San Antonio Express-News
Ricardo Delgado, San Antonio Express-News
Updated Feb. 9, 2023 9:38am
Bandera’s annual cowboy-Catholic crossover rides back into the “Cowboy Capital of the World” this weekend.
Every year, two Saturdays before the main Fat Tuesday party, in New Orleans, cowboy culture and Mardi Gras enthusiasts mosey on up to Bandera, the scenic town about 50 miles northwest of San Antonio.
Patricia Moore, executive director of the Bandera Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she expects at least 15,000 people within the town. Bandera has just over 800 residents, while its county had under 22,000 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Moore described Cowboy Mardi Gras as the “first homecoming of the year,” and as Bandera’s largest event on the calendar.
The 18th annual Cowboy Mardi Gras runs Thursday through Saturday. Traditionally it’s hosted by The 11th Street Cowboy Bar in Bandera at 307 11th St., but music, food and entertainment fill the entire town, Moore said.
James McGroarty acquired the 11th Street Cowboy Bar in 2006. D. Foster, Melinie Ivey, and Richard and Sasha Sutton purchased the bar in 2022, but Foster said the celebration goes on regardless.
“It has to go on because all of us want it to continue to go on,” Moore said. “It’s exciting that the (new owners), are embracing that and continuing the traditions of Bandera.”
“It’s not our first rodeo to do something big,” Foster said. “It’s just this is the first time we’ve done this in Bandera.”
Partying is no joke, either, Moore said. Cowboy Mardi Gras’ date is etched in stone, no matter what event it runs into. This year, it runs parallel to the first weekend of the San Antonio Rodeo.
It’s even clashed with the Houston Rodeo before, causing some regulars to call for the Cowboy Mardi Gras to be rescheduled.
Moore replied it would take some divine intervention to get the town to budge.
“I can’t tell you how many phone calls we got from our regular visitors in Houston saying, ‘You got to change the date, that you’ve got to change the date for (Cowboy) Mardi Gras!’” Moore said. “And I very comically said, ‘Well, I guess you need to have the pope change when Fat Tuesday is then.’”
Bandera locals warned Foster and his partners of the scale of Cowboy Mardi Gras, waves of planning, and visitors from all over.
Just a few of the ZIP codes on tickets purchased range from Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana and Chicago, Foster said. Plenty of Houston ZIP codes in the prelude to rodeo season, as well.
Bandera tourists year-round come from even further: Austria, Norway, Switzerland and South Africa.
Despite the possibility of seeming like outside investors, Foster said he’s been humbled by the outpouring of support by the locals in taking over Cowboy Mardi Gras.
Foster said the 11th Street Cowboy Bar stage is over 70 feet wide and 20 feet tall, while the venue itself surprisingly holds over 2,000 people.
Weekend passes to the celebration are $75 in advance or $85 at the door of the bar.
Thursday starts with music from 6:30 p.m. until the Mardi Gras Costume Contest at 9:30 p.m. Friday mostly consists of music in the evening.
Saturday is the celebration’s main event, starting with the World Championship Gumbo Cook-Off at 8 a.m. Cooks will engage in culinary combat in a 100-square-foot area that they are encouraged to decorate.
Awards for the gumbo gantlet are handed out at 5 p.m., where first place takes home $1,000.
Arts and crafts will be available at the Bandera County Courthouse lawn from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The 11th Street Cowboy Mardi Gras Parade begins its procession at noon, traveling down Bandera’s Main Street with around 125 to 150 floats, according to Foster.
The festival’s eponymous costume contest starts at 2:30 p.m., as the weekend is closed by Grammy Award winner and prominent Cajun musician Wayne Toups at 6 p.m. and Texas dancehall band Kenny Orts and No Chance at 9 p.m.
Ricardo.Delgado@express-news.net