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Whoopee ti yi y'oops! Ride ’em paniolo
By Stephanie Kendrick
Star-BulletinThat's the cry of an urbanite wrestling with a cattle rope.
Kathie Estocado and her daughter, Maria, ran the roping booth at last year's Paniolo Festival. Their mission was to help fair-goers rope a saw horse fitted with a plastic bull's head.
It was a day of rope-related comedy.
"The people who came to the roping booth didn't have a clue," said Kathie.
"They tried every rope, they tried everything," said Maria. And all complained that it's harder than it looks.
Well it is harder than it looks.
Guided by Maria, one of the few Hawaii women who compete in roping, I set out to lasso the dummy bull.Just learning to swing the rope proved harder, at least for me, than the throw and catch.
"I've never seen anybody do that before," mused Maria as the rope got caught on my fore-
arm for about the hundredth time.
She had me try swinging the unlooped end of the rope. I got the hang of that pretty quickly, but was right back to lassoing myself as soon as I went back to the loop.
Unable to figure out how I was making such a mess of things, Maria stood behind me and guided my hand as I swung the rope. I finally got it.
"That's how I had to teach my 5-year-old grandson," said Kathie.
Moving to step two, roping the plastic bull's head, I followed Maria's instructions intently and snagged a horn on my first try.
"That's a legal catch," said Kathie. Music to my ears.
The two keys to rope twirling for me were: don't grip the rope tightly, it has to move in your hand; and really flick your wrist back to get the rope around. Tips that might come in handy at the roping booth this Saturday as the cow folk again host the city slickers for the 3rd Annual Statewide Paniolo Festival at Kualoa Ranch.The event, sponsored by the City and County of Honolulu and the Oahu Cattlemen's Association, was designed to celebrate Hawaii's cattle ranching history.
In addition to roping lessons, activities will include free instruction in line dancing, pitching horseshoes, archery, and grooming and saddling a horse. Visitors also can tour Kualoa by trolley ($2.50 adults, $1.25 keiki), or horseback ($15 adults, $10 keiki 10-16 years old). And for the smaller keiki, $1 horse rides will be offered.
Exhibits of Hawaiian saddle craft, photographs, brands, tack and equipment will be displayed. And new members will be inducted into the Hawaiian Paniolo Hall of Fame.
The 10 new hall of famers represent the islands of Oahu, Molokai, Kauai and Hawaii.
Oahu Cattlemen's Association president Bobby Napier led the effort to create the hall of fame as a way to honor the leaders in the paniolo community. "He's always admired the oldtimers, because this is where he learned," said Marilyn Napier, Bobby's wife and an event organizer.
The Hall of Fame exhibit contains photographs and biographies of its members. Oral histories of the 1999 inductees will be completed later this year.
On the live action front, paniolo from throughout the state will compete all day in team-roping, cattle-penning and paint-branding events.
Live music, a craft fair and, of course, barbecue round out the attractions.
"It's a nice family day in the country type of thing," said Alan Gottlieb, Oahu Cattlemen's Association treasurer.
And city folk may come away with a new appreciation for Hawaii's ranching community.
"Today, people think that milk and beef come from Safeway," said Gottlieb. "We're trying to get the general public more aware of agriculture and its importance to Hawaii."
Home on the range
What: 3rd Annual Statewide Paniolo Festival
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