Cowboy Way Breeds a Bustling Business in Bandera
Published Mar 05, 2009
A trail ride is one of many activities at Dixie Dude Ranch in Bandera, which lays claim to “Cowboy Capital of the World.”
Other places may boast they are Cowboy Capital of the World, but what city slicker is going to debate Bandera’s claim to the title?
Just 50 miles northwest of San Antonio, Bandera has slightly more than 1,000 residents and seemingly as many rodeos, dude ranches, western-wear stores and honkytonks.
In the 1870s, Bandera formed the staging area for the Great Western Cattle Trail, where cowboys herded millions of cattle from the Texas Hill Country to the railroads in Dodge City, Kan.
That heritage remains as plain today as the bronze monument on the courthouse lawn honoring Bandera’s rodeo champions or as the Cowboys on Main events that takes place each Saturday in warm-weather months.
The free downtown extravaganza brings out storytellers, musicians and trick ropers like Bandera’s own Kevin Fitzpatrick, who has performed around the world. Fitzpatrick combines a Will Rogers wit with an arsenal of tricks like the Wedding Ring, the Cowboy Hopscotch and the Texas Skip, a combination of skills he describes modestly. “I show off,” he says.
Bandera boasts a range of family-owned dude ranches, which started out as a way to make money in tough times and now have a worldwide reputation.
The Dixie Dude Ranch, for example, has been a tradition since 1937. Its 725-acre spread provides the space for horseback riding, fishing, campfires, hayrides and other Western activities.
The Twin Elm Guest Ranch hosts weekly rodeos from April to Labor Day that are free to Twin Elm guests.
And when in Bandera, rodeo is the thing to do. The city breathes the sport. Rodeos take place Friday and Saturday nights in the summer, including a winter bull-riding season, and peak with the Cowboy Capital Rodeo at the end of May.
For locals, it’s not just a spectacle; it’s something to do, says Patricia Moore, head of the Bandera County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“You see family members videoing the performance of other family members just like you video someone’s golf swing or someone’s tennis match to see what they’re doing wrong,” Moore says.
“Rodeo is very much alive as a family affair here.”
Story by Sam Scott
Photo by Todd Bennett
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