ENLARGE
One hundred years ago, in August 1908, three Hawaiian paniolo--cowboys--galloped off with top honors in steer roping at Wyoming’s Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.
That year, 35-year-old Ikua Purdy from Waimea, Hawaii, won the World’s Steer Roping Championship by roping,throwing,and tying a powerful, full-grown steer in 56 seconds flat. His compatriots, Archie Kaaua and Eben “Rawhide Ben” Low, placed third and sixth, respectively. These exotically dressed cowboys speaking Hawaiian became legends and put Hawaii on the world’s ranching map.
When cowboys from Waimea attended the 2007 Cheyenne Frontier Days, the late Ikua Purdy became the first paniolo to be inducted into the Cheyenne Old West Museum Hall of Fame and a “sister city” bond blossomed between Cheyenne and Waimea. To celebrate the centennial of this friendship, the Museum opened an exhibit in May honoring the unique paniolo culture. This exhibit, which runs through November 2009, focuses through artifacts, education, and oral and dance traditions of Hawaii on the impact the three paniolos had on Frontier Days and the impact Cheyenne had on them.
This year in July, two cowboys from the Parker Ranch in Waimea rode in the Cheyenne Frontier Days parade. Four days later, these third-generation cowboys, Klem Kaniho and Keoki Wood, demonstrated paniolo’s Po’o Wai U and Double Mugging techniques, passed down from generations of Hawaiian cowboys. Also attending were Parker Ranch President and CEO Chris Kanazawa and representatives from the Paniolo Preservation Society (PPS).
In August, Cheyenne folks will visit Waimea,where the Year of the Paniolo culminates in a week-long Great Waiomina (Wyoming) Centennial Celebration, honoring generations of paniolo as stewards of the land, Hawaiian culture,and all things cowboy. This celebration was planned by the PPS, established in 1998 by a group of paniolo, cattlemen and women, and State of Hawaii preservationists.
From August 16 to September 1 at Waimea, headquarters of Hawaii’s ranching industry, year-long events will center on the champion Ikua Purdy. Activities will include family games, paniolo craft demonstrations, BBQs, concerts, trail and wagon rides, a costumed re-enactment of events in Hawaiian history, the Parker Ranch Employee Rodeo,and a Black and White formal ball. Also, Cowgirls of the Pacific brunch and fashion show will feature Paniolo and Hawaiian attire, and local chefs will prepare feasts of forage grown beef and country fresh vegetables. Schools will present programs illustrating Hawaii’s ranching heritage through poetry,story, art contests, and the history and protocol of Pa’u.
Pa’u, initially an enveloping, skirt-like garment that protected a rider’s apparel when riding to and from formal events, evolved into an elegant garment worn in parades and enhanced with floral leis. Hawaiian rancher “Auntie Anna” Lindsey Perry-Fiske wore a pa’u for the first time at a Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade.
As part of the Year of the Paniolo,the 34th annual Parker Ranch Round-up Club Rodeo will be held August 30 and 31 at the Parker Ranch. It raises funds for scholarships for school children of ranch employees.
Cheyenne Frontier Days, called the “Daddy of ‘Em All” began as a one-day celebration in September 1897, when volunteers from the Cheyenne business community thought it would be fun and profitable to stage a rodeo.
Today, the two-week-long Frontier Days include parades, pancake breakfasts, concerts,chili and chuckwagon cookoffs, carnival, exhibits, Indian Village, wild horse races, buck-skin-clad princess, waffle cones, military open houses, performances by the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds, and nine Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeos.
This year also marks the centennial anniversary of the Denver Post Cheyenne Frontier Days Train excursion. Pulled by steam No. 844, cars of the Union Pacific Railroad chugged out of Denver’s Union Station on July 19, taking passengers to Cheyenne’s “Daddy of ‘Em all.”
Waimea has been a ranching community since 1792, when Captain George Vancouver presented five scrawny bovines to Hawaii’s King Kamehameha I. The monarch,who fought to unite the islands into a single kingdom, then placed a kapu (taboo) on killing cattle. This kapu allowed these wild cattle to multiply for three decades and ruin crops and forests.
Parker Ranch was founded by British sailor John Palmer Parker, who jumped ship in 1809. He began his ranching career when he was commissioned by King Kamehameha I to cull the herds of feral cattle that roamed the island.
Around 1830, Kamehameha III brought in Mexican vaqueros (cowboys),with their spurs and speaking Spanish, to teach local workers how to rope, ride, and control the herd. (Paniolo comes from the word Espanola.) Hawaii’s cowboys adapted the vaqueros’ skills to suit the Pacific Islands. The salt-of-the-earth paniolo legacy of hard work, good music,and family ties remains today.
In 1847, Parker bought two acres of land from Kamehameha for $10, and later he was given 640 acres of land. He and his wife, Kipikane, granddaughter of Kamehameha, chose a parcel located about 12 miles from the current town of Waimea. Parker’s ranch grew and diversified into cattle, dairy husbandry, poultry, and pork production. He built churches and schools, developed water resources,and protected the surrounding forest lands. The Parkers had a daughter and two sons, who began the Parker Ranch dynasty.
Between 1942 and 1945, Waimea was home to 50,000 Marines from the Second and Fifth Marine Divisions and the V Amphibious corps,who prepared for the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Parker Ranch, which helped host the Marines, became known as Camp Tarawa.
Today, there are 800 established ranches in Hawaii, with about 75% of cattle on the Big Island. Parker Ranch, spreading about 150,000 acres, is among the largest ranches in the United States, and still controls much of the land and resources in North Hawaii.
Ikua Purdy, who died at age 72 in 1945, was inducted in 1999 to The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Hall of Great Westerners in Oklahoma. John Palmer Parker was inducted into this Hall of Fame during the Oklahoma City Museum’s 2008 Western Heritage Awards gala in April. The Museum designated July 26, 2008, as the National Day of the American Cowboy.
The Paniolo Hall of Fame was initiated by the O’ahu (Hawaii) Cattlemen’s Association in 1999 to recognize past and present paniolo statewide who have contributed to keeping their heritage alive. Today, there are 94 members, both living and deceased, and in November 2007, Parker Ranch Vice President of Livestock Michael “Corky” Bryan and former Parker Ranch Trustee Carl A.Carlson were inducted into the Paniolo Hall of Fame.
That year, 35-year-old Ikua Purdy from Waimea, Hawaii, won the World’s Steer Roping Championship by roping,throwing,and tying a powerful, full-grown steer in 56 seconds flat. His compatriots, Archie Kaaua and Eben “Rawhide Ben” Low, placed third and sixth, respectively. These exotically dressed cowboys speaking Hawaiian became legends and put Hawaii on the world’s ranching map.
When cowboys from Waimea attended the 2007 Cheyenne Frontier Days, the late Ikua Purdy became the first paniolo to be inducted into the Cheyenne Old West Museum Hall of Fame and a “sister city” bond blossomed between Cheyenne and Waimea. To celebrate the centennial of this friendship, the Museum opened an exhibit in May honoring the unique paniolo culture. This exhibit, which runs through November 2009, focuses through artifacts, education, and oral and dance traditions of Hawaii on the impact the three paniolos had on Frontier Days and the impact Cheyenne had on them.
This year in July, two cowboys from the Parker Ranch in Waimea rode in the Cheyenne Frontier Days parade. Four days later, these third-generation cowboys, Klem Kaniho and Keoki Wood, demonstrated paniolo’s Po’o Wai U and Double Mugging techniques, passed down from generations of Hawaiian cowboys. Also attending were Parker Ranch President and CEO Chris Kanazawa and representatives from the Paniolo Preservation Society (PPS).
In August, Cheyenne folks will visit Waimea,where the Year of the Paniolo culminates in a week-long Great Waiomina (Wyoming) Centennial Celebration, honoring generations of paniolo as stewards of the land, Hawaiian culture,and all things cowboy. This celebration was planned by the PPS, established in 1998 by a group of paniolo, cattlemen and women, and State of Hawaii preservationists.
From August 16 to September 1 at Waimea, headquarters of Hawaii’s ranching industry, year-long events will center on the champion Ikua Purdy. Activities will include family games, paniolo craft demonstrations, BBQs, concerts, trail and wagon rides, a costumed re-enactment of events in Hawaiian history, the Parker Ranch Employee Rodeo,and a Black and White formal ball. Also, Cowgirls of the Pacific brunch and fashion show will feature Paniolo and Hawaiian attire, and local chefs will prepare feasts of forage grown beef and country fresh vegetables. Schools will present programs illustrating Hawaii’s ranching heritage through poetry,story, art contests, and the history and protocol of Pa’u.
Pa’u, initially an enveloping, skirt-like garment that protected a rider’s apparel when riding to and from formal events, evolved into an elegant garment worn in parades and enhanced with floral leis. Hawaiian rancher “Auntie Anna” Lindsey Perry-Fiske wore a pa’u for the first time at a Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade.
As part of the Year of the Paniolo,the 34th annual Parker Ranch Round-up Club Rodeo will be held August 30 and 31 at the Parker Ranch. It raises funds for scholarships for school children of ranch employees.
Cheyenne Frontier Days, called the “Daddy of ‘Em All” began as a one-day celebration in September 1897, when volunteers from the Cheyenne business community thought it would be fun and profitable to stage a rodeo.
Today, the two-week-long Frontier Days include parades, pancake breakfasts, concerts,chili and chuckwagon cookoffs, carnival, exhibits, Indian Village, wild horse races, buck-skin-clad princess, waffle cones, military open houses, performances by the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds, and nine Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeos.
This year also marks the centennial anniversary of the Denver Post Cheyenne Frontier Days Train excursion. Pulled by steam No. 844, cars of the Union Pacific Railroad chugged out of Denver’s Union Station on July 19, taking passengers to Cheyenne’s “Daddy of ‘Em all.”
Waimea has been a ranching community since 1792, when Captain George Vancouver presented five scrawny bovines to Hawaii’s King Kamehameha I. The monarch,who fought to unite the islands into a single kingdom, then placed a kapu (taboo) on killing cattle. This kapu allowed these wild cattle to multiply for three decades and ruin crops and forests.
Parker Ranch was founded by British sailor John Palmer Parker, who jumped ship in 1809. He began his ranching career when he was commissioned by King Kamehameha I to cull the herds of feral cattle that roamed the island.
Around 1830, Kamehameha III brought in Mexican vaqueros (cowboys),with their spurs and speaking Spanish, to teach local workers how to rope, ride, and control the herd. (Paniolo comes from the word Espanola.) Hawaii’s cowboys adapted the vaqueros’ skills to suit the Pacific Islands. The salt-of-the-earth paniolo legacy of hard work, good music,and family ties remains today.
In 1847, Parker bought two acres of land from Kamehameha for $10, and later he was given 640 acres of land. He and his wife, Kipikane, granddaughter of Kamehameha, chose a parcel located about 12 miles from the current town of Waimea. Parker’s ranch grew and diversified into cattle, dairy husbandry, poultry, and pork production. He built churches and schools, developed water resources,and protected the surrounding forest lands. The Parkers had a daughter and two sons, who began the Parker Ranch dynasty.
Between 1942 and 1945, Waimea was home to 50,000 Marines from the Second and Fifth Marine Divisions and the V Amphibious corps,who prepared for the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Parker Ranch, which helped host the Marines, became known as Camp Tarawa.
Today, there are 800 established ranches in Hawaii, with about 75% of cattle on the Big Island. Parker Ranch, spreading about 150,000 acres, is among the largest ranches in the United States, and still controls much of the land and resources in North Hawaii.
Ikua Purdy, who died at age 72 in 1945, was inducted in 1999 to The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Hall of Great Westerners in Oklahoma. John Palmer Parker was inducted into this Hall of Fame during the Oklahoma City Museum’s 2008 Western Heritage Awards gala in April. The Museum designated July 26, 2008, as the National Day of the American Cowboy.
The Paniolo Hall of Fame was initiated by the O’ahu (Hawaii) Cattlemen’s Association in 1999 to recognize past and present paniolo statewide who have contributed to keeping their heritage alive. Today, there are 94 members, both living and deceased, and in November 2007, Parker Ranch Vice President of Livestock Michael “Corky” Bryan and former Parker Ranch Trustee Carl A.Carlson were inducted into the Paniolo Hall of Fame.
