventions that changed how business is conducted.
Indeed, McEnroe and his team of engineers developed the universal barcode common to most products today — as well as the scanners that read them.
In addition, McEnroe also developed the Token Ring network technology, custom chips and IBM’s first intelligent terminal. After moving to the Silicon Valley, McEnroe developed wafer-scale chip technology, a key to modern electronics.
Today, McEnroe, now in his mid-80s, and his wife, Tina, live outside Buellton on their 1,000-acre ranch. The property houses horse-breeding and boarding facilities, and also is a working cattle ranch.
Tina, who refers to her husband as “a walking encyclopedia” on almost any subject, is the executive director of the Santa Ynez Valley Therapeutic Riding Academy, associate director of UCSB’s McEnroe Reading Clinic, and directed the renovation of the 1869 schoolhouse on the Rancho La Purisima property.
When I reached McEnroe by phone, I asked him to describe for me a typical day.
First thing every morning, McEnroe walks his dogs, and then meets with the manager of his ranch and two employees to plan the day.
Rancho La Purisima is divided into seven grazing pastures for cattle, who get rotated between the spaces. Pre-drought, the McEnroe family grew hay, but it’s no longer sustainable, he said.
(McEnroe Family photo)
The ranch is home to between 80 and 100 head of cattle, depending on the breeding season, and 25 horses. About 15 of those horses are retired boarders (renters) and the rest belong to the family, he said.
Following his daily staff meeting, “I have a bite of breakfast,” and then kicks his day into gear by working with Apple, his beloved “cow dog.”
“Cow dogs” are just that — they work with their owners to cut, or cull, certain cattle from a herd, both on a day-to-day basis on ranches such as the McEnroe’s, and for “show.”
By show, McEnroe means “rodears,” a point-and-time event that highlights the skill of the dog, rider and horse, who compete to maneuver “three specific cows” from the herd at large through a number of obstacles — all on the clock.
“It’s a twist on the regular cow-dog competitions” and rodears have “riders command their dogs from a distance,” he told me. He has competed in Texas rodears, and in 2010 won the California Mid-State Fair event in Paso Robles with the grandmother of Apple, his current dog.
McEnroe has “two or three” horses that he rides daily, and then it’s time for lunch. Once or twice each week, he plays nine holes of golf, and is currently writing a book on bar codes, he said.
Since 1986, McEnroe has been a member of the President’s Cabinet at Cal Poly (“That’s one of the primary things I do”) and is the current master of the local fox hunt club.
McEnroe’s granddaughter, now 13, has been riding horses with him since she was just 2. Their current training schedule is weekends and one day each week, he said.
Vaquero Weekend Schedules
Friday’s event will offer guests the first chance to preview and buy items from limited exhibitors who were selected to represent the historical Vaquero lifestyle.
Testa Catering will provide the dinner, which will be paired with local wines and music in the courtyard of the museum. Tickets for the Friday dinner are $200 per person.
The Vaquero Show and Collectible Sale runs all day Saturday and Sunday.
Among the demonstrations during the show will be roping from Ramon Becerra, blacksmithing by Jordan Kepler — winner of the March 2021 “Forged in Fire” competition — and traditional dancing by Baile de California.
Tickets are available at the gate for just $5 per person. A no-host bar and lunch options will be available for the duration of the weekend show. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
The popular Pig Roast and Barn Dance returns at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Pork Palace, located south of Buellton along Highway 101.
Dinner will include spit-roasted pig with all the fixings, as well as with non-pork/vegetarian options. Once the plates are cleared, Monte Mills and the Lucky Horseshoe Band will take the stage to get guests on their feet and into the swing of the celebration.
Tickets to the Pig Roast and Barn Dance are $65 per person and available at the door.
Tickets are available online at https://www.santaynezmuseum.org/vaquero-show/ or by calling 805.688.7889. Information: info@santaynezmuseum.org
— Laurie Jervis can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.