During the trailrides of 1985, discussions between several prominent Hispanic leaders, standing around a campfire somewhere in the Texas valley, following a day on the trail, centered around the idea of generating scholarship dollars for deserving Hispanic students graduating from high school. They expanded on the idea that it could be modeled after the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's metropolitan scholarship. All agreed that graduating Hispanic students were not n the pipe-line to get Rodeo sponsored scholarships. After all, Hispanics living within the 610 Loop were turning out in large numbers to support the show and should have some access to scholarship dollars that would be generated from rodeo profits. The consensus was that Hispanics not only needed to be part of the show but, needed to promote their own Vaquero-Tejano heritage as well.The effort would be a major one. On one hand the Hispanic leadership wanted into The Show. On the other, The Show didn't see a need for another committee and refused to allow the group in. After several meetings, including mediation, the HLSR finally allowed the new group, calling themselves The Reata Committee, to be a subcommittee of the Go Texan Committee but placed certain requirements on them in order to remain in good standing. One of those requirements, for example, was the writing of ninety reports on activities that Reata would b doing throughout the rodeo season.Initially, Reata endorsed Los Vaqueros and The Rio Grande Trailride with Larry Ramirez its trailboss. Larry was also a member of he newly formed Reata committee and had been a part of the organizing group. Also, there was a need to have someone involved with the media in order to get the message across to the Hispanic population that there was a new effort in town to try to get Hispanic kids to college through the Rodeo.The group recruited a young program director from KPRC TV, Channel 2, named Tony Bruni, to head up the effort and to begin the second generation of Reata leadership. Bruni felt that the best way to take the message to the community was through the television medium. And, if a picture was worth a thousand words, then a television documentary would be worth at least ninety reports.The television documentary that portrayed the legend of the Vaquero and early Tejanos, was filmed as the Rio Grande Trailride made its way from the Reynosa, Mexico border o the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade. It was shown to a receptive audience on Channel 2's community relations program, Reflejos.The success of that documentary and the following lineups of entertainment that was brought to the show caused a new stir within the community. An awareness that saw young men and women take notice and pride of who they were and where they came from took hold of a generation. All of a sudden there were straw hats in the city's barrios and Hispanic musicians such as David Lee Garza and Roberto Pulido were like pied pipers playing Tejano music to this new generation of listeners.On Hispanic Night at the Rodeo in 1990, singer Vicki Carr had been booked to headline the show – a choice made by the show. Playing second billing to her was Roberto Pulido and his band, Los Clasicos. Also, a new kid on the block who was just coming off a Grammy performance year named Emilio Navira was the third entertainer. The show times went longer into the night in those days. That morning, Vicky Carr sound tested on the round gondola used for many years for many rodeo performances. However, she took so long that Roberto and Emilio didn't have a chance to sound test. Instead, they were to use the public address speaker system. On top of all that, Vicky Carr wanted to go on first, not last, like headliners usually do.Ticket sales for Hispanic night were traditionally slow through the week leading up to the Sunday matinee. Unrealized at the time by the Rodeo, Hispanics historically buy their tickets, for a performance of any kind, on the actual day of the event. And, this Rodeo show was no different. So, as La Raza began to arrive at the Dome, ticket sales began to climb. Vicky Carr received a warm and polite applause as she went on stage and throughout her performance. But, all the time that she was performing, the Dome was continuously filling up. By the time she was done, the house was full.It didn't matter that Emilio sounded like he was on the public address system. It just didn't matter. The crowd was ready for him and he didn't let them down. After all, that's who everybody was waiting for – he WAS the headliner. Roberto followed him and continued until late that night. Unfortunately, kids had to be in bed for school the next day, so Roberto closed to a much smaller crowd. But, when the smoke had cleared, Tejano Music had placed its brand on the Astrodome.Recognizing that it couldn't put the community off any longer, the following September the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo named the middle Sunday of the Show's run, Tejano Day, and appointed the Reata Committee to be a full Committee and be recognized as The Go Tejano Committee.One of the things that the Committee had wanted all along was its own trailride to help in depicting the Vaquero-Tejano history. Although the Rodeo was hesitant about it, feeling it was a bit of a stretch, it nevertheless agreed to allow the addition of a newly formed trailride to the show. When Tony Bruni was asked what he wanted to call the ride, he responded: "The Mission Trailride", traveling 200 miles from the Missions in San Antonio, Texas to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade. And, who do you want to host that ride? "The Fort Bend County Vaqueros Trailriders", he replied.The rest, as may be said, is history. However, the story of the Fort Bend County Vaqueros, their early years, their progressive years, and their impact on a community determined to learn about where they came from and where they need to go through the education process is a unique story in itself.
Vaquero's & Mission Ride's History
