✨ Advertise in The Townie ✨
Want your business to be top of mind in Mason County and beyond? The Townie offers powerful ad packages designed to fit your goals and budget.
✉️ Just hit reply to get started.

🪶 Letter from the Editor

Dear neighbors,

Twenty-two thousand pounds.

I keep coming back to that number. Not as a spectacle — though twenty-two thousand pounds of anything boiled in giant pots on a riverbank is, by definition, a spectacle — but as a statement of priorities.

The Llano Crawfish Open is 36 years old this weekend. Thirty-six years of buying mudbugs from Louisiana and trucking them west. Thirty-six years of teams perfecting their boil recipes in October so they're ready for April. Thirty-six years of volunteers showing up in February to start planning a party that won't happen for two more months. Thirty-six years of giving the money back — not to shareholders, not to outside promoters, but to local charities. To the town itself.

That's not a festival. That's a civic institution wearing a festival's clothes.

I've been sitting with the contrast between two things this week. On one hand, Booking dot com just named Fredericksburg the most welcoming destination in the United States — fifth most welcoming in the world, behind communities in Italy, Mauritius, Argentina, and the UK. That's extraordinary news for the Hill Country, and I mean that without irony. National attention like that lifts the whole region. When Fredericksburg is the portal, some visitors find Mason. Some find Llano. Some find Brady and Junction and Menard and realize there's a geography they'd been driving past for years without knowing what they were missing.

But "most welcoming" as measured by traveler reviews is measuring something specific: how well a place receives its visitors.

The Crawfish Open is measuring something different entirely.

It's measuring how well a community receives itself.

There is no ranking for that. No Booking dot com algorithm that captures 36 years of volunteers, the institutional memory of how to run something right, the particular pride of a town that throws a party not because outsiders are watching but because the people who live there deserve one. You can't award-program your way to what Llano has built. You build it by showing up, year after year, and deciding — again and again — that your community is worth the effort.

I want to name the contrast in the landscape this week, because I think it matters. The drought report says 84% of Texas is in drought and January through March was the driest first quarter since 1895. The fire weather watches have been cycling through all week ahead of rain that may or may not arrive before the weekend. The hay prices are elevated. The pastures are stressed. The particular tired look that drought-year spring has is settling over the Edwards Plateau.

And this weekend, 22,000 pounds of crawfish are going to be boiled on the banks of the Llano River.

That's not escapism. That's what communities do. You hold the hard things in one hand and the celebration in the other, and you show up for the party because the party is also a form of care. It says: we are still here. We are still doing this. Thirty-six years in and we are still choosing this.

Chris Cagle plays Friday. Cody Canada & The Departed play Saturday. I want to say something about that, because it's not a small thing. These are serious acts. Cody Canada built Cross Canadian Ragweed into one of the defining bands of the Texas Red Dirt movement. That he's playing a nonprofit festival in a town of 3,200, on the banks of the Llano River, for local charities — that tells you something about the reputation the Crawfish Open has earned. Quality compounds when you do things right long enough. The acts want to come. The teams want to enter the cook-off. The people want to be there.

Tax season just ended, which is its own kind of annual reckoning. A lot of you spent last week staring at documents you'd been avoiding, having conversations with your accountant you'd been putting off, realizing the financial picture of your business is either better or worse than you thought — and probably both simultaneously depending on which line item you were looking at. That's normal. That's small business.

The good news this year is there are a few specific changes worth knowing about — the business personal property exemption jumped, bonus depreciation came back, the franchise tax deadline is May 15. We go deeper on that in the business section this week. But here's the short version: spring is the right time for a deliberate pause. Not a panic, not an overhaul — just a look. The books are fresh, the season is ahead of you, and the decisions you make in April tend to shape the rest of the year.

One more thing before I let you get to the rest: the wildflower season is in its last good week. "Moderate and uneven" was how the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center described 2026, and that's honest — the dry fall and mild winter meant the bluebonnets came in patches rather than carpets. But they're still out there. The Willow City Loop, Llano County roadsides, Mason County back roads. If you've been meaning to get out and look at them before they fade, this is the weekend. Go in the morning, before the heat. Take the long way. You live here — you deserve to see the thing that people drive four hours to find.

The Crawfish Open gates open tomorrow. The party starts Friday. And somewhere in Llano, someone is checking the boil seasoning one more time, making sure the 36th year is as good as the last thirty-five.

That's the Hill Country. That's us.

— Katie Milton Jordan
Editor, The Townie
📬 [email protected] // 📞 325-475-499

The Two Insights Your Business Needs Right Now

Insight #1: The Festival Economy — Who Really Wins When a Town Throws a Party

The Crawfish Open generates an interesting question that doesn't usually get asked at Chamber mixers: when a community event happens, who actually captures the economic value?

The instinct is to say everyone wins. A busy weekend is a busy weekend. But the distribution is more specific than that — and the Crawfish Open makes it unusually clear, because its structure is different from most festivals.

It's a nonprofit. That changes everything.

At a commercial festival, the promoter absorbs the profit and assumes the risk. Ticket revenue, vendor fees, sponsorships — they flow to the production company. The community gets the foot traffic and the parking chaos; the margin leaves on Sunday. That's not a criticism. It's just how the math usually works.

At the Crawfish Open, the margin stays. Proceeds go to local charities. The people doing the labor are the people who live here. The vendors are local and regional operators who sell out in a weekend and drive home with cash they didn't have Thursday morning. The gas stations on 29, the convenience stores, the coffee shop that opens early to catch the pre-gate crowd — they all see traffic they wouldn't otherwise see. The Airbnbs in Llano County book out in January for Crawfish Open weekend.

That's a closed loop. That's a town reinvesting in itself through the act of celebration.

Here's the practical question for your business: if you're near Llano this weekend and haven't thought about what this foot traffic means for you, it's worth five minutes. Is your door open? Is your signage visible? Do you have something to offer someone who came for crawfish and is looking for a reason to stay an extra hour?

The festival is happening whether you lean into it or not. The question is whether you participate in the economy it creates.

And if you're not in Llano — if you're in Mason or Brady or Junction — the Crawfish Open is a model worth studying. A community event that serves the community financially, runs for 36 years without losing its soul, and draws outsiders in without needing to become something it's not. That's replicable. Maybe not 22,000 pounds worth. But the principle scales.

Insight #2: Post-Tax Season Cash Positioning — Where to Put What's Left

April 15 is behind you. Here's what that means right now.

First, the housekeeping: if you're a Texas small business operator, your franchise tax return is due May 15. For most operators under the $2.65 million threshold, that's a zero-tax filing — but it still needs to be filed. If you haven't talked to your accountant since you filed your federal return, make that call this week.

Two things changed in 2026 that are worth knowing about:

The business personal property exemption jumped to $125,000. If you've been paying property taxes on equipment under that value, talk to your county appraisal district about your exemption status. You may be overpaying.

100% bonus depreciation was reinstated for qualifying property placed in service in 2026. If you've been considering a capital purchase — a trailer, a refrigeration unit, equipment for the shop — the tax math changed this year. Full deduction in the year of purchase instead of depreciating over time. If you were going to buy it eventually, buying it before December 31 now has a stronger argument.

Third, and this is the harder one: if your refund came in or your estimated payments cleared, resist the urge to let the money dissolve back into operations without a decision. The dissolution happens fast. A deliberate choice about where that cash goes — emergency reserve, equipment, marketing ahead of summer, paying down a line of credit — is worth the 20 minutes it takes to make it.

Spring is the right time for this. Not because of the calendar, but because you're not in the middle of holiday chaos or year-end exhaustion. The books are fresh. The decisions are clear. Make them now.

A Small Townie Takeaway

The crawfish are boiling and the tax returns are filed. Both of those things happened this week, and both are invitations to look at what you have and decide what to do with it. The festival economy and the post-tax ledger are asking the same question: where does the money actually go? Answer it deliberately, and spring starts to feel like what it is — the best time of year to set the plan for the rest of it.

📬 The April Business Circle just dropped. This month: the real population numbers for our five-county region, what declining population actually costs your business (I did the math), and a new interactive tool — Your Ecosystem Purpose Map. If you own a business in the Hill Country, this one's worth your time. $10/month. [Join the Business Circle →]

Don’t Build Alone. Join the Circle.

The Townie Business Circle isn't just a newsletter; it's your insider pass to the most motivated leaders in Greater Mason Co.

For just $10/MO, you get:

• Immediate access to the archive.

• Exclusive Monthly Business Tips and local marketing support.

• A front-row seat to shaping local prosperity and human flourishing.

• A ticket to our EXCLUSIVE Business Networking Events (Wine, ideas, and real-talk)

[Upgrade and Join The Townie Business Circle Today] $10/MO for your exclusive pass to a more resilient region.

🌾 Fresh off the Porch

📅 Events

⭐ [Llano] — 36th Annual Llano Crawfish Open | Thu–Sat, Apr 17–18, all day–midnight | Robinson City Park Twenty-two thousand pounds of mudbugs, live music both nights (Chris Cagle Friday, Cody Canada & The Departed Saturday), barrel racing, team roping, a 5K Crawfish Crawler, cornhole, a golf tournament, and a Motorcycle Fun Run — all on the banks of the Llano River. Benefits local charities. Fri admission $10 before 5 PM / $30 after; Sat $20 before 5 PM / $35 after; weekend pass $50. (325) 247-5354

[Junction] — Outdoor Women Gone Wild: Sip-n-Stroll & Skills Weekend | Fri–Sat, Apr 17–18 | Downtown Junction & Tree Cabins at River's Bend Friday is a Sip-n-Stroll through downtown Junction storefronts, ending with an after-party at Tree Cabins at River's Bend. Saturday brings outdoor skill classes: kayaking, disc golf, tomahawk throwing, yoga, mixology, paint & sip, CPR training, and more. (325) 446-3190

[Fredericksburg] — Fredericksburg Trade Days | Fri–Sun, Apr 17–19, Fri–Sat 9 AM–5 PM / Sun 9 AM–4 PM | Sunday Farms, 355 Sunday Farms Ln 350+ vendors across seven barns and open-air fields — antiques, ranch furniture, vintage collectibles, handmade crafts, clothing, jewelry, food. Live music in the Biergarten. Parking $5 good all weekend. (830) 997-8515

[Luckenbach] — 5th Annual Bluegrass Festival | Sat, Apr 18, noon–6:30 PM | Luckenbach Texas Outdoor Main Stage All-day bluegrass under the live oaks: Luke Bulla, The Fretliners, Shelby Means Trio, Volume Five, and headliner Yonder Mountain String Band. Kids 8 and under free. GA ~$35; VIP Table (seats 6) ~$810. Come early — the shade runs out by 2 PM. (830) 997-3224

[Stonewall] — Becker Vineyards 26th Annual Lavender Festival | Sat–Sun, Apr 25–26, 10 AM–5 PM | Becker Vineyards Estate, 464 Becker Farms Rd Two days of lavender — artisan vendors, food trucks, live music, wine tasting, and a Hands-On Lavender Experience ($60). Saturday Lavender Luncheon sold out; Sunday luncheon still available. GA $15. (830) 644-2681

[Junction] — Texas Adventure Rally (Spring) | Thu–Sun, Apr 30–May 3 | Tree Cabins at River's Bend, 304 Dos Rios Dr Four days of dual-sport and ADV motorcycle riding through Hill Country gravel roads, water crossings, and bump gates. Six mapped routes, group dinner Saturday, Stop the Bleed course, food trucks on-site. Registration capped. texasadvrally.com

[Fredericksburg] — Inaugural Restaurant Week | Mon–Sun, May 4–10 | Various restaurants Fredericksburg's first-ever Restaurant Week — curated menus and chef collaborations highlighting seasonal Hill Country ingredients. Participating restaurants TBA. fbgfoodandwine.com

[Castell] — Castell General Store Testicle Festival | Sat, May 16, 11 AM–evening | Castell General Store, 19522 RR 152 W Deep-fried calf fries, crawfish, live music all day, washer pitching tournament, cold drinks on the Llano River, and the kind of good-natured rural revelry only Castell knows how to throw. Family-friendly. $10 cover. (325) 347-6600

⭐ [Kerrville] — 54th Annual Kerrville Folk Festival | Thu May 21–Sun Jun 7, 18 days | Quiet Valley Ranch The longest continuously running music festival in the United States — 100+ songwriters over 18 days. Confirmed: Andy Frasco & the U.N., S.G. Goodman, JJ Grey & Mofro, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Eddie 9V. Camping available. kerrvillefolkfestival.org

[Fredericksburg] — Fredericksburg Jaycees Crawfish Festival | Fri–Sun, May 22–24 | Marktplatz, 101 W. Main St Memorial Day Weekend goes Cajun: crawfish, gumbo, boudin, live music, arts & crafts market, kids' carnival. Fri $15 / Sat $20 / Sun $10; kids 6–12 $5, under 6 free. (830) 997-8515

[Llano] — 90th Annual Llano Open Pro Rodeo & Parade | Fri–Sat, Jun 5–6 | John L. Kuykendall Event Center CPRA pro rodeo — bull riding, bronc bustin', barrel racing, team roping, calf scramble, mutton bustin'. Friday's downtown parade circles the Courthouse Square. Saturday night dance after the final performance. Adults $10, kids $5. (325) 247-5354

[Junction] — Cowboys & Cajuns Crawfish & Street Dance | Sat, Jun 6 | Between Kimble County Courthouse & Junction VFD, 5th St Junction's annual street dance and crawfish boil — live music by Fast Moving Train, Miss Kimble County Pageant, Cajun food, dancing in the streets. Time TBD — call ahead. (325) 446-3190

[Mason] — Hot Dog & Hot Rod Night | Sat, Jun 13, 4–9 PM | Mason County Square Classic cars on one of Texas Monthly's five most beautiful courthouse squares. Hot rods, hot dogs, vendors, and a good old-fashioned community evening. Free. (325) 347-5758

[Menard] — River Rat Fest & Jim Bowie Day Cook-Off | Sat, Jun 13, 9 AM–11 PM | 301 Decker St All-day BBQ cook-off on the San Saba River. Little Miss & Mr. Silver Nugget pageant, food vendors, BYOB. Lineup TBD. (325) 396-2365

⭐ [Stonewall] — 65th Annual Stonewall Peach JAMboree & Rodeo | Thu–Sat, Jun 18–20 | Stonewall Chamber Grounds, 250 Peach St Three days of Hill Country summer: CPRA rodeo, peach contests, Peach Queen coronation, peach pit spittin', Saturday parade, fresh peaches, cobbler, ice cream, live music. Randall King Friday; The Kentucky Headhunters Saturday. Concerts $30/night GA or $50 weekend pass. Saturday daytime free. (830) 644-2735

[Brady] — 100th Annual July Jubilee | Sat, Jul 4 | Downtown Brady Brady's centennial Fourth of July — parade, BBQ luncheon, mud volleyball at Brady Lake, and the legendary July Jubilee Street Dance. ⚠️ Confirm 2026 date: (325) 597-3491

[Junction] — July 4th Freedom Celebration | Sat, Jul 4 | Schreiner Park Annual parade through downtown, fireworks at dusk over the South Llano River. Free. ⚠️ 2026 announcement pending — confirmed annual event. (325) 446-3190

[Fredericksburg] — Fourth of July Parade & Patriotic Program — America's 250th | Sat, Jul 4, 10 AM | Main St to Nimitz Museum Nearly 100 patriotic floats celebrating 250 years of American independence. Bill Smallwood Patriotic Concert at Marktplatz immediately after. Bells ring at noon. Livestreamed at FBG.Live. Free. (830) 997-6523

⭐ [Mason] — 61st Annual Mason County Roundup Weekend | Fri–Sat, Jul 10–11 | Ft. Mason Community Park Arena & Courthouse Square Mason's signature summer celebration: $9,500 added UPRA/CPRA pro rodeo, courthouse square parade, Arts & Crafts Festival, Queen's Court, live music, and dancing at the Slab. If you make one Mason event this summer, this is it. (325) 347-5758

🏛️ Community Features

[Fredericksburg] — Town Breaks Ground on $5.5M Community Racquet Center Phase one of a four-phase, $16 million racquet center broke ground April 8 at 524 Friendship Lane. When complete by March 2027: eight tennis courts, eight pickleball courts, a 1,650 sq ft clubhouse, a public walking trail, a playground, and parking — with affordable memberships and scholarships. A public-private partnership between the city, the Fredericksburg Tennis Center Foundation, and Austin's Fueling Tennis Futures Foundation.

[Kerrville] — Travel Texas Names Kerrville a "Tourism Friendly" Certified Community Fresh off flood recovery, Kerrville earned Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community status from Travel Texas — joining Film Friendly and Music Friendly in the state's recognition program. Tourism drives roughly a third of the city's sales tax revenue. A well-earned badge for a city that bounced back hard.

[Stonewall] — Muckleroy Ranch Permanently Protected Near Enchanted Rock Hill Country Conservancy finalized a permanent conservation easement on the 240-acre Muckleroy Ranch, bordering Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. The protection complements TPWD's recent 3,000-acre purchase north of the park — shielding watershed, wildlife habitat, scenic views, and dark skies around one of Texas's most-loved parks.

🏫 Business & School Highlights

[Fredericksburg] — New City Hall Opening April 27 at East Campus Fredericksburg's new City Hall at the East Campus opens its doors April 27, delivering modernized offices and improved public access after years of planning.

[Fredericksburg] — Lincoln Street Maker's Market Debuts May 9 The Fredericksburg Chamber is accepting vendor applications for the inaugural Lincoln Street Maker's Market in the growing Warehouse District — launching Saturday, May 9. Local makers, creatives, and artisans encouraged to apply early.

[Brady] — Brady Elementary Hosts Texas Mobile STEM Lab Brady Elementary welcomed the Texas Mobile STEM Lab — a high-tech classroom on wheels bringing hands-on science and engineering to rural students who don't often get access to this kind of equipment. Exactly the kind of investment Hill Country kids deserve.

🏆 Awards & Recognitions

[Fredericksburg] — Methodist Hospital Hill Country Named Top 10% in Nation for Patient Safety Methodist Hospital Hill Country received the 2026 Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades, placing it in the top 10% of approximately 4,500 hospitals nationwide. It also holds a CMS Five-Star Quality Rating and 14 consecutive Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Awards. Not bad for a small-town Hill Country hospital.

[Harper] — Ladyhorns Softball Rallies Past Junction 7–4 The Harper Ladyhorns staged a comeback to defeat the Junction Eagles 7–4 at Harper High School. Junction held the early lead, but Harper's bats came alive for the win. Good Hill Country playoff-season softball on both sides.

🌡️ Hill Country Weather

Spring is playing Texas games this week. Expect possible severe thunderstorms Thursday with highs near 85°F, a brief beautiful window Friday near 91°F, then watch for another round of storms with the cold frontal passage Saturday–Sunday. Post-front conditions early next week: highs in the upper 60s to low 70s, lows in the mid-40s, north winds 15 mph with gusts.

Fire weather watch through Friday: South and southwest winds at 15–30 mph create elevated conditions before moisture arrives. Up to 1–2 inches of rain possible across the region through the week.

For Crawfish Open attendees: Friday looks great. Saturday brings weather uncertainty — check conditions before heading to Robinson Park and know your exit plan if storms develop.

💼 Rural Policy & Funding Watch

Three items from the 89th Texas Legislative Session worth your attention:

HB 18 — Rural Hospital Support: Creates a rural hospital officers academy and adds Medicaid reimbursement for rural hospitals offering OB/GYN services — roughly $15.6 million annually to keep maternity care alive in small towns.

SB 34 — Wildfire Preparedness: Dedicates wildfire preparedness funding to volunteer fire departments in high-risk zones; requires a statewide wildfire fuel study due December 2026.

Rural Broadband: Federal BEAD funding to Texas was cut from $3.3 billion to $1.3 billion — but the legislature added $1.5 billion in state funds plus a $75M Pole Replacement Program. Fiber deployment to many Hill Country communities still faces a long road — realistically 2030 and beyond for many areas.

💼 Economic & Small Business Intel

The Dallas Fed projects modest Texas job growth in 2026 after near-flat 2025 performance — data center and AI-driven construction leading the gains, with constrained labor, low oil prices, and USMCA trade uncertainty as headwinds.

For ag operators: cow-calf producers are seeing record profits on historically high calf prices. But surveyed bankers report the overall ag income picture "remains weak" — input costs and drought conditions are squeezing margins elsewhere in the sector.

One to watch: TPWD must open the newly acquired 3,000+ acres north of Enchanted Rock to limited public use by mid-2026. That's a potential shot in the arm for Fredericksburg-area tourism — and the small businesses that serve park visitors.

🌾 Agriculture & Livestock Notes

Drought: As of April 7, 84% of Texas is in drought — and January through March 2026 was the driest first quarter on record since 1895. Soil moisture across the Edwards Plateau sits below the 10th percentile. April rains are offering short-term relief, but long-term deficits remain severe. Odds favor below-normal precipitation continuing through summer.

Water: Good news on the Highland Lakes — Lake Buchanan at 95.9% full after last July's historic flooding and continued spring rains. LCRA monitoring for potential floodgate operations with more rain forecast. Statewide reservoirs at 73.5% capacity; western and southern reservoirs below normal.

Fire: Governor renewed fire weather disaster proclamation in April. Texas A&M Forest Service at Wildfire Preparedness Level 2. Llano County is currently under a burn ban. Spring rains should moderate conditions through May — watch for elevated risk windows during dry/windy stretches.

Cattle: Market remains historically strong. CattleFax reports 37-year highs in demand and record cow-calf profitability. Fed slaughter projected to drop another 600,000–700,000 head in 2026 as herd rebuild stays sluggish. Packers came in aggressive April 14 with tight inventory. April rains are crucial for avoiding heavy supplemental feeding costs heading into summer.

💹 Market Snapshot

Cattle (week of Apr 14): Fed cattle at $248–$250/cwt live — near historic highs. Feeder steers (500–600 lb, San Angelo) at $412–$489/cwt; 600–700 lb steers at $422–$440/cwt. OKC feeders April 14: steers steady to $5 higher, heifers $10–$15 higher. Weekly slaughter running 52,000 head below last year. Carcass quality grades at all-time high of 89.3%.

Hay (USDA TX, Apr 3): Prices steady with good demand. Texas grass hay: $100–$140/ton round bales, up to $200–$280/ton premium. Panhandle supplies tighter than usual. South Texas first cutting baled and already sold out.

Wool & Mohair: Graded wool $1.60/lb greasy basis (MAL rate); mohair $5.00/lb. Recent Texas market averages: wool ~$1.90/lb, mohair ~$8.60/lb. Texas wool production down 19% year-over-year.

Pecans: Texas in-shell roughly $2–$3/lb; shelled ~$4/lb. Contact your local buyer for current bids.

🌱 Grant Watch

Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country — Community Impact Fund Deadline: June 23, 2026 — Open now. Up to $15,000 for nonprofits in Bandera, Blanco, Edwards, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Mason, Real, or Uvalde counties. Focus: Arts & Culture, Basic Needs, Environment, Youth Development. 12+ months operating history and 100% board giving required. Apply via Foundant. [email protected]

USDA Rural Economic Development Loan & Grant Program Deadline: June 30, 2026 — Open now. Zero-interest loans through local utilities for rural job creation and retention; grants establish revolving loan funds. rd.usda.gov

Hogg Foundation for Mental Health Deadline: May 6, 2026. Statewide Texas grants for mental health programming in underserved communities. hogg.utexas.edu

Worth watching: San Angelo Area Foundation's Grants for Good program serves 17 counties including Kimble, Mason, Llano, Menard, Concho, and McCulloch. Next cycle not yet posted — monitor sanangelo.org.

📸 Tourism Pulse

Fredericksburg ranked #1 most welcoming U.S. destination — #5 in the world. Booking dot com's 2026 Traveler Review Awards named Fredericksburg the most welcoming city in the United States and fifth most welcoming globally. Rankings draw from traveler reviews of accommodation quality and hospitality. Peak spring and summer season arrives on top of that headline — expect elevated visitor traffic across the entire Hill Country corridor through Fourth of July.

Bluebonnet season: moderate and spotty, but still rolling. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center experts describe 2026 as a "moderate and uneven" year. Key viewing still reported along the Willow City Loop, Llano County roadsides, and the Fredericksburg and Kerrville areas. This weekend is likely the last good window of the season.

✨ Advertise in The Townie ✨
Want your business to be top of mind in Mason County and beyond? The Townie offers powerful ad packages designed to fit your goals and budget.
✉️ Just hit reply to get started.

📖 FEATURED STORY

The Crawfish Open: What 22,000 Pounds of Mudbugs Teach You About Community

This is the story the Crawfish Open doesn't tell about itself.

The story it does tell is easy enough: 36 years, the banks of the Llano River, twenty-two thousand pounds of crawfish, live music both nights, barrel racing, team roping, a 5K, a golf tournament, a Motorcycle Fun Run. Chris Cagle plays Friday. Cody Canada & The Departed play Saturday. It's a hell of a weekend.

The story underneath that one is about what it takes to do something right for 36 years in a row. And that story is mostly about people you'll never see on the flyer.

The Crawfish Open is a nonprofit operation. Llano Crawfish Open, Inc. — a volunteer organization, run by people who live and work in Llano County, who have been doing this long enough that the planning cycle starts in fall. The volunteer slots fill in winter. The crawfish are ordered before most of the Hill Country has thought about spring. When the gates close Sunday night and the cleanup crews finish, the proceeds go back into the community. Local charities. Local causes. The town that made the party possible.

I've been thinking about what that means, because we don't have a lot of language for it.

"Festival" implies something commercial. A transaction. You buy a ticket, you get an experience, money changes hands and the ledger closes. That's not what the Crawfish Open is. It's closer to what an old-fashioned community supper used to be — a gathering organized around mutual care, where the labor is donated, the proceeds are shared, and the point isn't profit but persistence. The persistence of a community choosing to show up for itself.

Thirty-six years.

In 1991, when the first Crawfish Open happened, the Hill Country was a different place. The tourism economy that now shapes how the whole region thinks about itself was a fraction of what it is today. Fredericksburg wasn't a nationally recognized destination. Enchanted Rock wasn't drawing 300,000 visitors a year. The word "overtourism" hadn't entered the regional vocabulary.

But Llano was already throwing this party.

That's worth sitting with. The Crawfish Open didn't start because someone saw an opportunity in Hill Country tourism. It started because people in Llano thought the community deserved a celebration, and they built one, and they kept building it. The rest of the world caught up to the Hill Country later. Llano was already here.

The scale of it is part of what makes it real. Twenty-two thousand pounds of crawfish isn't a symbolic gesture. It's a supply chain, a logistics operation, a serious food service event run almost entirely by volunteers. The mudbugs come from Louisiana. They arrive at Robinson City Park in crates. They go into commercial boilers with corn and potatoes and whatever blend of seasoning the cook-off teams are guarding like state secrets. By Friday evening, the smell drifts across the Llano River and you can feel the party from the highway.

The cook-off teams deserve their own paragraph. These are not casual participants. There are teams who have been refining their boil for fifteen years. Teams who start discussing adjustments in October. Teams whose particular combination of cayenne and crab boil and garlic is a source of genuine community identity. The competition is real. The pride is real. And the fact that it all ultimately benefits local charities — that the whole apparatus of serious recreational cooking is in service of something beyond itself — is the kind of thing that makes a town worth living in.

I want to say something about Chris Cagle and Cody Canada, because it matters. These are serious acts. Cody Canada built Cross Canadian Ragweed into one of the defining bands of the Texas Red Dirt movement. Artists of this caliber play this kind of event because they believe in this kind of event. That's what happens when you do something right long enough. The quality compounds. The reputation precedes you. The performers want to come. The crowds want to be here. You don't book talent like this by accident. You build toward it.

There's an economics angle worth naming honestly, because it runs underneath everything this week. The festival economy question — who really wins when a small town throws a party — has a clearer answer here than at most events.

Direct beneficiaries: the local charities. That's the mission, and it's real.

Then: the vendors on-site, predominantly local and regional operators who sell out in a weekend. The gas stations on 29. The restaurants and coffee shops that see more Saturday business than they see in most full weeks. The short-term rentals that book out in January for this weekend specifically.

And then there's the harder-to-count answer. The family from San Antonio who's never been to a Hill Country town like this — who came for the crawfish and found themselves standing in front of a courthouse square that looks like it was built as a movie set, except it's real — they remember. They come back. They tell people. Some of them end up as subscribers to newsletters about small Texas towns.

Thirty-six years of compounding returns.

Here's the thing I keep returning to, and I want to leave you with it: the Crawfish Open is also, in a quiet way, a counterargument.

Fredericksburg was just named the most welcoming destination in the United States. That's genuinely wonderful — for the Hill Country's reputation, for the tourist traffic that spills across the region. But "most welcoming" as measured by traveler reviews is measuring how well a place receives outsiders.

The Crawfish Open measures how well a community receives itself.

That question doesn't show up in rankings. It shows up in the faces of Llano families who have been coming to this event for fifteen years. It shows up in the cook-off teams who've been at this since before some of the attendees could walk. It shows up in the volunteer who has set up and torn down for a decade and a half, not for recognition, but because this is the thing they do.

You are the Hill Country. Not the rankings. Not the features or the algorithms. You, doing this right, for 36 years, on the banks of the Llano River, because you believed the community deserved it.

That's the story underneath the story.

I'll be there this weekend. I'll be eating mudbugs off a table covered in newspaper, listening to music I'm glad exists, in a town that has chosen itself thirty-six times and counting.

🌱 Dear Hazel Mae & Fern

Tax season just ended and I finally sat down with my bank statements. I found three subscriptions I forgot I had, a drawer full of receipts I've never sorted, and a kind of low-grade financial anxiety I can't shake. I'm not in crisis. I just feel like I'm behind on something I should have handled already. Where do I even start?

— Overwhelmed in Menard

Hazel Mae says:

Oh honey, I have been in that kitchen.

That drawer. We all have one. Receipts from 2023 kept for a reason you can no longer remember. A warranty card for an appliance you don't own anymore. A statement from a bank you switched away from two years ago. The drawer of financial good intentions — fully equipped, never executed.

Here's the thing: the drawer isn't the problem. The drawer is just where the problem lives while you're not looking at it.

You asked where to start, so I'll tell you: start with the subscriptions. Not the drawer — the subscriptions. Pull up your bank statement from March and go line by line through the recurring charges. Write down every one.

I'll wait.

Now look at that list. I will bet you a good peach cobbler that you have at least one service on there you forgot you were paying for. Maybe a streaming platform from a free trial eighteen months ago. Maybe a software subscription for a business idea you had and then didn't pursue. Maybe a monthly box that stopped being exciting but didn't stop being charged.

Cancel them. Today. Not this weekend — today. This is a 20-minute task that will permanently reduce your monthly expenses. There is no excuse to delay it. The subscriptions will not cancel themselves.

When you're done, make a cup of coffee and set a timer for 30 minutes. That's all the time the drawer deserves. Pull everything out and sort it into three piles: Keep, Toss, Question. Keep means it has a financial use — a receipt for a deductible expense, an active warranty, a current statement. Toss means it has no remaining use. Question means you're not sure. At the end of 30 minutes, everything in Keep goes into a folder labeled by year, everything in Toss goes into the recycling, and everything in Question gets a deliberate decision — not "I'll think about it later."

Later is how the drawer refills.

Now for the anxiety, because you named it and I don't want to skip past it. The low-grade financial anxiety you're describing is not about the drawer and it's not about the subscriptions. It's about the feeling that you're not in control of your own money. You're not going to get out of that feeling by organizing a drawer. You're going to get out of it by having a clear picture of what's coming in, what's going out, and what you've decided to do with the difference.

That clear picture doesn't require a spreadsheet or a financial advisor or a plan you can sustain forever. It requires one honest hour, once a quarter, where you look at the actual numbers. What came in? What went out? What are the three biggest surprises? What's the one thing I'd change?

Start there. Not with a system. With the question.

Fern says:

There's something worth naming in what you wrote, and it's not the receipts.

You said you feel like you're "behind on something you should have handled already." That's not a financial statement. That's a story you've been telling yourself about what a competent, together person would have done differently.

But here's what I want to offer you: everyone has a drawer.

I don't mean that as a comfort exactly. I mean it as a reality check. The people who seem like they have their finances perfectly organized — who have labeled folders and zero-based budgets and know exactly what they spend on groceries — got there through some combination of time, habit, and particular temperament that doesn't necessarily mean their inner life is any tidier than yours. They found a system that worked for their anxiety. You found the drawer.

The drawer is actually honest. The drawer is where things go when you don't have the energy to deal with them yet. It's the pile of things that feel too small to address and too heavy to ignore. And the fact that you finally sat down with your bank statements — that's not being behind. That's finally arriving. You got there. Maybe later than your ideal self would have preferred. But you got there.

What I'd encourage you to do, before you organize a single receipt, is to sit for a moment with the anxiety you named. Not to wallow in it — just to notice what it's actually about. Is it about the money? Or is it about the feeling that money represents something you're not in control of? Is it about this drawer? Or about a larger story you carry about being "bad with money" — a story you maybe absorbed from watching someone else struggle, or decided was true about yourself at a difficult moment?

Sometimes the drawer is just a drawer. And sometimes it's where we store the parts of ourselves we haven't gotten around to taking care of yet.

Either way: Hazel Mae is right. Cancel the subscriptions. Sort the papers. Take the small practical steps. But do it from a place of self-respect, not self-punishment. You're not behind. You're here. That's the beginning.

Hazel Mae (one last word):

Your Financial Spring Cleaning List — do these five things this week:

• Cancel the subscriptions. Pull up March's statement, write down every recurring charge, and cancel anything you haven't used in 30 days. Before you close your laptop tonight.

• Sort the drawer. Thirty minutes, three piles. Keep, Toss, Question. Set a timer. Stop when it goes off.

• Note the franchise tax deadline. May 15. If you're a Texas small business owner, file — even if it's a zero filing. Put it on your calendar right now.

• Make one deliberate money decision. Not a system — one decision. Move $200 to savings. Pay down the smallest balance. Book the equipment purchase if the bonus depreciation math makes sense. One move.

• Schedule your quarterly look. Put one hour on the calendar for June 30. The anxiety doesn't come from looking at your money. It comes from not looking. Schedule the look and it stops being a monster in a drawer.

You've got this. It's just paper.

— H.M.

✨ Advertise in The Townie ✨
Want your business to be top of mind in Mason County and beyond? The Townie offers powerful ad packages designed to fit your goals and budget:
✉️ Hit reply to get started.

What Happened on Socials This Week

The Llano groups are fully activated this week — Crawfish Open buzz, cook-off team announcements, and a spirited running debate about whether the ideal arrival time is "gates open Friday" or "Saturday with a full day plan." Based on 36 years of evidence, the answer is both.

A post in the Mason County TX Online Community this week asked where to find the best bluebonnet drives before the season ends — and the replies filled up fast. Willow City Loop, James River Road, and several "secret" county roads that locals share in the comments every year while pretending they're secrets. The wildflower window is closing, and people know it.

Spring sports playoff energy is running high across the ISD pages — track, softball, and baseball squads across the region making noise. The Harper Ladyhorns' 7–4 win over Junction is getting well-deserved attention in multiple groups. Good Hill Country baseball and softball weather this week.

The Fredericksburg Chamber's announcement about Lincoln Street Maker's Market vendor applications is making the rounds — several local makers and creatives sharing it and asking who else is applying. The Warehouse District has been on the radar for a while and this feels like a real moment for it.

Tax-season-over energy is real this week. The community feeling is celebratory relief, with several posts along the lines of "filed, treating myself this weekend" and the classic "refund came in and I immediately knew where it was going." The Crawfish Open ticket link is circulating alongside some of these. That tracks.

Wildflower photos still flowing through the feeds — locals posting from Llano County roadsides and Mason County back roads, some beautiful shots from the Willow City Loop area. This weekend is likely the last good wildflower window and the community knows it. Get out there before the cold front arrives Saturday.

🐾 Pet of the Week: Gemini

Pet photography by Suzanne DeMaree — capturing the heart of Hill Country companions. 📸 View her work →

Meet Gemini, a four-year-old Piebald Siberian Husky with striking baby blues and a personality to match those good looks. Gemini is what you'd call a gentleman of a dog — easy-going, well-mannered, and completely devoted to the people he loves. He does well with other dogs and kids, which is the kind of résumé that makes a dog hard to overlook.

He's got a signature move: a gentle nose-nudge to your hand when he wants attention, and once those blue eyes lock onto you, it's basically impossible to say no. He's neutered, fully vaccinated, and heartworm negative — the whole package. A big, handsome dog who just wants a family to belong to.

Gemini is available for fostering or adoption now. If you or someone you know has room for a magnificent boy, reach out to Second Chance Mason

Gemini’s AI Translation: If He Were Human...

Aries ♈ — The feast is in front of you and you know it. This is the week you've been gearing up for — the energy is loud and alive, exactly how you like it. But here's what the famine is whispering: slow down at least once. The table is full. You don't have to eat everything in the first sitting. One real conversation, one moment you actually settle into instead of moving through. The excess will be there when you come back. The moment won't be.

Taurus ♉ — You are made for the feast. You understand it on a cellular level — the table set with care, the abundance that comes from patience, the pleasure of something done right. This week gives you exactly that, and you should let yourself have it without the usual guilt about whether you deserve it. You planted something in winter and it's coming up now. That's not luck. That's you. Eat the crawfish. Stay too long at the party. The famine, if it comes, can wait until next week.

Gemini ♊ — You're feeling the famine this week even in the middle of the feast. There's something missing — hard to name, easy to feel. The party is loud and you're in it, but part of you is scanning for the thing that would make it feel complete. Here's the thing: that thing isn't at the party. It's in the quieter place you've been avoiding. Go to the party. Enjoy it fully. But know that the famine feeling is pointing somewhere useful, not somewhere sad. Follow it when the weekend is over.

Cancer ♋ — The feast this week is relational — it's people, not things. Someone shows up in your life this week who reminds you what community actually feels like. Not the online version. The real one. Newspaper-covered tables, strangers sharing a meal, the Llano River in the background. That's your energy right now. Go toward it. The loneliness you've been sitting with gets fed this week if you put yourself in the room. Show up.

Leo ♌ — You want to be at the center of the feast, and this week the universe is accommodating you. There's a stage somewhere with your name on it, metaphorically or literally. Let yourself take it. But here's the famine: you've been giving a lot lately and not letting anyone give back. This week, let someone else bring the crawfish. Let someone else plan the weekend. Let yourself be celebrated instead of celebrating. Receive for once instead of providing.

Virgo ♍ — You see the famine even in the middle of the feast. The drought numbers. The hay prices. The fire weather watch still on your phone while everyone else is making weekend plans. You're not wrong to notice those things — someone has to. But you're not required to carry them alone this week. The feast is real too. The excess and the shortage are both real. You don't have to resolve the contradiction. You just have to decide how much of the weekend belongs to joy.

Libra ♎ — The feast this week is aesthetic — beauty, pleasure, sensory abundance. Wildflowers still rolling. Live music on a river. The particular golden-hour Texas light that belongs to late April evenings. Let yourself take that in without immediately translating it into something useful. The famine you've been sitting with is a scarcity of beauty in your daily life — not because it isn't there, but because you've stopped looking for it. This week hands it to you. Receive it.

Scorpio ♏ — The feast this week is information. Something you've been trying to understand becomes clear — a pattern, a dynamic, a truth about a situation you've been examining. You get the answer you were after. The famine: it's not the answer you were hoping for. This week asks you to accept clarity over comfort. The clear picture is more useful than the comfortable one, even when it stings. You know what to do with what you find out. You always have.

Sagittarius ♐ — You want to go to every party this weekend, and you should go to at least one. The Crawfish Open energy is your natural habitat — the crowd, the music, the feeling of being exactly where something is happening. But the famine this week is directional: you're hungry for something with more permanence. A destination. A project. A thing to build toward that lasts longer than the weekend. Let the feast be the feast. But start sketching the thing you actually want by Monday.

Capricorn ♑ — The famine is real for you this week, and I don't want to skip past it. Something feels lean — a resource that's insufficient, a margin that's thin. You're looking at it clearly because you always look at things clearly. Here's the feast: record cattle prices. Real transactions happening in the market. A business personal property exemption that just got more generous. The abundance this week is structural, not emotional. Take the win where it is. The emotional feast comes later.

Aquarius ♒ — The feast this week is community — specifically, watching a community do something right. You'll witness something this weekend that renews your faith in people's capacity to organize around a good idea and sustain it for 36 years. Let that land. You've been carrying some cynicism about collective effort lately, and this week offers a counterexample. The famine is closer to home: something in your immediate circle is running low. Check in with the people near you, not just the community at large.

Pisces ♓ — You feel both the feast and the famine completely, because you always do. The beauty of the wildflowers and the grief that they're fading. The joy of the festival and the knowledge that Monday will be ordinary. You contain multitudes, and this week is all multitudes. Here's what I want to offer you: the famine is not proof that the feast was wrong. You are allowed to have both feelings at the same time. The table is full right now. Sit at it. Let it be enough for exactly this moment.

💫 Until next week — know when to feast and know when you're hungry. The honest ones can tell the difference.

💌 SHARE THE LOVE

Small businesses like yours don’t survive on hopes and wishes — and neither do we.

If you enjoyed this edition of The Townie, hit the button below and share it with a friend, your neighbor, or that one cousin who’s always “thinking about moving out here.”

It costs nothing to click “Share,” tell a friend, or hit reply and tell us what you think — the good, the bad, or the “y’all missed a comma.”

Every click, comment, and forward helps keep this modern-day front porch going. We appreciate the heck out of you.