Staff Report
The Rancheros Visitadores are “tough enough to wear pink,” and they are inviting spectators to wear it as well when they parade through Solvang on horseback and in wagons for their 88th annual ride around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 5.
The Visitadores team up each year with Wrangler Jeans and the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Foundation to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.
The group rides through Solvang after the Kentucky Derby broadcast on the first Saturday in May to receive a blessing at Mission Santa Ines before riding to the group campground near Lake Cachuma. People traditionally line the streets to watch the hundreds of riders make their way up to the mission.
Many local men have been members since the group started in 1930, but other members have come from many states and several foreign countries. Celebrity members have included Gene Autry, Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan.
The first ride was organized by John J. Mitchell, co-founder of National Air Transport, which became United Airlines. He married meat-packing heiress Lolita Armour and they owned the 6,000-acre Juan y Lolita Rancho.
Mitchell and his friends hitched up their wagons and saddled horses to ride to Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos on their first ride in 1930, according to the group’s records.
