Dream Bigger
Cowboy Capital slapdown
If it’s possible for a city to have a dream, here’s Stephenville’s: To be acknowledged far and wide as the “Cowboy Capital of the World.” Unfortunately, Oakdale, California has the same slogan and same dream. A year ago, those dreams collided.
Last summer, Stephenville and Oakdale agreed to enter into a competition to see which locale was truly the Cowboy Capital. It was a friendly competition, of course, and for a good cause: Raffle tickets were sold in both towns, with each place keeping its proceeds to use for civic programs. The town which sold the most number of tickets could claim the title, and the raffle winner in each town got a side of beef. (Which came from South Dakota; am I the only one who sees the irony here?)
Oakdale sold 1,824 tickets, while Stephenville sold 1,671. Ouch.
For a non-binding, unscientific, just-for-laughs competition, the sting to Stephenville was real. Days after the results were revealed, Stephenville Chamber of Commerce director July Danley tipped her hat to Oakdale in a press release — but then went on to say:
Our statistics prove that Stephenville really can boast more professional cowboys per square foot than anywhere else in the world!
We haven’t found anyone, including Oakdale, that can compete with these numbers:
16 PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) World Champions
56 PRCA World Titles (including 3 All-Around Champs)
3 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) World Champions
41 NFR (National FInals Rodeo) Qualifiers
6 Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductees
5 National Cowboy Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductees
14 Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame Inductees
Today marks only my 11th day in Stephenville, but I’m already thinking like a partisan. Danley was too polite. Let me take a whack at a response to this alleged Cowboy Capital.
“California? Are you kidding me? You people are dreaming. Look, you’ve got a claim to being champs in lots of categories — financial dysfunction, serial killers, etc. — but cowboys ain’t one of ‘em. If you say ‘cowboy,’ the world says ‘Texas.’ Not ‘California.’ That’s the reality. Sell all the raffle tickets you want, it still won’t change.”
You know what? That felt good.
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