An estimated 150 people came together to celebrate the National Day of the American Cowboy during the Rancher’s Day event sponsored by the Oakdale Chamber of Commerce, The Oakdale Cowboy Museum, Oakdale Saddle Club and Bud Light on Saturday, July 25 and held at the Oakdale Saddle Club rodeo grounds.

“We were very lucky that Mother Nature provided much cooler weather than what was predicted,” said Christie Camarillo, Cowboy Museum Executive Director and co-chair of the event. “It made it nice for the competitors, working cow dogs and the spectators but especially for all the volunteers that came out to help, too. We couldn’t be more pleased with this first time event!”

Spectators were able to see first hand how local ranchers handle daily chores through both the calf branding and sort & rope events. Contestants were randomly drawn to make up their teams. While time constraints are usually not instilled on the ranch, it was part of the rules for the competition. With time being a factor, the audience saw quite a bit of hustle as cowboys hurried to be the fastest in their event. The working cow dog class brought a round of applause from the crowd as handler’s signaled their dogs to gather and corral a small herd of cattle. 

There were two competitors for the businessperson’s calf branding event; Denice Noel from Century 21 M&M and Associates and Butch Medlen from Medlen’s House of Beef. Medlen branded his calf in the fastest time to win the event. A tri tip and chicken barbecue rounded out the event that organizers called a success.

Cowboy Competitors Rope In Awards

Winners were crowned in three categories during competition at the Saturday, July 25 National Day of the American Cowboy event hosted at the Oakdale Saddle Club Rodeo Grounds. The day was co-hosted by the Oakdale Cowboy Museum and Oakdale Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the Saddle Club, to highlight the cowboy way of life.

Following are the top placing teams in the various categories of competition.

Calf Branding 1st place Team

Mike Souza, Dos Palos

Jeff Bridgewater, Jamestown

Clayton Edsall, Oakdale

John Roen Jr., Oakdale

Calf Branding 2nd Place Team

Dan Dooley, Oakdale

Dawn Telles, Oakdale

John Roen Jr., Oakdale

Chance Caudle, Oakdale

Rope & Sort 1st Place Team

Thomas Bert, Modesto

Chance Caudle, Oakdale

Rope & Sort 2nd Place Team

Thomas Bert, Modesto

Johnny Roen, Waterford

Rope & Sort 3rd place Team

Norm Mendenhall, Oakdale

Brady Santos, Oakdale

Working Cow Dog Class

1st Place CQ’s Minnie an 8-year-old Border Collie

2nd place McCallums Duke 3-year-old Border Collie

Both owned by Judi Schmidt of Galt

Winners won custom made halters for their horses and prize money. Working Dog Class also received a bag of dog food from Nutrena.