Dear neighbors,

You know how, if you ask an old rancher what he owns, he'll start with the land, then the truck, then the good dog, and only much later mention the co-op meter on the pole and the phone in his pocket. Nobody counts those. They just work. Until one Tuesday in July they don't, and you find out fast who's on the other end of the line.

This week's paper is about the ones on the other end of the line.

This week's feature spotlights the Hill Country Venture Fest's three gold sponsors — Central Texas Electric Cooperative, Texas Regional Bank, and Hill Country Telephone Cooperative. The Townie is the Venture Fest's media partner, and if those three are worth backing an October pitch night, they're worth knowing about in their own right. We made a choice up top: no logo parade, no ad copy, no pretending anyone here is a hero. Instead, one honest story about what three neighbor-built institutions actually do in a place like ours, on ordinary weeks and hard ones. The feature is where I say what I want to say about that. Read it if nothing else.

The rest of the porch is loaded. Saturday the fifteenth is going to try to break you — Junction rodeo and parade, Fort Mason golf fundraiser, Katie Shore singing at the Odeon, an opening at the Llano Fine Art Gallery, and Fredericksburg lets the horses run all afternoon. Pick two, do them well. The end of August brings the big one twice: Heart of Texas Honky Tonk in Brady and the 138th Gillespie County Fair in Fredericksburg, both the same week. Fair season is doing what fair season does.

Also: LiftFund opened a small-business door for flood-hit operators, screwworm is still a real thing to watch, and Koda is still refusing to accept my premise that he doesn't have a home yet.

With warmth and a full pitcher,
Katie Milton Jordan, Editor
[email protected] | 325-475-4991

Fredericksburg Farmers Market | Thu, Aug 13, 4–7 p.m. | Marktplatz / Adelsverein Halle, Fredericksburg. About 25 local vendors — produce, bread, meat, honey.

Thursday Night Scramble | Thu, Aug 13, 5:30 p.m. | Llano River Golf Course, Llano.

Chris Knight, with Rich O'Toole | Fri, Aug 14, doors 6:30 p.m. (show 8) | The Arcadia Live, Kerrville. One of America's flintiest songwriters on the Arcadia stage.

Summer Classic CPRA Rodeo | Fri–Sat, Aug 14–15, 7 p.m. (gates 6) | Hill Country Fairgrounds, Junction. $10 adults / $6 kids; dances Friday and Saturday nights at the pavilion above the rodeo grounds.

"Supergirl" at the Odeon | Fri–Mon, Aug 14–17, 7 p.m. (no Saturday show) | Odeon Theater, Mason. $4, cash only.

Farmers & Crafters Market on the Square | Sat, Aug 15, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | Llano Courthouse Square.

Summer Classic Rodeo Parade | Sat, Aug 15, 10 a.m. | 4th & Main, Junction. This year's theme: "Once Upon a Time."

Fort Mason Golf Association Annual Fundraiser | Sat, Aug 15 (scramble 1 p.m., dinner 6) | Fort Mason Golf Course, Mason. Call the clubhouse by 11:30 a.m. to enter.

Analog Film Photography — Opening Reception | Sat, Aug 15, 6:30–8 p.m. | Llano Fine Art Gallery, 503 Bessemer, Llano.

Katie Shore at the Odeon | Sat, Aug 15, 7 p.m. (doors 6:15) | Odeon Theater, Mason. $25 advance / $30 door — the Asleep at the Wheel fiddler on Mason's grand old stage.

Pari-mutuel Horse Racing | Sat–Sun, Aug 15–16, gates 11 a.m., post 1 p.m. | Gillespie County Fairgrounds, Fredericksburg. Class 3 track weekend.

FREE Classic Movie Night: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" | Wed, Aug 19, 7 p.m. | Odeon Theater, Mason. Free admission — come in costume if the spirit moves you.

Wilson Sharpening Services popup | Thu, Aug 20, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. | Kneading Faith Sourdough, Mason. No appointment, from $5 — kitchen knives, garden tools, whatever you drop off.

Fredericksburg Farmers Market | Thu, Aug 20, 4–7 p.m. | Marktplatz, Fredericksburg.

Blood Drive @ Lutie Watkins Methodist Church | Thu, Aug 20, 1–6 p.m. | Lutie Watkins Methodist Church, Llano. Sponsored by Llano Cowboy Church.

"Spiderman: Brand New Day" at the Odeon | Fri–Mon, Aug 21–24, 7 p.m. | Odeon Theater, Mason. $4, cash only.

Junk in the Trunk | Sat, Aug 22, 8 a.m.–noon | Llano Courthouse Square.

Llano Chamber Business After Hours & 40th Anniversary | Tue, Aug 25, 5:15 p.m. | Llano Smiles Dental Center. Everyone welcome — this one is the whole chamber turning forty.

Bingo Night at Murphy Creek Cellars | Tue, Aug 25, 5:30 p.m. | Murphy Creek Cellars, Mason. Wine, bingo, prizes.

Honky Tonk Pre-Party (free) | Wed, Aug 26, 6–10 p.m. | TruCountry Inn Ballroom, Brady. Kicks off the four-day festival.

Heart of Texas Honky Tonk | Thu–Sat, Aug 27–29 | Brady Civic Center, Brady. Three straight nights of dance-hall royalty — Justin Trevino with Grace Partridge; Landon Dodd & the Dance Hall Drifters; Jake Hooker & The Outsiders; Jody Nix & the Texas Cowboys; The Brady Honeycutt Band; Jeff Woolsey & The Dance Hall Kings. $30/day.

138th Gillespie County Fair | Thu–Sun, Aug 27–30 | Gillespie County Fairgrounds, Fredericksburg. Oldest continuously running county fair in Texas. Grounds open Thu 5 p.m. to midnight, Fri 1 p.m. to midnight, Sat–Sun noon to midnight. Racing, livestock, carnival, 42 dominoes, live music, the whole calendar.

Gillespie County Fair Parade | Fri, Aug 28, 10 a.m. | Main Street, downtown Fredericksburg. Free, over 200 units, bring a lawn chair.

"Elijah Peel" at the Odeon | Fri–Mon, Aug 28–31, 7 p.m. | Odeon Theater, Mason. $4, cash only.

Cars & Coffee | Sat, Aug 29, 9–11 a.m. | Historic Railyard District, Llano.

Pari-mutuel Horse Racing (final weekend) | Sat–Sun, Aug 29–30 | Gillespie County Fairgrounds, Fredericksburg. Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred; last two days of the summer racing season.

Iconic Film Series: "Ocean's Eleven" | Wed, Sept 2, 7–9 p.m. | The Arcadia Live, Kerrville. Cinema Classics & Family Fun; specialty drinks.

First Fridays | Fri, Sept 4, 4–7 p.m. | Robert Clay Vineyards, Mason.

Farmers & Crafters Market on the Square | Sat, Sept 5, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | Llano Courthouse Square.

A Night with Eight Mason-Area Singer-Songwriters | Sat, Sept 12, 7 p.m. | Odeon Theater, Mason. Talent from Mason and the surrounding counties, one stage, one evening.

Redbud Artisan Market | Sat, Sept 12 | Marktplatz, Fredericksburg. 50+ Texas artisans, live music, free admission.

Where things stand this week.

The land is holding, the state ledger is tightening a touch. Five weeks past the July floods, Hill Country pastures are still green and the rivers are back within banks. The wider Texas picture nudged the wrong way this week — the Aug 4 Drought Monitor release put the state at about 25% in drought, up from 22% two weeks earlier — but the Panhandle carries most of that, and none of our whitelist counties are on the list. Reservoirs stayed high. On the water side, if you're driving toward Junction, low-water crossings are all reopened, and the flood cleanup around Kerr County is still very much underway; Team Rubicon is still doing free demolitions for homeowners whose houses can't be saved.

At the sale barn — mixed, so read carefully. At San Angelo's July 30 cattle sale, calves ran $5–10 lower and heavy calves as much as $15 lower, the second straight week down for calves. Slaughter cows and bulls went the other direction, fully firm to $2 higher on strong demand. AgriLife Extension's economist put a marker down on Aug 4 that cattle prices "haven't hit the ceiling yet" — worth remembering before you sell in a hurry. Small stock split direction this week: at the Aug 6 sheep and goat sale (3,715 head), slaughter lambs were $15–25 higher and ewes $10–25 higher — but kid goats reversed and ran $3–5 lower after two weeks of solid gains. Don't run last week's playbook.

For the ag community. New World screwworm is still an active thing to watch: 45 U.S. detections confirmed as of early August, 43 in Texas, five remain active. Terrell County is the newest infested zone; movement restrictions now cover parts of 22 Texas counties from the Valley through the Hill Country. On Aug 8, the FDA authorized a wound spray to help protect livestock and wildlife. Stay current on precautions and keep your county AgriLife office on speed dial. Flood-hay warning still stands and now has a number attached — one Kendall County rancher lost 180 round bales in a single field to the July flood; don't feed hay that sat in standing water. On fire: 95 of 254 Texas counties are under a burn ban right now — don't guess about your county, look it up on the Forest Service map before you strike a match.

And one closer to home. LiftFund's small-business flood-relief program is now taking applications. If you're an operator still working through July, that door is open.

📖 FEATURED STORY

There's a phrase you hear at commissioners court and in kitchens both — the ones who keep the lights on. It gets used loosely, and it shouldn't. Because in a rural county there are a small number of institutions that keep the lights on literally, and when they wobble, everything above them wobbles too: the small business, the school, the church, the hospital, the ranch, the porch you're reading this on.

The Venture Fest's three gold sponsors are three of those. We're highlighting them here — as the Venture Fest's media partner — the same way we'd write about any neighbor's business, not as advertisers but as neighbors, because that's what member-owned co-ops and community banks actually are around here. If you're going to feature them, feature them honestly.

Central Texas Electric is a member-owned electric co-op headquartered in Fredericksburg, serving the Hill Country counties around us since the late 1930s. That founding matters. In 1937 the shape of rural electrification looked exactly like the shape of this newsletter's whitelist — dark. Investor-owned utilities didn't run wire out to ranches that couldn't pay back the copper. So the neighbors formed a co-op and did it themselves, and they've been doing it themselves since.

You saw them work in July. When the floods took out lines across the ranch country CTEC serves, it was linemen in bucket trucks — many of them people who go to church in these towns — doing the work of restoring power one pole at a time. Nobody framed it that way in the news; it looked like utility restoration and it was, but the phrase leaves out that the "utility" being restored is a thing the members literally own. Your electric bill isn't paying a shareholder in Chicago. It's paying the linemen and buying the transformer and, if there's margin left over at the end of a good year, some of it comes back to you as a capital credit. That's the mechanism. It's not a slogan.

Texas Regional Bank is a community bank with Hill Country branches in Fredericksburg and Kerrville among others. Community bank is the useful phrase. It means the person who says yes or no to your loan lives in the same county as you and reads your application knowing which side of Main Street your storefront sits on.

The reason this matters in 2026 is the same reason it mattered in 1926. A metro bank will run your application through a model. It's not personal because it can't be — you're a row in a spreadsheet, and the model doesn't know that your grandfather was the one who kept the feed store open through the eighties, or that your storefront has been in the family thirty years and you are good for it. A community banker knows. When a small business here gets a loan from Texas Regional it's not just capital, it's capital that stays in the county. And when a family here needs a mortgage, the person underwriting it is someone whose kids go to school with theirs. That's not a virtue you can print in a marketing deck; it's a market fact you feel every time you don't want to have to explain your whole life to a stranger.

Hill Country Telephone Cooperative is a member-owned telecommunications co-op headquartered in Ingram, serving broadband, phone, and internet across the rural Hill Country. Same origin story as CTEC, one letter over. When the big carriers wouldn't build out to a hundred-and-fifty-mile grid of ranches, the neighbors built the network themselves.

Ask any small business owner around here what the recovery looked like this July past the water going down, and somewhere in the answer will be connectivity. The insurance form is online. The FEMA application is online. The customer emails are online. The kid's homework is online. Rural broadband stopped being a nice-to-have twenty years ago; when you can't upload a photo of the damage, you can't get help. HCTC's job is that upload button working, in a place where the market otherwise wouldn't bother.

The plain thing is that all three are older than any of us and were built the same way — neighbors who needed a thing and made the thing themselves, together. The co-op meter on the pole, the local banker who knows your name, the phone line running out to the ranch. Nobody frames these as economic-development miracles. They just are the fabric. When the fabric holds, the whole town holds. When the fabric frays, the whole town frays.

Feature them a good week or a hard week and the story reads the same. That's the tell.

The links to each are up in the subheads — we're not going to put phone numbers here because this isn't an ad. If you're a member of the co-ops, show up when they hold their annual meetings and ask the questions you'd want answered. If you bank at Texas Regional, thank the person who told you yes. If HCTC ever ran a line out to your grandparents' place, remember which decade that was.

That's the whole feature. Story, not logo. See you on the porch.

If your operation took even a moderate hit in July, don't wait for the paperwork to pile up. LiftFund's 2026 Texas Hill Country Flood Relief Program is open right now and offering financial assistance and technical support to small businesses. Two things about programs like this that people miss: the queue always builds, and the technical support is often more valuable than the money if you don't have a CPA in your pocket. Get in the queue while the intake team still has time to talk to you. And if you're not sure whether you qualify, apply anyway — a "not quite" from LiftFund still gets you a case manager who can point you toward the Community Foundation fund or your regional Small Business Development Center. This week: open the LiftFund program page, note your damage in whatever detail you have, and start the application before the fair-week rush hits. Every hour you invest now saves three later.

Cattle and small stock keep telling different stories, so hear both. San Angelo's July 30 sale had calves down $5 to $10 again — that's two weeks running, and heavy calves off as much as fifteen — but slaughter cows firmed up and demand's still strong on cull cows. AgriLife's economist put out a note Aug 4 that cattle prices "haven't hit the ceiling yet," and I'd read that as: don't dump your cull cow inventory in a panic and don't get cute holding calves that keep sliding. Small stock is the other split: at Aug 6, slaughter lambs were $15 to $25 higher and ewes $10 to $25 higher — but kids reversed and ran $3 to $5 lower after two hot weeks. If you run goats, get a hold on where your specific weights and grades landed before the next sale sets the number for you. Two standing warnings still apply: don't feed hay that sat in floodwater (a Kendall County outfit lost 180 rounds in one field), and don't guess about your county's burn status — pull it up on the Forest Service map. This week: re-price small stock, don't panic-move cattle, check the burn map, walk the hay.

This week's topic: "The bank keeps saying no. Are we out of options?"

Sweetheart, put "beggar" down and don't pick it back up. A community bank does not exist to make you feel small — it exists because somebody a hundred years ago figured out that a person who lives here, banking with a person who lives here, is the whole point of the exercise. You are not asking a favor. You are giving them the exact business they were built for. Walk in with your books, however messy, and tell the honest version. Bring last year's numbers, this year's numbers, the flood photos, and the plan for the next twelve months even if you had to write it on a napkin. A good community banker will look at you as a whole picture, not a credit score, and if the answer is still no, at least it'll be a useful no — one that tells you exactly what would move you from no to yes. That's worth the drive.

Reframe the anxiety. You are not going in to beg. You are going in to negotiate a loan, and a loan is a two-way deal: they need borrowers who pay back, you need capital that lets you keep working. Bring three things: a clear number (how much and by when), a clear use (what it pays for), and a clear repayment story (what makes you good for it). If the July hit is part of the story, name it head-on rather than hoping they won't notice — a banker who hears "we lost X, here's what's left, here's how we recover" respects that a hundred times more than a rosy pitch. And if it's still a no, ask them what's a yes: SBA emergency lending, LiftFund, the county's revolving loan fund. Small banks tend to know which local door opens next. You are not out of options. You are one honest conversation away from finding out which one.

Got a question for Hazel Mae & Fern? Send it in — we'll put the kettle on. [email protected]

Notes from the porch swing: the light is starting to change. Kids are moving toward school again, the hard work of August is stacking up, and everything you use daily — the meter on the pole, the bank on the square, the line out to the house — has been quietly holding you up all summer. This week's horoscope is about noticing what carries you.

Aries (Mar 21 – Apr 19)
You're used to being the one who fixes it. This week, name one thing that has been quietly fixing you — a person, a system, a routine — and thank it. Then keep going. The gratitude doesn't slow you down; it steadies you.

Taurus (Apr 20 – May 20)
A Taurus notices the ordinary the moment it wobbles. This week you'll spot a small crack somewhere important — a broken piece of equipment, a lapsed subscription, a friendship gone thin. Fix the small one now. Small cracks are how big collapses start, and you know it.

Gemini (May 21 – Jun 20)
You know a hundred people. This week, one of them needs a warm introduction to another one of them. Don't overthink it. Send the text. The connections you make casually are the ones that hold up when a hard week hits.

Cancer (Jun 21 – Jul 22)
You're the person other people call when the plan falls apart. This week, be the person you call. Ask yourself the questions you'd ask a friend — is this sustainable, are you rested, who's carrying you — and answer honestly. Take your own advice for once.

Leo (Jul 23 – Aug 22)
Still your birthday month, still your stage. But this week, notice the crew — the people who set the lights, ran the sound, brought the water. A performer without a crew is a person yelling in a field. Say the thank-you out loud.

Virgo (Aug 23 – Sep 22)
Your season is starting. Before you sharpen every pencil in the drawer, remember: the point of good systems is that you can stop thinking about them. Build one new system this week and then let yourself trust it. A Virgo who trusts her own work is unstoppable.

Libra (Sep 23 – Oct 22)
The scales are your symbol for a reason. This week you'll be asked to weigh two goods, not a good and a bad. That's harder. Take the extra day. A choice made in a hurry between two rights becomes a regret; a choice made slowly between two rights becomes wisdom.

Scorpio (Oct 23 – Nov 21)
You keep your cards close. Fair enough. But this week, one particular card is doing you no good facedown — a truth you know that a friend needs. Turn it over, gently, and only for that one person. The mystery survives; the friendship deepens.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
Late summer wants you outside. Go. But before you plan the next adventure, take an evening on your own porch. The horizon you're always chasing is often best seen from the chair you never sit in.

Capricorn (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
You have built something patient over many years. This week, something impatient will offer you a shortcut. Refuse it kindly. Patient work is not slow; patient work is what still works in ten years.

Aquarius (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
You are the friend who sees the strange future coming. This week, someone will finally ask what you think — really ask. Don't hedge. Say the odd true thing out loud. That's the version of you the world needs, and needs now.

Pisces (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
The water in the story of August is the water in you. You feel too much this week and that is the correct amount. Let one feeling move all the way through you before you decide what it means. The tide teaches; forcing it doesn't.

Until next week — notice what carries you, thank it plainly, and keep going.

📧 Email: [email protected]
📞 Phone: 325-347-6929
🏥 Rescue: Second Chance – Mason Animal Rescue

Koda is still here. We ran him last week, and we're running him again, because he's still waiting on his person and we refuse to accept that his person doesn't exist.

Koda is a one-year-old Chihuahua mix with a friendly, outgoing personality. He loves a good walk, a lap to snuggle in, and a couch to hold down while you work through your Netflix queue. He does well with other dogs, and he's up to date on all his vet work, so he's ready to go the day you are.

Call Second Chance at 325-347-6929 or email [email protected] to meet him. Fair warning: playdates with Koda have a habit of turning into adoptions, and we've decided that's a feature.

Photo by Suzanne Demaree

If this edition made you think about the neighbor-built things holding your town up — forward it to the friend who complains about the big banks, or to the parent whose kid is heading back to school on Wi-Fi that just works.

📬 [email protected] | 325-475-4991

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Editor's note: All listings verified and current for the August 13, 2026 edition of The Townie. A few river-park programs and Luckenbach dates may still shift — call ahead. Central Texas Electric Cooperative, Texas Regional Bank, and Hill Country Telephone Cooperative are the Hill Country Venture Fest's gold sponsors; The Townie is the Venture Fest's media partner and highlighted them in this week's feature the way we'd write about any neighbor. Everything else is our own.