The Hughson Tractor Rodeo
History of Hughson, California: The People, the Places, the Traditions of a Small Town
Before the Hughson Fruit and Nut Festival, there was the Tractor Rodeo.
The Tractor Rodeo and Implement Show began in 1950 through the efforts of Hughson's young homemakers and young farmers. The young farmers went as delegates to a convention in Oregon in 1949. They returned with plans to bring such an event to Hughson, the peach capital of the world, to help the farmers find equipment and learn about new equipment.
Frank Patterson, a former chapter advisor, suggested the Tractor Rodeo as a possibility. Implement and truck dealers brought equipment to the show and added a “rodeo” demonstration. The rodeo was open to all persons, male or female, high school age or over.
The Hughson Tractor Rodeo featured tractor implement dealers. Farm implements were placed along the football field.
A parade was held down Main Street.
It started as a one-day affair and grew to two days. It included a free “bean feed” donated and cooked by local farmers and homemakers in enormous pots purchased from a Portuguese dealer in a nearby town. The beans were baked and served with canned peaches and whipped cream. During the Hughson Tractor Rodeo, four giant pots of beans served the community meal to 2000 people in 20 minutes.
According to Hughson Historical Society Members, people looked forward to the community meal. Some came with their pots to take beans home. After getting through the line, some visitors took their full plates right to the back of the line and ate in line while waiting to go through again.
The Tractor Rodeo included farm clinics, welding clinics, farm safety demonstrations, horse-pulling contests, a street parade and more. The day closed with the presentation of the Dairy Princess Contest Winners.
As one of the youth involved in the Tractor Rodeo, Former Mayor Dave Spears said to the Hughson Historical Society, “The beautiful thing about the Tractor Rodeo was the young farmers. The young farmers developed us as young people, and it put a lifetime tie between all of us.
“I was a peach picker. They were the peach growers and owners, but we were still all family. They taught us a lot of skills and a lot of things to do in and around the community. They taught us skills that the school didn't know how to teach us, but they did it from the ranch: how to communicate and how to come along and work together. They hired a bunch of us because they saw we were willing to get up early and stay late to work and help because we were willing to learn. A lot of the success that went into the Tractor Rodeo goes to all of you people because it was you, as your husbands, your sons, who came alongside us and supported and helped us.”
Originally published in the Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch on April 24, 2024. The Hughson Chronicle & Denair Dispatch is part of MidValley Publications - committed to the power of the positive press. Reprinted with Permission.
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