Festival Day in Cisco

I got to Cisco, Texas, just in time for their Folklife Festival. It started this morning with a parade. The people in the cars or on the floats throw candy to the kids, so it's always a well-attended event.



My sister's youngest is in the Cisco High School marching band, which was the first band in the parade.


After the parade the festivities moved to Cisco Junior College. The high school band gave a concert of three or four songs. The first was a Gustav Holst piece (not from The Planets), and when the band director announced it, one of the guys in the back asked, "Is this the hard one?" Yes, it was. They followed it with "The Curse of Tutankhamun," my niece's favorite of the set.

The food booths were all together under the shade between the buildings, and we checked them all out before buying lunch. One special treat I saw was deep-fried Snickers and other candy bars. I'd heard about them on Hugh Hewitt's radio show when he broadcast from the Minnesota State Fair in the past, but had never seen one in the flesh. It looked more like a skinny Monte Cristo sandwich covered in powdered sugar than a Snickers bar.

We looked at all the crafts and the stuff people were selling. I didn't make any purchases, because I'd just have to carry it home with me. Some of the people knew my mom--her church friends and the mechanic she found for her motorhome--and a lot of people knew my sister, who has lived in Cisco for years and years.

Almost everyone was talking Texan. "Y'all" was everywhere. A few people even noticed that I wasn't from around there. When one man found out I was from California, he said, "I'm surprised y'all didn't bring her in under dark of night." My sister said, "We did!"

As we left the festival, these two gents were taking a well-deserved break after spending most of the day on their feet, collecting entrance fees and stamping the backs of hands (admission is free tomorrow with a handstamp from today).


Cisco is NOT the home of the Cisco Kid. He was from somewhere else. What Cisco does have is Conrad Hilton's first hotel. He purchased the Mobley Hotel in 1919 and went on to make a name for himself in fine destinations around the world. The hotel is now a museum, but it isn't open on weekends, so we'll try to see it Monday.