Last weekend was the Clinton BC rodeo! Yeehaw! Unfortunately, the crew here at the ranch are busy working during the days, so we missed the day time events but, after the roping, barrel racing and bronc riding is done most rodeos will have a big dance and a group of us pilled into a couple trucks and headed into "town" for the rodeo dance!
I didn't quite know what I was getting into going to a rodeo dance, but as I watched the cowgirls and boys of the group getting ready to go I started to get the feeling that this was going to be something special. The boots got shined, the nice starched shirts came off hangers and all manner of 'blinged-out' accessories were added to the fancy country outfits. Bejewelled belts, embroidered shirts, and the 'nice' hats came out. Then it was a one and a half hour mud-bogging drive to the rodeo grounds (for us city folk who think that 30 minutes is far away, a 90 minute drive to a party seems a bit much…but in the country nobody seems to notice the cost of fuel or the 3 hours of travel for 3 hours of fun) where our big muddy trucks fit right in. So did our cowboys and girls! We walked into the barn and all I could see was all the ways this party was nothing like the parties where I come from. First of all, the venue: we were in a barn with sand on the ground and plywood laid down for a dance floor. Mice were running around wondering why nobody told them we were going to party in their house this weekend. Secondly the attire, and I know I've already written about the country style but I can't help doing it again--it's so strange to me! Men were walking around, at night, in doors wearing huge hats. Please, someone explain this to me! I've learned to love my cowboy hat for keeping the sun out of my eyes and the rain off my neck….but at night? In doors? My boss, a true cowgirl, says that cowboys wear their hats all the time because it's guaranteed to make the face under the hat 75% more handsome. It just seems impractical to me. And the belt buckles so big they could keep a man dry on a rainy day--really necessary? I think they probably act to weigh down the jeans more than keep them up. In general the whole idea of wearing 'town clothes' that are basically clean, sparkly versions of outdoor ranch clothes to party in seemed strange to me.
The country music band who rocked the barn all night!
As the night went on, however, I started thinking about city folk and, in particular, the hipster phenomenon. I realized that maybe cowboys and hipsters aren't so different really. They both pay tribute to a bygone era, they both wear completely silly clothing in every situation no matter what makes sense (hats and boots are to the cowboy as glasses without prescriptions and scarves in August are to the hipster) and they really don't care what anyone thinks about it. So, maybe my new world isn't so different from my city world and maybe people everywhere are all the same, just wearing different outfits.
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