Dear neighbors,

One week from tonight, the Odeon Theater in Mason opens its doors for Year 4 of Hill Country Venture Fest.

Students will stand on that stage and pitch. Judges will ask questions. Sponsors will be recognized, and awards will go to the students who earn them. Last week's edition covered the parking, the agenda, and the reception. This week covers the part you can do today, which is claim a seat.

Registration is free and takes about a minute on Luma. Doors open at 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, and the show starts at 6:30. The Odeon sits at 122 S. Moody Street in Mason. Luma also lists the evening as part of Texas Startup & Tech Week, September 28 to October 2.

You do not need to know a student, and you do not need to understand startups. Neighbors who listen well make the best audience.

Then send the link to one person. Pick a neighbor, a teacher, a coach, a cousin, or the friend who always has a business idea in the back pocket. A student pitching next Thursday will look out at the chairs. We would like those seats to have your smiling faces in them.

The rest of this issue gives you a week of plans that does not require a ticket. Puncher football at the Odeon on Friday. Two nights of music in Llano. A cancer benefit poker tournament in Mason. A new art showcase coming to Fredericksburg in three weeks, with fourteen artists standing next to their work.

We'll see you next Thursday in your inbox and live at the Odeon, 6 p.m.

With love,

Katie Milton Jordan, Editor
[email protected] | 325-475-4991

Townie Picks: three worth putting on the calendar

[Llano] Llano Texas Music Fest | Fri and Sat, Sep 25 and 26 | Robinson Park. Mike Ryan headlines Friday and The Fabulous Thunderbirds headline Saturday. Check the festival page for Friday's start time before you load the truck.

[Mason] Live Puncher Football: Mason vs. Ingram Moore | Fri, Sep 25 | Odeon Theater. Pregame 6:30 p.m., kickoff 7. Free.

[Mason] Mason County Annual Cancer Benefit Poker Tournament | Sat, Sep 26 | Registration 11 a.m.; play 12:30 to 6 p.m. at the Mason Community Building, Fort Mason City Park.

More this week

[Mason] Ribbon Cutting: T-Rex Strong, Everett's Light Shines On | Thu, Sep 24, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. | Mason County Library.

[Llano] Music Bingo & Pool Tournament | Thu, Sep 24, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. | Joe's Bar. Free, with prizes.

[Mason] Silver Creek at Spring Street Collective | Fri, Sep 25 | Spring Street Collective. The chamber lists 7:30 to 10 p.m.; confirm the start before you go.

[Llano] Cars & Coffee | Sat, Sep 26, 9 to 11 a.m. | Historic Railyard District.

[Llano] 125th Anniversary of the Woman's Culture Club | Sat, Sep 26, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Woman's Culture Club of Llano.

[Junction] Veteran Mental Health Awareness Ruck Hike | Sat, Sep 26, 9 a.m. to noon | South Llano River State Park. No registration required.

[Fredericksburg] Fall Festival at Wildseed Farms | Sat, Sep 26, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Pumpkins, seasonal activities, and live music by The Frumkins.

[Mason] Grape Stomp and Harvest Celebration at 1900 Vineyards & Winery | Sat, Sep 26, 4 to 7 p.m. | The listing includes a seated harvest dinner; check price and reservations with the winery.

[Mason] Dale Mayfield Live at Spring Street Collective | Sat, Sep 26, 5:30 to 9 p.m.

[Mason] Elijah Peel at the Odeon Theater | Sat, Sep 26, 7 to 9 p.m. | $4, cash only.

[Llano] Country Dance Lessons | Sat, Sep 26, 7 to 8 p.m. | Pardners Night Club.

[Menard] River Rat Picnic, Homecoming Weekend | Sat, Sep 26 | Low Water Park. A free concert; check with the Menard chamber for the exact time.

[Llano] Business After Hours | Tue, Sep 29, 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. | Llano County Historical Museum.

[Mason] Lunch and Learn: Mental Health in the Workplace & Suicide Prevention | Wed, Sep 30, noon to 1 p.m. | Mason County Chamber of Commerce office. Registration required.

[Mason] Hill Country Venture Fest | Thu, Oct 1 | Doors 6 p.m.; show 6:30 | Odeon Theater, 122 S. Moody St. Free; register on Luma.

[Fredericksburg] Oktoberfest Fredericksburg | Oct 2 to 4 | Marktplatz. Fri 6 p.m. to midnight; Sat 10 a.m. to midnight; Sun 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

[Llano] Fall Plant Sale | Sat, Oct 3, 8 a.m. to noon | Llano County Courthouse Gazebo. Llano County Master Gardeners.

[Mason] Seaquist House Guided Tours | Sat, Oct 3, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | $15.

[Mason] 40th Annual Mason Home Tour | Sat, Oct 3, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Several Mason homes. The listing does not name a starting point or ticket price yet, so check the chamber page.

[Junction] Ethnobotany of South Llano River State Park | Sat, Oct 3, 10 a.m.

[Llano] Boys & Girls Club Annual Golf Tournament | Sat, Oct 10 | Llano River Golf Course. Registration 8 a.m., shotgun start 9. Proceeds fund youth programs.

[Llano] Artoberfest | Sat, Oct 10, 6 to 9 p.m. | Llano Fine Art Gallery.

[Fredericksburg] Fall Makers Market | Sat, Oct 24, noon to 2 p.m. | The Hive Collective, 905 Llano St. RSVP on the Facebook event page; swap format.

On Friday, October 16, you can walk into a historic house in Fredericksburg and ask a painter how a piece came together. Fourteen local artists will show original work at Art Haus: Local Artists Showcase, and they will stand beside it for both days. Expect weavings, paintings, sculpture, mixed media, ceramics, photography, jewelry, and drawing. Many of these artists work on their own and do not have gallery representation yet. Art Ranch of Fredericksburg sponsors the showcase. Visit Art Haus on Instagram to learn more.

Friday runs 3 to 7 p.m., with a reception from 5 to 7. Saturday runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Find it at the Staudt-Jenschke Haus, 320 W. San Antonio St.

The artists: Holly White-Gehrt, Shannon Oelrich, Avery Stapleton, Whitney Phillips, Andrew Eckhoff, Casey O'Connor, Charity Palmer, Letitia Rogers, Elva Salinas, Kitty Hester, Amy Tucker, Raul Prado, Ann McGee, and Don Lisy.

Where to find them: Instagram @ArtHausFBG

Weather. Thursday looks mostly sunny with a high near 92 and gusts to 20 mph. Friday runs near 91, also sunny. The forecast lists no rain chance for either day. Sunday evening's storm dropped about 1.25 inches at the Llano River gauge near Mason, and that is the only rain the gauge has logged in the past week. Check the forecast again before you plan Saturday outdoors, because the weekend outlook was not posted when we wrote this.

River and fire. The Llano River near Mason ran 227 cubic feet per second on Monday, up from 162 the Tuesday before, and sits above the average flow for mid-September. Burn bans remain active in Mason, Llano, McCulloch, Menard, and Gillespie counties, according to the Texas Burn Ban Tracker. Sunday's rain did not lift them. Skip the burn pile and the backyard fire until the county says otherwise. The Texas A&M Forest Service rates Hill Country fire potential low to moderate this week.

Drought picture. The U.S. Drought Monitor's Sept. 15 summary reports flash drought across much of Texas. Drought.gov shows 0% of Mason County in drought as of Sept. 21. Both facts hold: the state has a dry problem, and this county does not have one right now.

Agriculture & Livestock. At Producers Livestock in San Angelo on Sept. 17, 653 head of cattle sold. Calves and yearlings traded mostly steady, and older light bred cows sold lower. On the Sept. 15 sheep and goat sale, 6,621 head came through the ring. Slaughter lambs held steady, while slaughter ewes and kid goats sold lower. Texas pecan growers are watching a crop forecast of 39 to 42 million pounds, up from 32 million last year. AgriLife pecan specialist Monte Nesbitt says a wet spring raised scab pressure, and that heat and dryness during kernel fill are the main risk.

Animal-health watch. USDA APHIS updated its New World screwworm infested zones for Texas on Sept. 4, Sept. 16, and Sept. 18. Producers should report suspicious wounds or maggots right away. This is a statewide watch item, and no local detection is reported here.

Economic & Small Business Notes. Producers Livestock lists three special sales ahead: the West Texas Rehab Sale today, the ISA Beefmaster Bull Sale on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 10 a.m., and the Stocker & Feeder Calf Sale on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. Regular sales run Tuesdays for sheep and goats and Thursdays for cattle.

Market Snapshot. Cattle, Sept. 17, per hundredweight: steers 400 to 600 pounds, $320 to $420, mostly $330 to $375. Heifers 400 to 600 pounds, $290 to $375, mostly $310 to $340. Slaughter cows, $125 to $150. Slaughter bulls, $160 to $186. Sheep and goats, Sept. 15, per pound: slaughter lambs, $2.50 to $3.70. Kid goats, $3.00 to $4.10, mostly $3.39 to $3.61. Slaughter ewes, $1.10 to $1.47. These are the most recent sale reports posted. We left hay and wool and mohair out because no current figure was available.

Tourism Pulse. Football, festival music, a benefit poker tournament, a Veteran Mental Health Awareness Ruck Hike at South Llano River State Park in Junction (Sat., 9 a.m. to noon), and a fall festival fill the next three days across Mason, Llano, Junction, and Fredericksburg. Oktoberfest Fredericksburg follows on Oct. 2 to 4, and Art Haus opens on Oct. 16.

If you have ever stood up in front of a room with something you made, you know what the last week feels like. You practice in the truck. You cut a sentence, then put it back. You wonder whether anybody will care.

That is the week the Venture Fest students are in. On Thursday, October 1, they take the Odeon stage in Mason for Year 4. They pitch. Judges ask questions. Sponsors are recognized, and awards go out at the end of the night. Every student on that stage has something at stake, and none of it appears on a scoreboard.

Start with the pitch itself. A student who pitches puts an idea in public before it is finished. An idea in a notebook is safe. An idea said out loud can draw a hard question, a long pause, or a confused face, and the student walks up anyway. Adults spend whole careers avoiding that moment.

The stage is the short part. The weeks before it ask more: choosing a problem worth solving, finding out whether anybody else has it, and explaining the answer without hiding behind big words. Students do that work on top of everything else a school week holds.

This is Year 4, and the format stays simple. Students pitch, judges question, the room listens. A simple format leaves the students as the story.

Then come the judges' questions. Venture Fest has published its rubric, so students know what the room will listen for: the customer problem, the solution and its value, proof that customers or a market exist, the business model and numbers, and whether the next step can happen. Read that list again and picture yourself answering it about your own work in front of strangers. The students have been doing that for weeks. On Thursday they do it live.

Some questions will not have an answer yet. That is allowed, and it teaches as much as a polished reply. A student who says "I do not know yet, and here is how I would find out" has shown the room how they handle a gap in what they know. The adults in the audience can learn from that. Most of us learned to hide the gap.

The room matters as much as the judges. A student who looks out at a full room learns that grown-ups show up for somebody else's idea. Nobody scripts that lesson. It comes from who sits in the chairs. A student who looks out at a thin crowd learns something else, and adults have a way of missing that lesson because it never gets said out loud.

Consider what a student carries out of the building. Winners get an award. Everyone gets the memory of a night when the microphone belonged to them and a room of neighbors paid attention. Some will remember the question that stung. Some will remember the person who found them in the lobby afterward and said, "Tell me more." That lobby conversation can outlast the pitch.

Few students get to a stage alone. A parent listens to the pitch a fourth time, a teacher reads a draft, a coach says "again." Those adults will sit in the audience next Thursday holding their breath. Every neighbor in the next row makes their evening easier.

Then there is the town. A student who pitches a fix for a problem on their own street hands the room a piece of local knowledge. A business owner in the audience may recognize the problem from their own counter. A civic leader may know which door to knock on. None of that happens if the seats stay empty, and it happens when they fill.

That is why a free registration link carries more weight than it looks like it does. Luma asks you to register, and each name on that list is a seat somebody plans to fill. The evening also appears on the Texas Startup & Tech Week schedule, September 28 to October 2. A student on the Odeon stage on October 1 is part of that week.

If you want to practice showing up at the Odeon, do it this Friday, September 25. Puncher football fills the same building, with pregame at 6:30 and kickoff at 7, and it costs nothing.

What does a good audience look like? It arrives by 6 p.m., when doors open. It listens for the problem before it reacts to the product. It asks one honest question when the chance comes. It stays through the awards, because students who do not win still want to see who is in the room at the end.

If you run a shop, ask your staff who wants to come. Give one person the evening off, and tell a customer where you are headed. If you coach, teach, or raise a young person, ask what they need this week. Last week's Hazel Mae & Fern column suggested starting with "What do you need from me?" Then do the one thing they name.

You do not need a connection to any of the students to qualify for a seat. A small town gets few evenings to tell young people with ideas, "we will listen." Thursday is that evening, and the room is open to anyone who registers.

The rubric lives on the Venture Fest student page. Read it before Thursday, and the pitches will make more sense while you watch them. The reception afterward, 9 to 9:30 p.m. at Fly Gap Winery, is where students, families, and coaches will talk with local journalists. If you cover the Hill Country for a living, bring a notebook.

The Venture Fest judging rubric. Judges score five areas for a total of 100 points.

Sharing counts too. Forward this edition to a teacher, a coach, or a favorite customer. Text the Luma link to the friend who keeps asking what there is to do in town. Each message takes ten seconds, and each yes is one more seat filled.

Here is the whole assignment for the next seven days. Register. Send the link to one person. Show up by 6. Sit where a student can see you.

Nadine says: Every Venture Fest student has to explain a problem and a solution to a room of strangers, and the judges start with the customer problem. You can run the same test on your business in five minutes. Write two sentences. The first names who you help and what problem they have. The second names what you do about it and what changes for them.

Then read the sentences to someone who has never bought from you. Ask them to say back what you do. If they hesitate, or if they describe a different business, the sentences need another pass. Owners who know their business well can find this the hardest five minutes of the week, because they know too much to be brief.

Customers decide in a few seconds whether you fit their problem. A clear pair of sentences shortens that decision. It also gives your best customers words to repeat when a neighbor asks who to call.

This week: write the two sentences, try them on three people, and keep the version that gets a nod. Put the winner at the top of your website, your Facebook page, and your Google listing, and say it out loud the next time someone asks what you do.

Walt says: Football, festival music, a poker tournament, and a fall festival will bring visitors and neighbors onto the roads this weekend. They will look for a meal, gas, a restroom, and a place to sit down. Most of them search on a phone, and most of them believe the first hours they see. If your hours on Google or Facebook are wrong, they drive past, and you never hear about it.

Small shops have a particular problem here. You change your hours for a funeral, a doctor's appointment, a slow Tuesday, or a football Friday, and you tell the customers who walk in. The listing online keeps saying what it said in March.

This week: search your business name on your phone before Friday morning. Fix the hours, the phone number, and the address if any of them are off. Add a note if you plan to close early or open late on Saturday. Tape a sign to the door that says when you will be back, so a customer who arrives at the wrong moment still gets an answer. Ask a friend to search for you from their phone and tell you what they see. Ten minutes now saves a customer who cannot find the door.

The Townie Business Circle is where we go deeper on the ordinary decisions that keep local businesses sturdy. Join the Business Circle →

This week's topic: "Is it too early to plant a fall garden when it is still 92 degrees?"

Dear Hazel Mae & Fern,

The garden store has broccoli and cabbage starts out front, my tomatoes look worn out, and the thermometer still says summer. I am itching to plant something, but I do not want to waste money on plants that cook in the heat. Am I rushing the season?

Signed, Itching to Plant in Mason

Darling, the calendar and the thermometer are having a disagreement, and the garden listens to the thermometer. The itch to plant is a good sign. It means you are looking at your garden and asking what comes next, and that is most of gardening.

You are not too early to plan, and you are not too early to prepare. Start with the tired tomatoes. Thank them for the summer, pull the ones that have quit, and look at the bed underneath. Work some compost into the soil and lay down mulch to keep it from baking. Bare ground in a Texas September loses its moisture and its manners at the same time.

If you set out young plants this week, give them afternoon shade and water them in the morning, before the heat builds. Small plants in hot soil need more attention than you would think, and a few days of fuss now will get them through the hard part. Seeds are fussier still. Many cool-season greens fail to sprout in hot soil, so plenty of gardeners wait a few weeks or start seeds in a shady spot.

And take yourself to the Fall Plant Sale in Llano on Saturday, October 3, at the courthouse gazebo. The Master Gardeners there have watched more Hill Country seasons than either of us.

Cool-season crops such as broccoli, cabbage, and kale go in during the fall, and the heat matters most in the first couple of weeks after transplanting. Shade cloth, mulch, and morning watering do the work. Give each plant a long soak, and water less often. Check the soil with your finger before you reach for the hose, because too much water and too little water both kill transplants.

Buy what you can plant this week and no more. Plants that sit in nursery pots on a hot patio dry out fast. Ask the Llano County Master Gardeners for the planting window that fits your area, or check Texas A&M AgriLife's planting guide, which lists the average first freeze for each county. Work backward from that date.

One practical point. Burn bans are active across Mason, Llano, McCulloch, Menard, and Gillespie counties. Do not burn the old tomato vines. Bag them, compost them if they show no disease, or haul them out.

Got a question for Hazel Mae & Fern? Send it in: [email protected]

Notes from the porch swing: this is the week before, when the work is done and the showing up is left.

Aries (Mar 21 – Apr 19)
You want to start six things at once, and this week the calendar cooperates. Football Friday, music Saturday, a fall festival on the calendar. Pick one and put it in your phone with an alarm. Enthusiasm needs a time and a place to land.

Taurus (Apr 20 – May 20)
You already know what you plan to wear, eat, and bring for the weekend. Good. Now tell somebody else the plan. Plans with two people attached tend to happen, and plans with one person attached tend to become a nap on the couch.

Gemini (May 21 – Jun 20)
You will explain the same idea four ways before the weekend. Choose the one that gets a nod and stop there. The right listener needs the clearest version, and the other three can wait on the shelf until somebody asks a follow-up question.

Cancer (Jun 21 – Jul 22)
Somebody near you is nervous and will not say so. Ask what they need this week, then do the one thing they name. Do not fix the whole plan. A ride, a snack, or ten minutes of listening will go further than advice.

Leo (Jul 23 – Aug 22)
You love a full room, and next Thursday's room could use a few more people in it. Invite three neighbors. Save the spotlight for the students. Your best work this week happens in the second row with your hands ready to clap.

Virgo (Aug 23 – Sep 22)
Your season wrapped up Tuesday, and you will spend the week tidying loose ends. Leave one open. A small gap in the schedule lets an invitation in, and you will be glad you had room for it when it arrives.

Libra (Sep 23 – Oct 22)
Your season began Wednesday, and everyone will ask for your opinion. Give it in one sentence. Then ask what they think. You will hear the better idea in the second answer, and you will make more friends by listening than by weighing in.

Scorpio (Oct 23 – Nov 21)
You notice which chairs stay empty at any gathering. Do something about it. Text the person who said they might come and tell them you saved a seat. A specific invitation carries more pull than a general one, and you know how to be specific.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
You have three plans for the weekend, and two of them involve driving. Pick the closest one. A good evening in Mason or Llano beats a great one you spend on the highway. Save the long drive for Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg.

Capricorn (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
You finish things, which makes you useful in the last week before anything big. Someone needs a hand with the small stuff: printing, parking, a phone charger. Volunteer for the dull job. Every event you have enjoyed ran on people who took the dull jobs.

Aquarius (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
An odd pairing works this week. Invite the coworker and the neighbor who have never met, and let them find out they both care about the same thing. You do not need to run the conversation. Set the chairs close and step back.

Pisces (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
You feel the mood of a room before the first person speaks. Use that at the next gathering you attend. Find the person standing alone near the door and say hello. A friendly face in the first five minutes changes an entire evening for someone.

Until next week: bring a friend, save a seat, and keep your eyes open for the student who looks up and finds you.

Next Thursday is Venture Fest at the Odeon. Register free on Luma, send the link to one person you know, and we will see you there.

📬 [email protected] | 325-475-4991
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Editor's note: Event times and details come from public calendars and the organizers; where sources disagree, the listing says so. Art Haus details come from the organizers' press release and poster. Check with each host before you go.