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Abe Peña's Cíbola Beacon newspaper column

All material used with the kind permission of the author, given to me personally.

Published Monday, June 29, 2009 3:37 PM MDT

"El Cuatro Julio - The Fourth of July

El Cuatro Julio - The Fourth of July has traditionally been celebrated with firecrackers. In the Depression years of the 1930s, firecrackers were firecrackers and the bang was an honest-to-goodness bang. However, that devilish bang was very dangerous and very expensive. Most of us simply couldn't afford them.

When we could afford them, we fired them at dusk on July 3, las visperas del 4 Julio. The following morning, we came to Grants from San Mateo and other villages and pueblos to join the festivities in Grants, which lasted through the evening.

We came by wagon, on horseback, or by cars and trucks, negotiating as best we could the dirt roads into town. The ladies and the girls wore colorful gingham dresses, skirts, and bonnets. Jeans were not a part of a woman's attire. The men wore stiff Levis, which stood on their own if need be and were topped by a long-sleeved white shirt, boots, and a large felt hat.

Boys wore our newest bib overalls over a bright shirt, ankle high work shoes, and around our necks a well-worn red or blue bandana and a felt hat. Straw hats had not come into fashion yet.

Like today, the kick-off was the big parade celebrating our National Day of Independence. It formed at the west-end of Grants in front of the Bernalillo Mercantile store, about where Falcomata is today. It went east on Santa Fe Avenue and ended at the Bond-Gunderson store at First Street.

The always-stirring VFW color-guard carrying the American and the New Mexico flags led the parade, followed by the high-stepping Grants Union High School band in their flaming red and black Pirate colors.

Tourists on Route 66, Santa Fe Avenue, were detoured through backstreets, and many stopped to watch and take in our parade and local color. The parade had very few floats, but a lot of horses, buggies, and some covered wagons. The bristling flags coming down the street were a colorful spectacle. They raised goose bumps and made us stand a little taller as the Stars and Stripes passed by.

The parade was followed by a barbecue sponsored by the fledgling Grants Rodeo Association. The association was founded in 1929 by ranchers Mark Elkins, Hamp Eaves, J.K. Westbrook, and others. Working cowboys and their wives took out the beef from the pit and served it steaming hot at the rodeo grounds on Mountain Road, where Grants High School is now.

It was free, and I dare say about 400 people were served, which represented about a third of the people in the area at that time. The barbecue was a social event, and gave us the opportunity to visit with friends and relatives from other villages. Our friend Paddy Martinez, from the Navajo country and the discover of uranium, used to say, “Panza llena, corazon contento” - Full belly, happy heart!

The crowd moved into the grandstands at 25 cents each to see the rodeo. It is now the oldest continuous rodeo in New Mexico, 1929 to 2009. 80 years and still going strong.

Our cowboys were all local working cowboys. They competed in wild cow milking, team tying, steer wrestling, calf roping, and bronc riding and an occasional bull ride. All the livestock came from nearby ranches, and most of them were whiteface Herefords. The Brahmas and those other mean breeds we see today came later. They pitched off the cowboy and then tried their best to gore him or her.

I recall riding a wild cow, and earned $1 for staying on to the white chalk line. A dollar went a long ways in those days. Bought ten dances at the dance that night, at 10 cents a dance. The purses, according to Mrs. Mark Elkins, who passed away several years ago, were $25, which represented about 10 percent of the entry money for that event.

Sometimes a cowboy from far away Quemado or Magdalena showed up, and interest would rise. Our cowboys were tough, and they usually did well, especially when they had outside competition. Side bets were also made in calf roping, and enthusiasm escalated until the contest was won by the cowboy who roped six calves and averaged the best time. Lynn Head and Larry Leach were some of the best, and usually roped neck and neck to the wire. Another popular challenge was “my horse against yours” in races after the rodeo and before the fandango started.

Some time in the 1940s, girls begin to ride the barrels and compete. They were always a joy to watch as they turned those barrels and added so much beauty and color to the rodeo. They still do, today.

The rodeo dance was in a lumber building close to the grandstand. There were a few electric bulbs burning, with power supplied by Inland Utilities, a subsidiary of Fairbanks-Morse, who purchased the original plant from the Bond-Sargent Company. In 1945, the plant was sold to the Continental Divide Electric Cooperative.

Guitars, violins, and accordians were the most popular instruments, and the chottis and polkas and squares the most popular dances. The land of Cíbola had some of the prettiest girls in the country. We danced till midnight and, sometimes, with special permission and good behavior, until 1 a.m.

On July 4, there will be a parade on Santa Fe Avenue. There will be rodeos at the Rodeo grounds and dances at the Cow Palace. Sharpen up your dance steps and come out to the Cow Palace and dance a square or two.

Let us re-live those goose bumps of yesteryear and watch Old Glory coming down the street and re-live the magic of our independence once again.. Let us get out and cheer our cowboys and cowgirls; they represent the best in all of us.

Have a happy Fourth of July."