Feather Fest returns to Nixon this weekend

Nixon city officials are asking folks not to “chicken out,” but to “flock” to town for the 2023 Nixon Feather Fest on Cinco de Mayo celebration, to be held this Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6 at the Nixon Community Center, 302 E. Central Ave.

However, if you are coming to the festival, be aware — it’s a cash only event. So make sure you have plenty of dinero on hand so you don’t leave in a “fowl” mood.

Feather Fest has been resurrected this year for the first time in seven years. It was once a major event which paid tribute to Holmes Foods and the poultry industry that is prevalent in the community.

The original Feather Fest was a three-day long festival that included a parade, fireworks, music and more, but it went away in 1989 and did not come back for 25 years until 2014, when it was resurrected for two years before again being canceled in 2016.

This year’s festival will feature headlining music from Grammy-winning singer and musician David Farias as well as former professional bull rider turned country musician Jarrod Birmingham of Victoria. There will also be barbecue cook-off, a margarita pour-off, a Mexican open dish cook-off, a salsa showdown, a grito contest, a bull riding contest and cornhole and volleyball tournaments.

The festival will be open from 5 p.m. to midnight Friday, May 5, for Cinco de Mayo. Vendor booth and cook-off team set up is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, May 5, with gates opening to the public at 5 p.m. A coronation will be held at 6 p.m., which is also the time margaritas will be turned in for the margarita pour-off. Salsa must be turned in by 6:30 p.m. for the salsa showdown.

Opening act Conjunto Cats, a band from Seguin who played at this year’s Tejano Music Awards Fan Fair in San Antonio, will take the stage at 7 p.m. Friday. The Mexican open dish turn-in time is at 7:30 p.m. and Friday night cook-off winners will be announced at 8:30 p.m. with $25 cash payouts on each.

Then, at 9 p.m., Farias will take the stage. An accordionist and vocalist known for his stints with La Tropa F and Los Texmaniacs, Farias released his debut album with his band El Maestro De La Acordeon on Freddie Records in 2021 and is expected to drop another album sometime this year after suffering a health scare in 2022.

At 10:30 p.m. there will be a grito contest. A grito is a loud, cathartic cry or shout that pays homage to the Grito de Dolores, or the battle cry which was uttered on Sept. 16, 1810, by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest from the small town of Dolores, Mexico, which served as the spark for Mexican independence from Spain.

While the festival is open from noon to midnight Saturday, May 6, things get started early with cook-off teams assembling at 7 a.m. to begin working on pinto beans, fajitas, barbecue chicken and steaks. The stakes are high as the pinto beans and beef fajitas have payouts of $220/$120/$60, while the chicken and steak pay out $550/$350/$100, with the grand champion receiving $800.

Volleyball tournament registration opens at 8:30 a.m. with the co-ed tournament starting at 9 a.m. Cash prizes will be awarded to the first and second place teams.

Vendors will begin setting up at 10 a.m. and then gates open at noon, the same time as the turn-in time for pinto beans. DJ Trek will be spinning tunes for everyone’s enjoyment. At 1 p.m., it’s time for fajitas to be turned in and bingo will start in the community center. Chicken gets turned in at 2 p.m. and steaks are due at 3 p.m.

Bradley Lindsley will perform at 4:30 p.m., followed by Clint Martin at 6 p.m., which is also when registration opens for the cornhole tournament, which starts at 7 p.m. The bull riding contest begins at 7:30 p.m., which is also when cook-off winners will be announced.

Fools of the Trade, a five-piece band from Seguin, will take the stage at 8 p.m., followed by Birmingham at 10 p.m. Birmingham, who has been compared to Hank Williams Jr. and Waylon Jennings, has himself opened recently for artists like Mark Chestnutt, Kevin Fowler, Cody Morrow and Tracy Lawrence.

Tickets for Feather Fest are $20 per day per person or $30 per person for a weekend pass. If you want the ultimate experience, try the $500 VIP, which includes six weekend passes, 30 drink tickets and access to VIP restrooms and a VIP beer garden.