Christmas carols on horseback? SLO cowboys spread holiday cheer nearly 50 years ago
You know you live in a rural county when the holidays include singing cowgirls and cowboys.
Nearly 50 years ago, a group of musical merrymakers on horseback spread Christmas cheer in the Squire Canyon area east of Highway 101 near the San Luis Bay Drive exit.
This unbylined story is from the Community page of the Telegram-Tribune, Dec. 23, 1976:
Mounted riders sing yule tunes
Christmas carols are mingling with hoofbeats this week in the echoes through Squire Canyon hills as 20 young people of varying ages serenade rural residents of that area.
The youth group is carrying on a tradition begun five years ago — Christmas caroling on horseback.
Singing on horseback during the holidays started with Marti Cook and Sheri Federer, who decided to spread Christmas cheer among their neighbors, but found the homes were so scattered throughout the canyon they resorted to horseback to make their rounds.
In recent years, Pat Cook, 15, has been carrying on the tradition and coordinating activities with the help of her mother, Mrs. Richard Cook.
Mrs. Cook said it takes about two hours to ride to the 30 homes tucked in the ridges and gullies of the canyon.
Residents of the canyon look forward each year to the caroling, Mrs. Cook said. And the youngsters find their route lined with cookies, candy and other yuletide sweets.
