BANDERA — What began in 2002 as a modest afternoon fundraiser to aid local flood victims has evolved into this community’s signature event, an elaborate festival that could draw 20,000 this weekend.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” Mayan Dude Ranch Manager Kelly Orion said of Celebrate Bandera, which runs from tonight through Sunday evening. “It reinforces our identity as the Cowboy Capital of the World.”
The highlight for many is the herding of longhorn steer down Main Street to kick off a parade at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Other attractions include a Wild West show, powwow, bull riding, faux gunfights, a concert series and peddlers selling food and crafts.
Erling Thomsen, 69, of Denmark liked last year’s festival so much that he’s back again.
“It was very good, the longhorn drive and the rodeo,” said Thomsen, who’s staying at the dude ranch. “I like the kind people.”
Friends back home call him crazy for wanting to rub elbows with steer and ride horses along dusty trails, Thomsen said, noting, “My wife stayed home.”
A big hit among gamblers is “cow patty bingo,” in which participants pay $20 for one of 500 one-foot squares on a grid painted on a parking lot. The winner of the $2,500 pot is decided by where a steer poops.
The altruistic spirit of the festival has endured as it added attractions, logged tourism kudos and gained an international following.
“The first Celebrate Bandera was a pretty modest, all-volunteer effort,” said Dan Wise of the Bandera Community Foundation, which runs the event. “We now raise $20,000 to $30,000 and have 20,000 or more attendees.”
This year’s lead beneficiary is the Arthur Nagel Community Clinic, which dispensed more than $1.4 million in free drugs and medical care to needy residents last year.
Besides drawing visitors from nearby counties, plenty of guests are expected to be on hand from Germany and the United Kingdom, local tourism officials say.
“The mystique of the cowboy and the West is still appreciated by people around the world,” Bandera Mayor Pro Tem Maggie Schumacher said. “Here, we’re used to it and take a lot of it for granted, but they don’t.”
Celebrate Bandera has been listed in True West magazine’s annual Best of the West edition, and named one of the top 100 Best Western Events by American Cowboy magazine, said Genie Strickland, event coordinator, noting it was also featured in a Chinese magazine.
“This event is a celebration of our place in history as one of the major gathering places for longhorns headed up the famed Western Trail,” she said.
“It’s really an inexpensive way to spend the weekend, and tons of fun,” Strickland said. “Most of the events in town are free. The bull riding at Mansfield Park is $15, and the powwow has a $5 entry fee that’s good for all three days.”
A schedule of all events is at www.celebratebandera.com.
zeke@express-news.net