SBAG planning special day for Bantam Fest 2025

The Smiley Bantam Activity Group are excited to bring their annual Bantam Fest to the Smiley Fire Department on Saturday, May 10.

Residents of Smiley, and all surrounding communities, are invited to this annual festival that will feature live music (provided this year by Gonzales County’s own Wyatt Aleman and The Texas Range Cowboys).

The Bantam Fest BBQ Cook-Off will take place at 9 a.m. Entry fee is $15 for beans, $25 for chicken, $25 for pork ribs and $15 for dutch oven desserts. Contact Jacob Maldonado for more information at 830-660-1793. Winners of the cookoff and a raffle drawing will be announced at 8 p.m.

Events are set to begin at 11 a.m. when all non-food booths open. A BBQ chicken meal will be served beginning at 11 a.m. until sold out at $12 per plate. A DJ and karaoke will be held from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Food booths open at 1 p.m. along with the cake walk, followed by kids games at 2 p.m. Cornhole tournament registration is at 3 p.m. and those interested in signing up should contact Joshua Bermea at 210-665-6042. The tournament begins at 4 p.m. A watermelon eating contest will be held at 3:30 p.m.

The exes reunion will be set up in an area for all ex-students to meet and socialize and begins at 3 p.m.. Come and visit and buy foods from the vendors and enjoy the music. All ex-students who attended Smiley High School before it consolidated with Nixon in 1983 are invited to attend. The special reunion this year will honor the Class of 1980, the Class of 1975, the Class of 1970 and the Class of 1965.

The evening will continue, and conclude, for the adults with the much anticipated live music and dancing from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., offering all the opportunity to have a great evening.

Wyatt Aleman is a 20-year-old from Harwood, Texas, who loves to play the fiddle and steel guitar. He is the son of Elvin “JR” Aleman (born and raised in Smiley) and Cindy Aleman, who now both live in Harwood.

Wyatt started playing the steel guitar just a little over two years ago. He loves playing traditional country music and Western swing music. Two of Wyatt’s most influential artists are Hank Williams Sr. and Bob Wills.

He was nominated as “Young Artist of the Year” by the AWA (Academy of Western Artists) in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022. He won that title as “Young Artist of the Year” in 2018.

On May 4, 2024, he was inducted into The Cowtown Society of Western Music as “Rising Artist of the Year.”

In the few years Wyatt has been playing music, he has had the honor of getting to meet many artists like Johnny Rodriguez, Moe Bandy, Herb Remington, Janie Fricke, Johnny Bush, Randy Travis, Leon Rausch and many more.

Along with traveling, he has had the privilege to play at many different venues. He performed for the Hank Williams 101^st Birthday Celebratio at The Davis Theater on Sept. 15, 2024; played fiddle for the Malpass Brothers; and played at the Blue Cadillac Concert at the Hank Williams Museum on Sept. 13, 2024. These concerts were in Montgomery, Alabama.

Wyatt plans to go to college and earning his degree in music. He is also working towards opening his own music studio to teach music lessons. Besides playing fiddle and steel guitar, he also plays guitar, upright bass, mandolin, drums and is now teaching himself to play the keyboard.

Vendors are still being sought for Bantam Fest. If interested, contact Michelle Mills at 830-203-7132.

Founded in 2012, Smiley Bantam Activity Group works to improve and provide safe activities for local youth with the help of members and volunteers in the Smiley, Texas community.