Norco is a city in Riverside County, California, in the United States. Take a look below for 15 fascinating and amazing facts about Norco, California, United States.
1. Norco prides itself on being a “horse community,” with horse trails, hitching posts, and corrals aplenty, and city ordinances requiring construction to have a “traditional, rustic… Western flavor.” It was given the name Horsetown, USA as a result of this.
2. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 26,316, down from 27,063 at the 2010 census.
3. The area was part of Rancho La Sierra granted in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Vicenta Sepulveda.
4. The city’s name is a portmanteau of “North Corona”, named after the North Corona Land Company.
5. Norco had its “grand opening” on Mother’s Day, May 13, 1923, and was later incorporated as a city on December 28, 1964.
6. As a horse community, there are few sidewalks in the city of Norco; instead there are horse trails, and riders can ride to town and tie their horses at the many hitching rails and corrals placed close to businesses.
7. Many horse-related associations are a part of the city, including the Norco Horsemen’s Association and the Norco Junior Horsemen’s Association.
8. Politics in Norco are also dominated by concerns about horses and animal-keeping versus suburbanization, a battle that has played out over development in the Norco Hills.
9. In that area, which borders eastern Corona and Riverside, an influx of Orange County commuters are buying homes for $500,000 and up that have few provisions for animal-keeping.
10. The original spirit of the town’s incorporation was to promote “City living in a rural atmosphere”. According to city ordinances, the architecture of Norco “shall reflect a desired Western theme,” including qualities “described as rural, informal, traditional, rustic, low-profile and equestrian oriented.”
11. In 2006, Norco began promoting itself as “Horsetown U.S.A.” and received a federal trademark. A large cement mural with this logo and reliefs of horses can be seen on the freeway near the I-15 southbound onramp at 6th St. The nickname can also be found on stickers and other promotional items sold around town.
12. Norco is also the home of the Norco Animal Rescue Team. NART was founded after the October 2003 wildfires that savaged San Bernardino County and San Diego County.
13. During the fires, Norco citizens banded together to provide a place of refuge for horses and other animals being evacuated from the fire areas. In the aftermath of these fires, the community of Norco recognized a need for an organized group to assist in the evacuation of mainly large animals from floods, fires and other dangers. NART has mobilized during every major fire to hit Southern California since 2004.
14. The largest event highlighting Norco’s community and lifestyle is the annual Norco Fair, run by community volunteers. Tickets for the fair are in the form of colorful button pins. Each year, a contest is held to design the button. Buttons are sold in the weeks before the Fair by teenage girls competing to be the next Miss Norco. Buttons must be worn at all times by patrons of the Fair or they risk being locked in “jail” by the Fair’s marshals.
15. The Norco Fair runs over Labor Day Weekend, beginning on Thursday evening with the Miss Norco, Horsetown USA Contest and continues until Monday, finishing with a Labor Day Parade down 6th Street. Events included at the Fair are the rodeo, rodeo dance, calf dressing competition, pageants, exhibitions, cowboy poker, wild cow milking, snail races, talent show, pet parade, and “Family Fun Day”.
