celebrate bandera

Hill Country SUN

Celebrate Bandera Labor Day weekend

By Ernie Altgelt
One of the Hill Country’s most colorful towns comes alive Labor Day weekend, as Bandera hosts the eighth annual Celebrate Bandera September 4-6.
The party begins at 5:30 pm Friday at Mansfield Park with the Circle of Life PowWow. Enjoy a traditional fry bread supper followed by the Blessing of the Circle, grand entry and silent auction. At 7 pm, the arena at Mansfield will fill with excitement when Cecil Atkisson Ford of Hondo presents the Cowboy Mounted Shooters Competition.
The annual event, hosted by Bandera’s own Cowboy Capital Mounted Shooters Association, provides spectators a chance to see cowboys and cowgirls in period costumes riding at top speeds while shooting pistols at balloon targets. The group returns to Mansfield Park at 8 am Saturday for a highly competitive Colt Eliminator and Rifle Competition.Saturday morning, a cattle drive will leave Hill Country State Natural Area at 7:30 am, and at 9 am, a huge arts and crafts fair opens on the Courthouse lawn.
Anticipation will build as time grows near for the Y.O. Ranch longhorns to make their appearance promptly at 11 am, when Y.O. wranglers and Celebrate Bandera drovers drive their herd into Bandera from the Hill Country State Natural Area.
The drive kicks off the famed annual Bandera Labor Day Parade and heralds the town’s colorful past as head of the famed Western Trail, when it was a major gathering point for longhorn herds headed up the Western Trail to market in Kansas and beyond.
The Y.O. cattle drive has become an annual tradition at Celebrate Bandera.Don’t miss this unique procession, which features cattle and trail ride enthusiasts, followed by characters and re-enactors representing various periods in Bandera’s history. Following the parade, at noon Saturday the Intertribal PowWow gets underwayat Mansfield Park.
The Circle of Life PowWow is a gathering of Indians of many Native American tribes. Traditionally, powwow’s are a time for participants to renew friendships, eat, share cultural history and dance.
Guests can visit the interpretive area, where Native American performers will tell stories, play flutes, carve, and discuss their cultures. Admission is $3 for adults and free for kids 12 and under.
And don’t miss the exhibits and children’s activities all day Saturday in Bandera City Park.Performers include the San Antonio Living History Association, Brazos Bottom Cowographers, Concho Cowboys, Buffalo Soldiers, and Dr. E.T. Bushrod’s Medicine Show.
Enjoy stick horse races and kid-friendly fun with the folks from the Hill Country State Natural Area Heritage Days, and have your photo taken on a real live longhorn by folks at the Longhorn Riders association. Plus, chuck wagon cooks will be on hand, offering delicious samples of their fare.
There’s even more action Saturday night in Mansfield Park. The Cowboy Mounted Shooters perform at 5 pm followed by the Wild West Show at 5:30 pm.
Don’t miss Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill and everything wonderful about the Wild West, including the amazing talents of 2008 World Champion trick roper Kevin Fitzpatrick of Bandera (see cover photo). Kids can participate in a giant roping in the arena, along with Kevin and other rope-twirling greats.
Recently inducted into the Frontier Times Texas Heroes Hall Of Honor, Kevin is a renowned horse trainer and rope expert, known as a “talented and able representative of Texas and the American cowboy,” says Genie Strickland, event coordinator.
Carrying on the Bandera rodeo tradition, Cecil Atkisson Ford presents the National Professional Bull Riders’ Challenge at 8 pm Saturday.
Immediately following is the first of the Kings of Western Swing Dance series at music venues around Bandera.
The 11th Street Cowboy Bar, Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar, the Bandera Saloon, Troubadours, and The Longhorn Saloon will all feature the best in Western Swing Music. (For a complete lineup, visit the web site at www.celebratebandera.com.)
That just leaves a few hours before Sunday’s 9 am Western Heritage Cowboy Breakfast and Cowboy Church on the Medina River at 9:30 am.PowWow Native American Church is at 10 am in Mansfield Park. Plus, visitors can enjoy arts, crafts and music on the Courthouse lawn.
At noon Sunday, the Hall of Fame Gospel Stage begins on the Court House lawn and the Circle of Life PowWow opens in Mansfield Park.
The Invitational Tie-Down and Barrel Racing Shootout is at 1 pm at the Mansfield Park arena, and the second in the Kings of Western Swing concert series starts up Sunday at 3 pm, with music at Troubadours, The Longhorn Saloon, Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar, the Bandera Saloon and 11th Street Cowboy Bar.
The weekend comes to a grand finale with the Cecil Atkisson Ford National Professional Bull Rider’s Challenge at 7 pm Sunday in Mansfield Park.
FYI • For more information about Celebrate Bandera, and for ticket information for special Wild Cowboy Mounted Shooters, the Wild West Show and the Bull Rider’s Challenge, call 800-364-3833 or visit the web site at www.celebratebandera.com.

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