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Growing up, our Labor Day tradition consisted of a family time together at the Las Animas County 4-H Fair and Rodeo in Trinidad, Colorado. This is what we did!
Wednesday Before Labor Day
We started back to school before Labor Day but got the Thursday and Friday before Labor Day off to go to the Las County 4-H Fair and Rodeo. So, Wednesday was a half-day of school—what a long morning that was! Anticipation coursed through my veins and all my classmates! In the afternoon, we loaded up our horses and off to Trinidad we went.
The first year my brother showed his horse, when they arrived in Trinidad, his horse looked like someone had beat him up. So, Dad learned, and the next year when I became old enough to join 4-H and show, we loaded both colts and their mothers in the trailer and drove them around a few times before the fair to get them accustomed to the trip.
When we arrived in Trinidad, we stabled our horses at the fairgrounds with all the other horses from across the county. A carnival resided in the parking lot near the horse barn, and our country horses weren’t used to its noise!
My family stayed at a motel for the full five days—this was our annual vacation. To start off the holiday, we went bowling as a family until the year Dad broke his hip in a horse accident and that ended this part of our tradition.
Thursday & Friday
Halter Class with PrinceReining Class with Prince
Thursday morning, my brother and I showed our horses. Most years, I showed Prince in the halter class. One year, I rode him in the reining class. We had worked all summer for this moment as witnessed in the poem below. Some years we won; some we lost. I showed my knitting and sewing. My knitting won many awards.
Thursday night, our Livestock Club went to the movie together—yes, this was a special event for us! Friday was the livestock showing which many of our friends and cousins participated in.
3 Days of Dancing: Friday, Saturday & Sunday
Each evening we danced—my favorite part—at varies dance halls in Trinidad: Eagles Hall, American Legion, and Sebastiani Gym. Good old country and western dances with friends from the county and cowboys from the rodeos. They always held the Sunday night the dance in a garage at the fairgrounds. I really like that because we could run over to the carnival and go on the rides at night.
Saturday, Sunday & Monday
During the weekend, we enjoyed the Livestock sale, Cowbelle’s barbecues and the main attraction in the afternoon: daily amateur rodeos! Cowboys and cowgirls came from far and wide to this annual event. As teenagers, we liked to go over to the chutes and sit near the chutes to see the animals and cowboys up close!
During the day, Mom and Dad turned us loose to do whatever we wanted. My brother and I joined friends from the county and roamed the fairgrounds, spending as much time as possible at the carnival—and as long as our money lasted!
Monday, Labor Day
This holiday ended on Labor Day with a parade and the final rodeo. Then we loaded up our horses and clothes and headed home, smiling ear-to-ear, remembering all the fun of this year and anticipating next year’s Labor Day adventure.
Here’s a poem I wrote about this adventure!
4-H Projects and the County Fair
A frequent question for me has been “What did you do to entertain yourself out in the country, especially during the summer?” And the most often used word to describe my possible plight was boring. That word never entered my mind.
Our summer days were filled with 4-H. Meetings, dances, roller skating parties— but mostly projects: knitting, sewing, and horses.
Uncle Tanky and his brother Billy led the Livestock Club; Margaret Lewis led the Home Economics Club.
I waited and waited, eager and excited to finally be nine and old enough to be in 4-H.
For my first-year livestock project I selected my horse, a colt at Chet Rose’s. I chose the white colt with no other coloring, but he grew up a buckskin, a beautiful golden color with a dark brown mane and stockings.
Bub chose the black one.
I named mine Prince, Bub named his Yogi Berra.
What an adventure to halter break a colt! First we chased them in from the horse pasture, using the pickup to herd them. We brought in all of our horses. The colts hung close to their mothers for protection—Chet lent us the colt’s mother for a while, until they were weaned! We ran them into the smaller corral, next to the saddle room, then the work started. The horses circled the small corral— all of us were nervous.
Initially, Dad did the haltering because it was a war—that colt wanted no part of this. He wanted his mama and freedom!
Carefully, Dad edged up and slipped the rope around Prince’s neck, gaining some control over this little spitfire.
After several jumps and twists, the halter went over his ears and around his nose. The buckle was hooked, and I was in business. Cautiously, Dad turned him over to me. Now I had to grab the lead rope and hold on for dear life.
But Bub was still waiting! After a repeat performance by Dad, we were both holding onto our horses—what an experience.
Once the colts settled down, we brushed and curry-combed them get the dirt and stickers o#. We ran our hands over their bodies, raised their feet, and made them feel comfortable with us.
Each day, this episode repeated itself until it became routine. Then it was our turn to halter our horses, and it became old hat.
Many hours were spent just walking around and around, and around, and around in the corral— teaching Prince to follow.
My only respite in this—singing to Prince. The laps were long, so I sang, and sang, and sang.
The finale came in September over Labor Day weekend, what we had worked so hard for— the Las Animas County Fair in Trinidad! This was our family vacation every year— Five days of fun.
Friends from all over the county came together for this annual event.
We 4-H’d— showed our horses had my knitting and sewing judged.
As a family, we went bowling, and we danced.
We went to movies, we attended barbecues and rodeos, and we danced!
Our Labor Day holiday was my favorite part of the summer and marked the end of summer every year. The five days ended too soon, but there was always next year!
Larada Horner-Miller, This Tumbleweed Landed (Horner Publishing Company, 2014), 113-117.
Finally,
I cherish my childhood memories of Labor Day! What are your Labor Day traditions? Do you have any? I’d love to hear about them
Podcasts & My Interviews
Listen to an interview released Wednesday, August 7, 2024 on Hump Days Calls podcast
Our 12th anniversary—today—and what a crazy day we had! It started off great, but the afternoon took a horrible turn!
Twelve years ago, today, October 22, 2011, Lin and I married at the Albuquerque Square Dance Center, surrounded by nearly 300 friends and family. We had a short lovely ceremony and a big dance party with square dancing, round dancing and couple dancing! Today we started our anniversary off dancing at the Trail Out dance to end a wonderful weekend with Dee Dee Dougherty-Lottie calling.
After everyone sang “Happy Anniversary” this morning, Dee Dee played a fun-loving waltz that felt more like a polka during one break, and we waltz-polkaed to it. Then Jerry Gilbreath surprised us during another break by singing George Strait’s “I Cross My Heart.” What’s the significance of this song?
At our wedding, I had written a poem for Lin and read it. Lin knew I was writing a poem and responded to my poem with one of my favorites! Wow! What a treat for Jerry to remember and sing it today.
After the morning dance ended, we headed home. On the drive in to Albuquerque in the morning, we saw a major accident on the eastbound lane of I-40, but we thought it would be taken care of by our return trip! NO!! As a fatal accident, it kept the interstate closed for hours!
Then we tried to figure the best way up the canyon home. See, there’s two ways to go: I-40 or old Route 66. Using Google, we found out I-40 eastbound was still closed, so we went by Cost Co and got gas, then headed up Central. I jumped out of the Jeep to grab a drink at Taco Bell for the possibly long trip home. So, by this time—after noon—we went up Route 66, surrounded by semi-trucks and cars at almost a standstill.
What added to my frustration? The Denver Broncos’ game began at 2:25 PM, and I couldn’t get it on Sirius radio or on the Internet. A friend texted me updates about the Broncos’ game, so I had an idea about what was going on.
About four hours later, and some movement up Route 66, we found out another incident added to our delay—a downed power pole across the road. So a state patrolman told us to turn around—finally I-40 was open.
Finally, we got home at 4:30 PM after spending most of the afternoon in the car, inching our way towards home.
So, I ran out of time to do my blog about our trip to Germany. Instead, here’s the poem I wrote for Lin and read to him at our wedding. I hope you enjoy it.
Larada Reading her poem to Lin!Close up of Larada reading her poem to Lin!
It’s Here!
Larada Horner
It's here!
Our life together starts toda
The past is behind us
The future looms positively in our view!
I have labored over the words to say to you.
How do I find words to describe what has happened
Between us
There is not a container to hold it
We come from 2 rich, full lives
a small town New Jersey boy and
a country girl from Colorado
Other places, other times
Other husbands, other wives
We arrive here today
From tragedy
The loss of Kathi
Your dear former wife
And My dear friend
We arrive here today
From joy
In our newfound relationship,
Having been friends for years!
I knew you and liked you before
I fell in love with you!
Thank you for proposing to me
On Christmas morning, 2010
In front of Mom and Aunt Willie,
My 92-year-old aunt
and
making It official.
When You met My Dear Uncle Tanky
After you proposed, he took me aside
And said he's the best!
I agree - I have no doubt!
Many of our friends here today have
Told us that they will be glad when we get married,
So, we would stop kissing and hugging each other
All the time!
I will never stop!
Each kiss and each hug heals my soul at a deeper level
I want more!
Lin, to me
You are a cool mountain breeze
Deer stopping by for nourishment & comfort!
You are laughter! Every Wednesday night at round dancing
when you refer to the foxtrot as the F word,
I laugh deeply!
I know that the life we will start today
Is rich
blessed
And oh, so good!
As I look out over
Our family and friends,
I know we have the support
And power to make this marriage
Become a fascinating adventure.
Today we become husband and wife
And some of you may wonder
"why?"
At our age.
Here's my reason -
I wanted to stand today before
My family and friends and God and profess my love to you.
To me the sacrament of marriage
Has a different value today!
I wanted the protection for us
That marriage offers.
I commit today
To be Larada
Creative, messy, wacky and fun!
I ask you to be Lin.
Creative, neat, linear and goofy!
Together we form a "we"
That's dynamic!
I could site a long list of thank you’s today, but I want to
thank you mostly for one thing - choosing to
Share the rest of your
Life with me! It's here!
My mom and brother gave me away! What a joyful day it was!
Finally, our 12th anniversary will be memorable for sure, but even though the afternoon was grueling, Lin and I celebrated this day and each other! We marveled at how much we’ve packed into these twelve years and what lies ahead of us!
Two weekends of dancing: I love it. Today my feet hurt and my lips curl into a smile, remembering the fun we had at USA West Square Dance Convention and Hi Country Weekend. Both offered lots of dancing and both differed, but rewarded us in a variety of ways.
First of the Two Weekend Dance Events: USA West, Albuquerque, New Mexico
From July 26-29, 2023, 450 dancers came from all over the USA and other countries to enjoy USA West. This square and round dance festival began in 1997 in Denver, Colorado. It occurs anytime the National Square Dance Convention is east of the Mississippi. Since 1997, it has been held every year except three years—one year was for COVID.
This year, Albuquerque’s own Randy and Lorraine Pratt organized this event and did a great job.
During the convention, I sold my books and had a significant response. While selling them, I rekindled relationships with many dancers I hadn’t seen in years. What a splendid chance to see friend/dancers!
During USA West, the day began at 10:00 AM and ended at 10:00 PM, with After Parties that lasted until 11:00 PM or later. You can see that many square and round dancers love to party!
Each of the four evenings, we danced the night away to the possibility of 38 callers and 21 cuers from all over the country and Canada. We followed one caller we love around from hall to hall. That’s the option you have at a big event like this.
Often, we found our favorite high energy dancers and danced a fun square.
Also, we thoroughly enjoyed several exhibition groups that performed:
California Heritage Dancers
River City Riders
High Country Dancers
The Colorado Dancers
A couple of these groups highlighted the history of square dancing. One group, the River City Riders, had a fun presentation, with the dancers appearing to be horseback.
After so much dancing, we ended the weekend with tired feet and happy hearts! We thoroughly enjoyed the first of the two weekend dance events. USA West was a smashing success, yet we wanted more!
Second of the Two Weekend Dance Events: Hi Country Weekend, Pueblo, Colorado
At the USA West Trail-In dance on Wednesday, the Hi Country Weekend organizers asked if we planned to attend their dance coming up. They regularly attend our festival, Hot August Nights, and one said, “You know, we support you regularly.”
So, on August 3, 2023, Thursday afternoon, Lin and I headed north with a detour to Branson, Colorado, to spend a night there and saw my brother. That evening, we put a window air conditioner in my house in Branson. Afterwards Lin and I visited our 94-year-old friend who always is a joy to see.
Then, on Friday, August 4, we drove to Trinidad and met my brother for lunch and shopped around Trinidad. Afterwards, away we went to Pueblo for Hi Country Weekend for the weekend. Each evening had a different theme: Hawaiian Friday night and Cowboy on Saturday.
Each evening started with thirty minutes of round dancing, then thirty minutes of Plus dancing. The rest of the evening they had SSD (Social Square Dancing) dancing, with Plus dancing and rounds sprinkled throughout. So see—the focus was SSD dancing.
I really enjoyed their unique vision for a festival with the focus on SSD dancing. SSD is a relatively new program that focuses on the most popular fifty Mainstream calls. An entire weekend dedicated to a beginner level of dancing! Never once during the weekend was I bored as an experienced dancer. How about that! Other event planners should take note!
Unlike USA West, this event had two featured callers: Joe Saltel and Mike Hogan and a cuer: Peter and Chama Gomez. What a talented staff! The callers mixed up the SSD program so well, I never felt bored. This part of Colorado has several new SSD dancers that had a blast at their first festival.
Friday night we attended the “After Party” in one of the committee’s hotel room, overflowing with food and drinks and dancers. One tradition of this group is a “Bed Picture.” They get as many people as possible onto the bed in one of their hotel rooms for a selfie and they post the picture on Facebook. Their record is 24 people, but we only got 17! I always laugh as we jam as many people as possible on a hotel bed.
On Saturday morning, we took part in a challenging Plus workshop and then headed out to get gas and wash the car. We returned to the dance hall for a delicious barbecue lunch. Peter and Chama had a great workshop on Saturday afternoon, focusing on lower level round dances and then a jive workshop. We thoroughly enjoyed Peter’s excellent cuing and his hilarious sense of humor all weekend.
What a wonderful group of dancers come from southern Colorado—so warm and welcoming. Plus, high energy who thoroughly enjoy dancing and each other.
The second festival of our two weekend spree has left me exhausted and satisfied!
Finally,
Two weekends of amazing dancing! Two weekends in a row—fantastic for those of us who love to dance! Each satisfied my dance needs, and each made my heart smile! In two weeks, we host our dance festival, Hot August Nights, in Albuquerque! So, yes, more dancing, more laughter and more friends in our near future!
Do you square dance? Dance of any kind? Do you dance this often, two weekends in a row?
Pre-order my new book, Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming and Humorous Christmas Memoir, ahead of the Christmas rush. To be released in September for your early shopping pleasure!
