On Friday, Oct. 2, a café in the basement of the historic Rogers Hotel held what started as a regular open-mic night. Then people with no connection to the musicians kept coming down the stairs, until the line of customers reached back up the stairwell. The Waxahachie Sun reported that most of the people there that night were under 40. The paper called it the biggest gathering of college students and young professionals in recent Waxahachie history.
That café is Rhythm & Brew. It had been open about a month. A week earlier, at the south end of College Street, Meat Church opened its new store in the old Boyce Feed Store. Both places are official music stops for the Crossroads of Texas GO TEXAN Country Festival this Saturday, Oct. 24. That turns the festival into something bigger than a day on the courthouse square. It's a walk down College Street with an anchor at each end, and the north anchor keeps going after the festival officially closes at 7 p.m.
The South End Opened Four Weeks Before the Festival
Meat Church BBQ Supply announced in June that it had bought the former Boyce Feed property at 441 S. College St. At the time, My Local Press reported a target opening in August. The doors actually opened on Saturday, Sept. 26. The Chron reported that founder Matt Pittman said "you could not move" in the store on opening day.
The size jump matters for festival planning. The company says the three-acre site has its own parking and about three times the retail space of its old storefront at 114 W. Main St. on the square. Christian Brewer, son of founders Matt and Tracie Pittman, told My Local Press the property is being redeveloped in phases. He said the extra room is meant for retail, demonstrations, classes and special events. The Feed Store sits along the railroad tracks, across from the historic Missouri-Kansas-Texas depot that now houses FRESH Market Coffee.
On festival day, the Waxahachie CVB lists "the all new Meat Church at the Feed Store" as part of the GO TEXAN Experience. That experience features more than 50 Texas brands to sample and shop. Ethan Pacheco plays at Meat Church twice, from 10 to 11 a.m. and again from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. With two sets, the south end works as either your first stop or your midafternoon break.
The Square Is Still the Middle of the Day
The City of Waxahachie lists the festival as free, running 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. downtown. The CVB calls it Texas' largest one-day arts, music and food festival. It says more than 200 booths will fill the courthouse square, including wines from the Uncork Texas Wines program and seafood from the Texas Gulf Shrimp initiative.
The Main Stage schedule, in order:
- 9 to 10:30 a.m. The Fabulous Prairie Dogs
- 10:30 a.m. Opening ceremonies
- 11 a.m. to noon The Moravians
- 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Tristan Ramos
- 2 to 3 p.m. The Fabulous Prairie Dogs, 50th anniversary set
- 4 to 5 p.m. Kenny Whitmire
- 6 to 7:30 p.m. Jake Worthington, a traditional country singer from La Porte
The Prairie Dogs open the day and come back at 2 p.m. for their anniversary set, so that's the one set on the main schedule with a reason to time your walk around it. For something indoors, the historic Texas Theater becomes the CBS Texas Music Lounge, with Amplify 817 artists from the Fort Worth Library's music project. Lisa Renee Smith plays at 11 a.m., Broke String Burnett at noon, Two Guys Walk Into A Bar at 1 p.m. and J.P. Harlan at 2 p.m.
Food goes beyond the booths. The Best of Texas Food Court lineup includes Cheros Latin Kitchen, Cousins Maine Lobster, McGuire Way BBQ, Kingaling Smoked Turkey Legs & More and The Taco Station, with drink stands run by Waxahachie FFA. Six downtown restaurants are running Texas wild-caught shrimp specials: College Street Pub, Atkins Seafood, Doves Nest, Big Al's Down the Hatch, John's Place and The Emory. For families, there's a free Whataburger Kids Zone with inflatables, a Triple T Amusements mini carnival, and Pet-tober Fest, hosted by FRESH Market Coffee with Waxahachie Animal Services.
The North End Picks Up as the Main Stage Winds Down
Jake Worthington finishes at 7:30 p.m. Then the evening moves to the restaurants, wineries and the basement on North College. The Waxahachie Food & Beverage Collective has its own stage schedule, and the later sets run well after the official festival hours.
| Time | Performer | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 10–11 a.m. and 2:30–3:30 p.m. | Ethan Pacheco | Meat Church |
| Noon–2 p.m. | Clayton Lawson | Uncork Texas Wine Garden, Doves Nest parking lot |
| 2–4 p.m. | Aldridge | Southern Roots Brewing Company |
| 2–5 p.m. | Josh Morzinski | Atkin's Seafood |
| 2–5 p.m. | Blake Dagley | Cork House Winery |
| 6–9 p.m. | Roger Williams | D Restaurant Latin Cuisine |
| 7:30–9:30 p.m. | Jade Flores | Big Al's Down the Hatch |
| 7:30–9:30 p.m. | The Southern Frontier | Rhythm & Brew |
| 7:30–10:30 p.m. | Java Llamas | Cork House Winery |
Rhythm & Brew is at 100 N College St., B101, in the Rogers Hotel basement. Owners Matthew and Jorden Kidwell told the Waxahachie Sun they built it for conversation, live music and face-to-face time. The space used to be The Arcade. The paper also described two leather lounge chairs set aside beneath Victorian family portraits, a nod to the stories that the Rogers Hotel is haunted. Ending festival night there, a week before Halloween, fits the building.
Halloween Season Moves to Grand Avenue and Mathew Street
The festival happens on College Street. The Halloween events on either side of it are mostly at other addresses, chiefly the Historic Chautauqua building at 400 S. Grand Ave. and the Terror Trail on Mathew Street. Trick-or-Treat on the Square brings everyone back downtown for one afternoon.
- Terror Trail, Oct. 23, 24, 30 and 31, 7 to 10:30 p.m. Reindeer Manor and the city's Parks & Recreation Department run it on Mathew Street, across from Wags-a-Hachie Dog Park. The Oct. 24 night lands on festival Saturday.
- Scarborough's Hollow Fall Fantasy Festival, Oct. 24, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The Scarborough Renaissance Festival team produces it at Scarborough Village, 2511 FM 66, and it includes a special Día de los Muertos celebration.
- Chautauqua screenings, Oct. 28, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Reindeer Manor and the Waxahachie Parks Department list an immersive Beetlejuice screening and a Hocus Pocus shadow-cast screening for that evening at 400 S. Grand Ave.
- Trick-or-Treat on the Square, Oct. 29, 3 to 5 p.m. The city lists it as free, throughout downtown.
- Rhythm & Brew on Halloween, Oct. 31, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The café's calendar lists a free set by Angelo Gomez, its resident musician, who books much of the venue's lineup.
Oct. 24 is the most crowded date on that list. A festival day on College Street, a Terror Trail night and a Scarborough's Hollow Saturday all fall on it, so choose one before the weekend starts.
What November Holds
The calendar slows a little after Halloween. The Ellis County Livestock Show & Rodeo holds its sixth annual Holiday Market on Nov. 6 with a VIP night from 5 to 9 p.m., then on Nov. 7 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The organizer says proceeds go to Ellis County 4-H and FFA youth scholarships. Rhythm & Brew has another free live-music set on Nov. 7 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Downtown Waxahachie's Night on the Town follows on Nov. 12, from 5 to 8 p.m., with extended shopping hours, sips and in-store promotions at participating businesses.
If Saturday's walk down College Street has you curious about which parts of downtown Waxahachie are changing next, the Krissy Mireles Team is happy to talk about it, festival map and all. Let's talk about your next move.
