On my way to work this morning, as I cut through main street Pleasanton, I was surprised to see crowd barricades lining the sidewalk. I quickly remembered that today is the "great bull run" or the Cattle Drive; the day bulls (and cows, mostly cows) are driven through town from the surrounding ranches on their way to the Alameda County Fair Grounds. It's a parade to mark the opening day of the Alameda County Fair which has taken place in Pleasanton every year since 1912.
Like a parade, the barricades create a visual and physical barrier between the pedestrian area and the parade route - typically installed to keep pedestrians from wandering out onto the street and interrupting the procession. I thought it ironic that these barricades were necessary to corral the people from coming into close proximity with the 1,000 lb bulls that would be tramping down the street, and yet everyday cars of the same size routinely do the same. Inasmuch as this irony was not lost on me, I also had the simultaneous realization that the barricades were also likely there to keep the bulls from wandering off into a crowd of people.
Then I thought, what if people drove bulls every day instead of cars?
The Alameda County Fair runs from June 15 - July 8; the bulls, and cows, will be trucked back to the ranches.
