Spotlight
Santa Ynez Valley-based horse-riding group annually contributes to Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara
Over the past 12 years, Santa Barbara County riding group Rancheros Visitadores, in partnership with Wrangler, has donated more than $1.5 million to the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara to support local cancer research and care programs. The Rancheros Visitadores was started in the Santa Ynez Valley in the 1930s by local ranch owners to carry on a tradition where ranchers would drive their cattle to market in the spring, said John Balch, the Rancheros Visitadores general manager. Every spring, the rancheros host a ride to the Mission Santa Inés to commemorate the old vaquero tradition. In 2012, former club member Steve Beneto came up with the idea of partnering with Wrangler to start a campaign called Tough Enough to Wear Pink, where the Rancheros Visitadores would raise money for breast cancer treatment and awareness with a focus in Santa Barbara County, Balch said. “A lot of our members’ wives and in some cases daughters have developed breast cancer, so he thought that was a good area to focus in, and we’ve been supporting them annually,” Balch said. For the first time since 2022, the Rancheros will parade through the streets of Solvang to the Mission Santa Inés on May 4 where they will present a $155,000 check to the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara in celebration of its continued efforts to support cancer treatment. “We love coming back here every year...
