Archives > Lewisville Leader > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Festival aims to break records
By Heather M. Goodwin, hgoodwin@starlocalnews.com
This year's Western Days Festival could attract the largest crowd in the history of the event.
The 2012 Western Days Festival will be held from 7-11:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28 and 10 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29 in Old Town Lewisville. Tickets are available online at www.LewisvilleWesternDays.com. Visitors may print as many tickets as they need and present those tickets at the festival gates for free admission. Those entering the festival without a ticket, in paper form or presented on the screen of a phone or other electronic device, must pay $20 at the gate. Free tickets are also available through the entertainment sponsor 99.5 The Wolf. Lewisville residents may show a valid ID for free admission.
"Last year we had 24,630 people attend the event and the largest event was in 2008," said James Kunke, community relations and tourism director. "This year, if the weather is decent, we expect to pass that."
"The festival is western themed, but there's much more to it than that," Kunke said.
The festival also includes live music. Texas country music artists Josh Abbott and Randy Rogers were selected to headline the festival. The Josh Abbott Band will be the featured act on Saturday night to close the festival, taking the Bud Light Main Stage at 10 p.m.
"The Josh Abbott Band headlined the 2011 festival and even though the weather was not great, the crowd was huge," Kunke said. "Now the band has become even bigger in the music industry so we're confident that it will draw a large crowd. These are bands that people have said they loved and wanted to see."
Abbott's playing career developed during his college days at Texas Tech when he and three other members of Phi Delta Theta fraternity began performing at the Blue Light Live in Lubbock. The group's most recent album, Small Town Family Dream, was released in April of this year and reached number 15 on the Billboard top 200.
The Randy Rogers Band will be the headlining act on Friday night starting at 10 p.m. on the Bud Light Main Stage. He last appeared in Lewisville as part of the 2007 Western Days festival.
Rogers was born in Cleburne and started playing guitar when he was 6 years old. Since his debut album in 2000 - a live recording made in San Marcos - Rogers has released five more albums and had six singles make the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The band's most recent album, Burning the Day, was released in 2010 and reached eighth on the Billboard top 200.
In addition the festival will include arts and crafts vendors, gunfight re-enactments, trick ropers, children's fishing area, Tailwaggers Ranch pet zone, First Choice Power Food Court, a Stickhorse Rodeo for kids, an exhibit of Western art and sculpture at the MCL Grand and community performances at the MCL Grand including the YMCA kickers, LakeCities Ballet Theatre and the House of Funk Theatre Company.
"This year we're offering something new, visitors will be able to buy all-you-can-play wrist bands for the children's area," Kunke said. "We've also doubled the children's play area."
Finally, the festival will once again host the eighth annual World Tamale Eating Championship. The event, organized by the Lewisville Convention and Visitors Bureau and officially sanctioned by Major League Eating (MLE), will pay a total amount of $3,500 to the top six finishers. The contest will start at 1:15 p.m. Saturday on the front steps of Lewisville City Hall, 151 W. Church St. Registration is available online at www.ifoce.com.
Dats Good BBQ, a family-owned Lewisville resident, is the event sponsor and will provide the traditional pork tamales. During the contest, traditional pork tamales are used, each weighing approximately two ounces.
Registration is currently open for the event. Some participants will include Tim "Eater X" Janus, the No. 7 ranked eater in the country and three more top ranked eaters.
Janus of New York City holds the current world record. Major League Eating also currently ranks him third in the world. Janus is a four-time winner of the tamale championship and holds the top all-time mark of 71 tamales consumed in 12 minutes, a result that won the 2007 title.
The inaugural World Tamale Eating Championship was held during the Bassmaster Elite 50 Country Fair at Lewisville Lake in June 2005 and was won by Levi Oliver of Austin, who established a world record by eating 36 tamales in 10 minutes, 30 seconds. He remains the only Texan to win the world title in tamales.
The only Lewisville resident ever to place in the money at the championship is Zack Alvarado, who placed fifth in 2009 by eating 23.5 tamales.
The festival will cost just over $400,000. In 2011, the festival made approximately $215,000 including sponsorships.
"The primary source of revenue is from sponsors and vendor fees," Kunke said. "We also get commission off food and alcohol sales and ATM fees. This is not a moneymaker. Most festivals don't make money directly, but the economic impact is tremendous. It will total about $1.26 million without multipliers."
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
