No Schulenburg Festival This Year

The Schulenburg City Council voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to ban gatherings of 100 or more people in an effort to stem the spread of coronavirus. The move effectively cancelled the Schulenburg Festival, which was set to take place the first weekend in August.

New emergency orders issued by Texas Governor Greg Abbott last Friday banned such gatherings statewide unless organizers of those events get permission from local authorities.

Besides the Festival, several other large gatherings were set to take place in Schulenburg over the next month. The Knights of Columbus State Softball Tournament was supposed to take place last weekend at the Sports Complex in Schulenburg, but wet fields postponed the contest. That event normally draws a crowd of about 140 people. A private benefit was scheduled to take place at Wolters Park this month. In addition, a local youth baseball league was supposed to have a tournament in Schulenburg, with an expected crowd of 80-120 youth athletes, not to mention parents and fans.

“Instead of just focusing on one event, I thought it was in our best interest to address all events at this time,” Walker said at the meeting.

However, most of the discussion was about the Festival. The three-day event attracts thousands of revelers to Schulenburg each year. With live music, food, drinks, rodeo, carnival, cookoffs, games, sports tournaments and more, the event serves as an annual homecoming celebration for Schulenburg natives spread across the state and nation. The Festival hosts class reunions for graduates of Schulenburg High and Bishop Forest High. Most of those people come from out of town.

“I think the way things are going right now, we have no choice but to follow,” said Councilman Larry Veselka. “I wish (the governor) would have said 50 (people). The numbers are climbing. I think we have to think about our citizens and their well-being.”

“If I was sitting over there, I wouldn’t care,” said Councilman Chip Bubela, pointing to the small audience on hand for the meeting. “But sitting over here, I have to put the health of the community first.”

Councilwoman Wendy Fiet sam said if the Festival were to take place, local non-profits and youth organizations might have a hard time finding volunteers to work the concession stands.

“I’ve heard a lot of kids’ parents tell me, ‘I’m not letting my kid go down there to work. I’m not going down there to work,’ ” said Fietsam.

“I was holding off for the Festival until I heard the Praha Picnic was cancelled,” Veselka said.

The Praha Picnic was set to take place Saturday, Aug. 15, about two weeks after the Festival. Rev. Gabriel Maison announced last week that the parish decided to cancel the picnic over coronavirus concerns. Then on Sunday, St. Mary’s Parish in High Hill decided to cancel their picnic as well, which takes place Labor Day weekend.

Veselka added that he didn’t want to put local police and other emergency responders at risk by inviting crowds to Schulenburg.

“We will do what we need to do,” Brenek said. “Whatever y’all tell us is what we’re going to do.”

After the meeting, Schulenburg Festival Association President Mike Zweschper said he remained hopeful as recently as a week ago that the Festival could still take place. However, after the recent uptick in coronavirus cases locally and the Festival only a month away, Zweschper said he anticipated that Council would decide to ban large gatherings.

“I’m not going to sit here and try to talk you into it,” Zweschper told the Council at the meeting.

“If I was sitting where y’all are, I would be basically leaning the same direction,” he added. “You were elected by the citizens and have a certain demographic you represent. I represent the Festival and there are a lot of people who want to go.”

Zweschper said growth in sales tax receipts from the first six months of this year in Schulenburg indicate that people from out of town were coming to Schulenburg to shop due to shortages in the larger cities.

“Essentially, the same demographic coming to all these small towns is what we’re trying to avoid coming to the Festival, just maybe not all concentrated at one time,” Zweschper said. “So the same precautions they’re taking at gas stations or Arlan’s (Supermarket) are the same precautions we can take at the Festival. There’s multiple ways of looking at it. If I was sitting where y’all are, I would probably make the same decision. But my job is to look at it from both sides.”

Zweschper said about 240 different people sent him text messages over the past few days encouraging him to keep fighting for this year’s Festival.

“I’m not going to be angry, upset or mad,” Zweschper said. “Nobody wants the Festival more than I do. It’s kind of became part of who I am. But I understand where y’all are coming from.”

Zweschper said the effects of the pandemic were making it hard for organizers to find volunteers and other resources for the Festival.

“At this point, it wouldn’t be easy to put it on in any case,” he said.