West Oakland's DeFremery Park fills with cowboy hats, dancing horses and the smell of festival food this Saturday as the Oakland Black Cowboy Association stages its 52nd annual parade and festival, a free, family-friendly tradition that has survived pandemic shutdowns and recent financial scares to keep riding on.
The parade lines up at 9 a.m. and begins at 10 a.m. on Oct. 3, running through 6 p.m. at 1651 Adeline Street, according to sf.funcheap.com. As The Mercury News notes, the procession winds through city streets past ordinary West Oakland traffic, cars and Lime scooters alike, before the crowd settles in for a heritage festival built around pony rides, line dancing, youth activities and food and local vendors.
A Legacy Rooted In An Overlooked History
The Oakland Black Cowboy Association describes its own mission plainly: it was created to bring the hidden stories of Black cowboys and cowgirls into the spotlight, according to the organization's own about-us page. Through storytelling, education, and events, the group says, “we aim to inspire pride, preserve history, and strengthen our community.” That mission points back to a genuine historical gap: historians estimate that one in four cowboys were Black during the era of the great Western cattle drives, per Smithsonian Magazine.
After the Civil War, ranchers were compelled to hire now-free, skilled African Americans as paid cowhands, the outlet reports, and those riders often found a level of respect and equality within their crews that eluded them in nearby towns. That era faded by the turn of the century as cattle drives ended, but the memory of who actually rode the range has taken decades to work its way into the mainstream story of the American West.
Founding Date Disputed, Roots Go Back Decades
Exactly when the organization began depends on which account you read. The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that the association was founded in 1976 by Lonnie Scoggins, while an earlier Chronicle piece placed its roots back to 1974. Either way, the celebration has continued annually since, aside from a two-year pause during the pandemic, the paper's reporting notes.
The parade has changed shape over the decades even as it has endured. By 2024, when the Black Cowboy Association marked its 50th anniversary with a parade, rides and partying, hundreds of Black Oaklanders flocked to DeFremery Park for the festivities, according to KQED. Longtime organizer Samuel Styles told the outlet that even as the parade itself has become shorter over the years, the celebration has been drawing more people at each parade.
Money Troubles Have Threatened The Tradition Before
The Black Cowboy Association's survival hasn't been guaranteed year to year. Ahead of the 2025 event, the nonprofit reported serious financial hardship and launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover costs, though donors ultimately stepped up to make that Saturday's parade and festival a success, the Chronicle reported. In earlier years the group has warned publicly that the annual event itself might not happen: organizers told ABC7 News that basic staples of the festival, like a stage and canopy estimated at roughly $2,100 and portable toilets running $700 to $800, were at risk of going unfunded, prompting another GoFundMe push to close the gap.
Those fundraising scrambles haven't stopped the parade from growing its reach. In past years the event has drawn contingents from across the country, including the Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle, and organizers have kept the celebration rooted in its call to community: “Together we ride! Together we thrive!” The 2022 comeback after the pandemic hiatus drew hundreds of attendees to DeFremery Park as well, even though turnout and the parade itself were smaller than pre-pandemic years, the Chronicle reported at the time.
What To Expect This Saturday
This year's festival keeps the formula that has defined recent editions: educational activities, local vendors and artwork, musical performances, pony rides and children's activities, mirroring what the 2025 festival offered, per the Chronicle's coverage. Between the parade's colorful attire and dancing horses and the festival grounds' mix of line dancing, youth programming and community resources, the day is built as much around heritage education as pure spectacle.
The event remains free and open to the public, with details available through the association's own site at oaklandbca.org. For a community whose founders set out decades ago to bring hidden history into view, Saturday's parade offers another chance to do exactly that, in the saddle, on the dance floor, and everywhere in between at DeFremery Park.
