Slice of Americana for Little Ones: Junior Rodeo on Saturday

Hold on to your cowboy hats! It’s time for the Rowell Ranch Junior Rodeo, sponsored by 30 companies from throughout the East Bay and from as far away as as Oregon and Central California. It's a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning with your own little buckaroos and buckarettes.

Rowell Ranch is an easy-to-reach location—right off Interstate 580 in a beautiful canyon between Dublin and Castro Valley. Click here for directions.

Both parking and admission are free, and tasty barbeque and beverages are available throughout the day. It’s a real slice of Americana. If you’ve never been, you should plan to stop by.

PeeWee events begin at 10 a.m. and are open to everyone ages 1-5.

What a fun photo op for priceless Western photos of your little ones.  The wee ones can take participate in dummy roping, a stick horse race, a boot scramble and a goat ribbon race. Each event is only $5.

Great place to donate school supplies, too

This year Rowell Ranch Junior Rodeo is partnering with Sleep Train to help provide school supplies for foster children. So if you have some extra pencils, backpacks, binders—any school supplies—bring those along as well and drop them off. 

Even if you don’t ride and don’t have a horse, the annual Rowell Ranch Junior Rodeo is part of our local community and offers wholesome entertainment for the whole family.

Click  to see photos of and learn more about Rowell Ranch's original owner, Harry Rowell, who is depicted, it seems, as a kind of British John Wayne who settled here in the early 1900s.

Sponsors include merchants, ranches and civic groups. Click here or scroll down to the bottom of this article to see the full list of sponsors, including many from Castro Valley, Hayward, San Leandro, Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, San Ramon and Danville.

It’s a chance to watch local youngsters—starting as young as 6—ride their horses in speed events such as single stake or barrel racing and try their hand at roping (not nearly as easy as it looks). 

Plan to stop by and join in the fun. Put on your jeans and a cowboy hat and jump right in. Your kids will have a ball…I guarantee it. Yahooo!

Sponsors include:

Western Saddlery
Pleasanton

Jack's Trailer Sales
Castro Valley

Tim & Meg Devane
Castro Valley

Triple H Ranch-The Harman Family
Foster City

Craig Bull Construction Inc., 
Oakland

B.A. Morrison Gen. HVAC Contractor
Castro Valley

CaHappy Trails & Co.
Pleasanton

Mountain Cascade
Livermore

Castro Valley Rotary
Castro Valley

Barbara Wiborg-Equine Balanced Vet Care
Dublin

Jon & Janine Miller
Moss Beach

Joe & Stacy Field
Castro Valley

Morgan & Mary Lodge
Castro Valley

St. Francis Electric
San Leandro

Margaret Easterbrook
Madera

L.A. "Bud" Critzer Jr.
Discovery Bay, Calif.

Korbas Insurance
Castro Valley

D & F Liquidators, Inc.
Hayward

The Cobblers
Hayward

Doug Naruo
Castro Valley

Sherwood & Company
Castro Valley

Sheldon Forehand
Tracy

Rick & Janet Metzler
Castro Valley

Hilderbrand & Clark, CPA
San Ramon

James Hudson
Castro Valley

Taff Vidales ~ Favorite Feathers Taxidermy
Castro Valley

Amber Haskett ~ Haskett Law Firm
Pleasanton

Billy Richardson ~ RX Cattle Co.
White City, Oregon

Patrick Harman Horse Shoeing
Foster City

John & Gayle Hilderbrand
Castro Valley

Castro Valley Orthodontics
(Susan So, Jill Allen & Thomas King)

OTHER DONATIONS

Outlaw Saddles & Silver

Montaque, Calif.

Ising's Culligan Water
Livermore

The Strasburg Family
Danville

Charlie & Sandy Inderbitzen
Basso's Arena
Livermore

Home Depot

Hatton Crane  & Rigging
Hayward

Batteate Livestock 
Livermore

Happy Trails & Co.
Pleasanton

Kristy Peixoto ~ Lisa Ferraris ~ Nancy Valett
of J. Rockcliff Realty
Pleasanton

Marc Davilla 
Livermore

Mike & Katie Tuttle
Hayward