I suspect — but don’t know for sure — when people think of Hawaiʻi they are not thinking Cowboys, or more accurately, Paniolos. And yet, the influence of the culture is present on all the islands. The Big Island — in particular — strongly reminds me of driving through Colorado, both for the pastoral views of grazing cattle, the prevalence of horses, and cowboy articles of clothing and paraphernalia found in stores throughout the island.  

There are a few other tributes to Paniolos and their culture . . . 

That booth decorates the parking lot of one of the shopping plazas in Waimea. Many visitors, once here, become aware of the culture. In Waimea, Parker Ranch, one of the oldest and largest working cattle ranches in the US, embodies that culture for both visitors and locals. 

I was remiss in snapping a better photo of the boot. It was erected in 2008 on the 100-years anniversary of  . . . well, I’ll let the inscription say it:

“This commemorative boot is symbolic of the 1908 victory of four Waimea paniolo who reigned as World Champion steer ropes in the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo in Wyoming.”

You can read a bit more in THIS article.

It’s not the only nod to the contribution and legendary abilities of Paniolos. 

Here’s the inscription . . . 

Ikua Purdy made quite the splash at the 1908 Cheyenne, WY, Frontier Days rodeo . . . read about it HERE, and HERE, and HERE. 

Note: these photos were shot at different times and with different cameras. 

For them who be not keen to click on links, here’s the plaque giving a shortened history of the Paniolos . . . 

You can click on any of the photos for a larger view or go to the SmugMug Gallery HERE for the original photos. 

The monument sports the names of a lot of Hawaiʻian ranches . . . I don’t know if these photos represent the brands of all of Hawaiʻi’s ranches, but this PDF lists many resources if you are at all interested in the history. HERE is an abbreviated history, or you can look up the following names for more information.

Those last two might be difficult to read unless one goes to SmugMug and since most people won’t . . . 

I was not happy with the initial photo of the statue. The lighting and position make it difficult to photograph . . . eventually, I settled on this shot . . . 

. . . and the following variations . . . 

 

In the future (when the lighting is better) I’ll try and get a picture of the Purdy’s visage. 

Finally, looking uphill from the outskirts of Waimea . . . 

I would share higher resolutions of the above except that these were shot with the P900 and while it’s been very good for almost everything I shot (occasionally, amazing), the details on the above did not come through. I probably jostled the program dial and was shooting with the wrong settings because in other instances the panoramas have been great. 

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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