I had the chance to shoot last night’s Ranch Rodeo at Mansfield Park held in celebration of the National Day of the American Cowboy, and I can’t believe I’ve missed this event in past years. The team-based events are a blast to watch and there’s lots of cheering for the cowgirls and cowboys, especially those on local teams or from the dude ranches around Bandera County.
Posted here are some of my favorites from last night, and as always, you can find a full album of my photos from the event in the Bandera.net Gallery:
(I was mostly off from the newspaper last week, so no new news photos to share. But I did have a great senior photo shoot with Medina High School graduate Leianna Rich, pictured above! You can view more of my portrait photography work at OutlawPhotography.net.)
Bandera County Top Stories
With National Day of the American Cowboy upon us, most of our editorial space in the Bulletin this week was dedicated to all the info you need to know to get the most of this summertime event put on by the Frontier Times Museum. Grab today’s copy of the Bulletin for full event calendar and previews of this weekend’s festivities.
My recent headline stories in the Bulletin include:
In sports this week, read about how Bandera Bulldog season ticket holders are going from economy seating to first class.
Have news to share? Post a comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call/text me at 830-688-1564.
Bandera County In The News
KENS5 News has a video follow-up on the big Dirty Diner Feud in Lakehills between M&M Diner and La Cabana Mexican Cafe. Read the Bulletin’s background on the story at BanderaBulletin.com.
Here’s a scan of Taylor Bruce’s article and photos about how “Bandera, Texas: Makes Us Glad We Live in the South” in Southern Living Magazine’s July 2010 edition.
Canadian Debbie Olsen of the Red Deer Advocate writes this week about her visit to Bandera County and the Running R Guest Ranch. Great photo slide show included with images from OST, the Frontier Times Museum, and trail riding at the Hill Country State Natural Area.
Over on Facebook, the 365 Things To Do in the Texas Hill Country page features Medina apple-pickin’ this week.
Other Bandera County News Snippets
You can read Buck Shannon’s often-updated blog from the Flying L Guest Ranch over on Blogspot.com.
Pioneer River Resort of Bandera co-manager Lloyd Randall is quoted in a July 14 article in Woodall’s Campground Management, “Heavy Rains Revive Texas Campground Business.”
Brick’s River Cafe in Bandera got a good 4/5 review over on Yelp.com on Monday. Ashley P. from Chico, Calif., says the Austin sandwich (one of my personal favorites) was awesome and her boyfriend enjoyed his “delicious” broccoli cheese soup and patty melt, but was jealous of a neighboring diner’s plate-sized chicken fried steak. When I “get a lil’ chicken fried” at Brick’s, I’m partial to the pork loin medallions, Texas smashed potatoes, and as always, fried okra.
Peggy and David Koehler blog this week about their to visit the Bandera area, and give Riverside RV Park here a glowing review. “NICE. $20 per night, full hookups, cable and free wifi, also right along the Medina River with miles of trails to walk… Cinder and I took full advantage in the early mornings and late evenings!”
Bandera was chosen by WalletPop.com as one of its “12 American towns with unusual claims to fame” for being the Cowboy Capital of The World.
Read a bit of history about the Sabinal River here in Bandera County over on the Wharton Journal Spectator’s web site.
The San Saba News & Star reports their local Church of Christ group visited Camp Bandina Youth Camp near Bandera earlier this month. Photos included!
Romantic fiction and creative non-fiction writer Pamela Thibodeaux blogged recently about her visit to the Silver Spur Guest Ranch here in Bandera. Her newest book, In His Sight, will be published this Friday.
The fine folks at TexasFishingForum.com share their tips for finding the big ones in Medina Lake.
Pick up these collectible dolls from eBay seller wildcherry143 in Lakehills. With one day to go as of July 21, they’re going for 99 cents plus $4.99 shipping.
Visit the Luckenbach General Store online to buy your genuine cowhide bottle koozie made by “friends in Bandera, Texas.”
Videos
Many thanks to YouTuber SSPitCrewBBQTeam for posting thesevideos this week of the Wife Carry event at the Medina Lake BBQ Cookoff. They are simply hilarious – I’ve never attended the Medina Lake BBQ before, but with entertainment like this, I don’t know how I could miss it.
YouTuber Chucky4Cheddar and family enjoyed some “Red Neck Water Sports” on Medina Lake this week.
Photos
Enjoy photos from the Shearrer Family’s recent visit to Medina Lake on their blog. Don’t miss the adorable toddler “making engine noises” on their boat!
If you have news to share, drop me a e-mail, hit me up on Facebook, or call/text me at 830-688-1564. If you’d like to comment on this week’s news, feel free to speak your mind below or over on Facebook.
It was a hot time on the old lake for Independence Day! You can partake of the above video of an explosive fireworks mishap at Cousin’s Point on Medina Lake, courtesy of YouTuber TexasSharpshooter. Nobody was reported injured. We wrote a brief snippet in the Bulletin at the end of this story, and KSAT12 has video coverage here, WOAI4 coverage here. Catch the view from shore, here.
Have news to share? Post a comment below, drop me an e-mail, or call/text me at 830-688-1564.
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Bandera High School senior Gatlin Magee lost his right index finger and some muscle in his hand after a fireworks accident July 4. He is undergoing a series of surgeries this week after a mortar blew up in his hand. When shooting off fireworks for Independence Day, a mortar kit fell over, and Gatlin protected his 10 year old brother from injury by stepping between him and the mortar.
Read about Gatlin’s story on the Bulletin web site, then check out the video coverage by KENS5 News and KSAT12 News.
Other Bulletin headline stories this week include:
(Above, Bandera County Fire & Rescue responds to a late-night transformer blow-out at 14th and Hackberry streets. Sparks, flashes of electricity, and loud popping noises drew nearby residents out of their homes while the transformer put on a show.)
The Tulsa World reports that Fair Meadows jockey Tad Leggett, father of Bandera High School graduate Tiffany Leggett, broke his neck last week when his horse fell after a race.
Bandera High School varsity softball star pitcher Amber Neal was named All State Honorable Mention this week by the Texas Sports Writers Association. According to coach Roy Klein, she is a junior-to-be pitcher who had 363 strikeouts, a 0.98 ERA, and hit .535 last season. I look forward to nice mileage checks from the Bulletin next season while following the Lady Dogs across the state in the playoffs.
Read about Bandera’s upcoming big bash to celebrate the National Day of the American Cowboy in this month’s edition of the Hill Country Current.
True West Magazine also has a short feature on Bandera as “a down-home kind of place where you can always dance the two step,” including an interview with local event coordinator and fifth-generation Bandera Genie Strickland.
Kay Keen joins Bandera ISD as assistant principal at Bandera High School. Jo Ellen Fisk has joined Hondo ISD as principal of their Wolls Intermediate School.
The Billings Gazette Wyoming Bureau reports a “Buffalo Bill Cody look-alike…from Bandera, Texas,” participated in their Fourth of July parade this weekend.
The Bandera County Board of Realtors blogged recently about their upcoming barbecue at the Bandera County River Park on July 13.
Karin Reid Facebooked on Saturday that she had a great visit to the Koyote Ranch in Medina. “Of all the campgrounds we’ve stayed at, this rocks.”
Other Bandera County News Snippets
(Above, a pair of green monsters at the Bandera Riverfest Car Show.)
On July 27, 1996, a home-built airplane crashed on Hwy. 46 near Pipe Creek, killing its two passengers. You can read the full account at AviationCrashMap.com.
Meet Berty, an 11-year-old female Blue-and-Gold Macaw from Pipe Creek, Texas.
Did you know there’s a hiking shoe called the Bandera, so named after our beloved Cowboy Capital, sold as part of the George Strait collection by Justin? There’s also a Bandera Leather Jacket which “boasts a supple hand for the comfortable heft of a heavyweight flannel overshirt.” It also sports “distinctive, distinctively trimmed cuffs…” I kid you not!
Sticking with related George Straight topics, Blogger Mike Kueber writes a bit this week about Bandera’s own Bruce Robison and the song “Wrapped” he wrote which ended up on a George Strait album.
Over on FAQS.org, a site dedicated to technology patents, you can read about Pipe Creeker James C. Lyman‘s patent application for a “system and method for managing a herd of animals possibly requiring medical treatment” using tags and core temperature data collected “using a special, non-contacting core temperature sensor.”
Californian Maria Berry blogs about her holiday visit last week to Bandera, Texas. The highlight of her trip? Friday Night Rodeo.
Bandera County Videos
We Are Austin has a nice story + video feature on Bandera this week as a part of their Field Trip on a Fill Up series. “The music is lively, the dance floor is full, and the beverages are cold.”
Carolyn and Bill Pollack of the QVC Channel recently visited the Dixie Dude Ranch in Bandera and posted a series of videos from their trip over on YouTube.
Although not in Bandera County, don’t miss this video of a fireworks display gone haywire at Palmyra Middle School that sent 11 people, including four kids, to the hospital.
Rome went base jumping at Medina Lake this week, with video posted to YouTube on July 5.
Bandera County Photos
(Above, some of the lovely flowers planted in the community garden at the Silver Sage Corral.)
Austin Photographer Mirian Adrian posted some lovely photos of her family’s reunion held at the Medina River Ranch Resort here in Bandera.
Poor BuellXB.com forum member keisersozae didn’t make it 18 minutes out of Bandera on his bike before he and his friend were ticketed by DPS for doing 79 in a 70 near Tarpley. See his photos of their trip from and back to Bandera and around RR 336, taken with an HTC Evo smartphone, here.
Twitterer @lalorek of Austin+San Antonio shares photos from Medina Lake and the OST Restaurant in Bandera.
Reported by the Bandera County Outlaw
(Above, a young rider picks up speed during the Bandera County 4H Horse Project Youth Rodeo at Mansfield Park.)
If you’re a friend on Facebook, you: participated in an enthusiastic discussion about bringing an Old Main Street style single-screen movie theater to Bandera; saw eyewitness photos of the fireworks explosion at Medina Lake; got a live report of police scanner chatter when 17-year-old BHS senior Gatlin Magee had a fireworks mortar explode in his hand; saw photos of the fireworks show at Six Flags Fiesta Texas; and saw my photo of the beautiful skies over the Bandera County Courthouse as I walked to the Bandera City Council meeting last week.
If you follow me on Twitter @BanderaOutlaw, you: saw retweets of KSAT12 News coverage of tar balls showing up on the Texas coast; saw an update on the UTSA Roadrunners football team, featuring Bandera QB Cole Hubble, about their signing up to play Virginia in 2013-14; saw KENS5’s Great Day SA Daily Deal for Tootie Pies; and saw retweets of weather news about Hurricane Alex.
If you have news to share, drop me a e-mail, hit me up on Facebook, or call/text me at 830-688-1564. If you’d like to comment on this week’s news, feel free to speak your mind below or over on Facebook.
