A JOLT FROM JILL

by Jill Rumbley-Beam

It’s time to celebrate travel! Last time I wrote about travel, I wrote about places I had been outside Texas. Have you ever travelled around Texas to visit some of the food festivals? Well, if you haven’t, you need to put these places on your calendar.

Let’s go first to Mission Texas, the orange capital of Texas. The citrus festival is held in the last two weeks of January. While the nation is freezing to death in February, in Mission, they are basking in the sun. Orange growers say growing oranges is a million-dollar business. Orange trees first grew in China. In the 1300’s, Marco Polo visited China and saw these oranges. He took the seeds back to Europe with him because orange trees grew well there. The Spanish explorers brought the citrus trees to the New World, and now in the Rio Grande Valley, oranges are shipped all over the world. They also host an orange festival and a grand ball, where there is a prize for a girl who creates the most decorative orange peel gown.

Have you ever been to Noonday, Texas, situated just south of Tyler? They host an onion festival on the second weekend in June. The highlight of this festival is their tearjerker storytelling contest. Entrants are handed an onion and are to tell a story while peeling it. Whoever cries the most tears wins some onions. I bet you’re wondering why this town is called Noonday. The first citizens came from Georgia, and they were members of Noonday Baptist Church. They found a spot halfway between two Indian territories, and when one would travel from one Indian territory to the other, they would always arrive at a certain spot in the middle of the day. When the church was built on that spot, the people called it Noonday. This church is in Smith County. General James Smith was a Revolutionary War hero, and the people of Noonday are proud of their town and their onions.

Now let’s visit the chili scene. The place where chili powder was invented. New Braunfels, Texas, is in Comal County. Many people of German descent came to Texas in 1845 to escape the terrible conditions in Germany. The Germans had a little colony and called it New Braunfels. The Spanish, however, named the Comal River in New Braunfels because the Spanish name for pan is comal. The wurst festival also takes place in New Braunfels because they not only claim to have invented chili, but are also the sausage capital of Texas. A gentleman by the name of William Gebhardt opened a café in the back of a saloon in New Braunfels in 1892, and he created chili powder there. Mr. Gebhardt imported chilis from Mexico. He got an idea to grind up the peppers with a meat grinder, and after two years, he opened a chili powder factory, and in 1911, he produced the first can of chili. The people in New Braunfels celebrate sausage and chili powder the second weekend in November.

Now let’s visit Grand Saline, Texas, the salt capital of Texas. Grand Saline in Spanish means big salt. The Morton Salt Company started in Grand Saline. There are salt deposits all over Grand Saline. In 1839, the Caddo and Cherokee Indians went to Grand Saline. These Indians knew about these salt deposits. When the early settlers came to Grand Saline, of course, there were no refrigerators to store their fresh meat, so these Indians helped pack the meat in salt, and the meat was smoked. Salt was so necessary that men who worked in the salt mines didn’t have to serve in the Civil War in 1861. But you haven’t seen anything until you go to the center of town in Grand Saline to see a salt house. It’s like a rock house. I dare you to stick out your tongue and taste the salt.

Finally, let’s go to McDade, a small town in Bastrop County, near Austin. They celebrate the watermelon’s second weekend in July. A watermelon auction is held, and all the proceeds go to the school system. They also have a watermelon seed spitting contest and a watermelon thump contest.

Even though Texas is listed as one of the “fattest” states in the United States, it’s okay because we love our food, and people enjoy their food festivals.

All I can say now is…

Food, glorious food,

Don’t care what it looks like.

I enjoy three banquets a day,

My favorite diet!

Just picture a great big steak

Fried, roasted, or stewed,

Oh, food wonderful food, marvelous food,

Fabulous food!

Hope you enjoyed our trip to Texas food festivals.