Calendar Set for Great Waiomina Centennial Celebration and Year of the Paniolo

News

Waimea, Island of Hawai`i - Savvy stewards of the land and founders of a culture that has endured in Hawai`i for more than 200 years, Hawai`i's cowboys will be honored in 2008 for their contributions this island state's heritage and culture.

Both Hawai`i Governor Linda Lingle and Harry Kim, mayor of the County of Hawaii, have declared 2008 "Year of the Paniolo" (Year of the Cowboy).

In Waimea, the acknowledged headquarters of Hawai`i's ranch industry, a calendar of events is planned centering on rodeo champion Ikua Purdy, who roped and rode his way to victory at the 1908 Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming.

The Great Waiomina Centennial Celebration - Waiomina is Hawaiian for Wyoming - will include trail rides, rodeos, concerts and a large component of education to reach into the public and private schools around the state.

The Celebration is being spearheaded by Paniolo Preservation Society (PPS) a Waimea based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving paniolo tradition as an integral part of the history of Hawai`i and the American West.

"The Waiomina Celebration honors generations of Hawai`i paniolo as stewards of our `aina (land) and perpetuators of the Hawaiian culture and all things ‘cowboy.' The Celebration especially commemorates paniolo Ikua Purdy, who set the cowboy world on its ear by winning the steer roping competition at the 1908 Cheyenne Rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming," says Dr. Billy Bergin, President of PPS.

Preparations for the Waiomina Centennial Celebration have been underway for the last year and a half and a "Sister City" bond between Cheyenne and Waimea has been established. A result of these preparations is the national recognition garnered for two famous Hawaiian cowboys

In October 2007, Purdy, a former Parker Ranch paniolo, was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame; a delegation from Hawai`i, including family members and PPS representatives, were in attendance at the Wyoming induction.

A second ranching great, John Palmer Parker, founder of historic Parker Ranch on the Island of Hawai`i, will be inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Westerners this April. Parker was nominated for recognition by PPS and the museum's acceptance of Parker as a "Great Westerner" will draw additional attention this year to the role ranching has played in Hawai`i's heritage and in the American West.

PPS plans to have a large delegation of Hawai`i artisans, cowboys and dignitaries at July's Cheyenne's Frontier Days; a two-year exhibit of paniolo history will be displayed in Cheyenne's Old West Museum starting in May.

A reciprocal visit from Cheyenne is expected this August for the Great Waiomina Centennial Celebration fete that includes trail rides, a paniolo music concert, the Old Hawaii on Horseback extravaganza, barbecues and rodeos.

A focus for the celebration is PPS's goal of public awareness and education regarding Hawai`i's ranching and paniolo heritage. Students in North Hawai`i schools are having their history curriculum enhanced and poetry, story and art contests are planned. A curriculum is being created that will be available to all schools in Hawai`i.
"Paniolo are often recognized for their skills at riding horses and roping cattle, but they have contributed so much more to communities throughout the islands. From introducing methods of land and water conservation to making advances in veterinary medicine to spearheading botanical surveys and agronomical improvements, they have helped shaped Hawaiian history and the Hawaiian way of life," explained Dr. Bergin.

Ranching had its start in the Hawaiian Islands with Captain James Vancouver's presentation of a small herd of cattle or pipi (Hawaiian pronunciation of beef) to King Kamehameha I in 1793. Today there are 800 established ranches in Hawai`i with around 75% of the state's inventory of cattle situated on the Island of Hawa`i. Fifth and sixth generations of Hawaiian cowboys continue to raise, herd, brand and market cattle in the traditions of their fathers and their fathers before them.

Established in 1998, PPS works to increase public awareness of the historic, present-day and future significance of Hawaii's ranching industry, with emphasis on the roles and traditions of the paniolo. A long-range goal of PPS is to establish a Ranching and Paniolo Cultural Center that will house artifacts and natural history representing the paniolo heritage, as well an archival center for historical documents, maps and photos. For more information on the Waiomina Centennial Celebration, contact Penny Keli`i Vredenburg, at 808-769-0215, or visit www.paniolopreservation.org.