Alvin fest still has big draw
Published April 20, 2008
ALVIN — Every year, Alvin residents celebrate Frontier Day with a mix of parades, carnival rides and a good old-fashioned Western shootout.
The 32nd Annual Frontier Day, sponsored by the Alvin Rotary Club, will start at 9 a.m. Saturday with the traditional parade. Most of the day’s events will be at National Oak Park, 211 S. Gordon St.
Frontier Day also features a carnival behind Regions Bank in downtown Alvin that will run from Thursday to April 27.
“It’s our major fundraiser,” said Terry Droege, Alvin Rotary president.
The event usually draws about 20,000 people and it helped raise about $60,000 last year for local clubs, such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League, women’s centers and scholarships, Droege said.
“Locally, we help all of the organizations,” he said.
The festival also will feature pie- and jalapeño-eating contests, a car and bike show, a cow-chip throwing contest and, of course, the shootouts, said Keith Thompson, 2008 Frontier Day marshal.
“We have shootouts at 12 p.m. and
2 p.m.,” he said.
The shootouts are a popular event every year and they are used to teach children what to do in the event of finding a gun, Droege said.
“Before the fight we teach gun safety,” he said. “Then we have an old saloon gunfight. We shoot until the last man stands.”
The gunfighters in the shootout use blanks, Thompson said.
There also will be more than 100 booths at the Arts, Crafts & Collectibles Business Expo. Vendors can register for a booth until 5 p.m. Thursday, said Sharon Dickerson, arts and crafts director for Frontier Day.
For information, go to the Frontier Day link at www.alvinrotoryclub.org
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FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Thursday and Friday
5 to 10 p.m. Carnival rides.
Saturday
7 a.m. to noon Car and Bike Show registration
7:30 a.m. Parade entry sign-in at Alvin High School football stadium
8 a.m. Carnival rides open all day
8 a.m. Arts, Crafts & Collectibles Business Expo opens
9:30 a.m. Frontier Day parade
10:30 a.m. Rotary Jail opens
11 a.m. Jalapeño-eating contest
11 a.m. Cathy Braddy Dancers
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. YMCA kid activities
11:30 a.m. Cow-chip throwing contest
Noon Old-fashioned gunfight featuring Alvin Rotary Club Gunfighters
12:15 p.m. Fusion Dance Academy
12:45 p.m. Pie-eating contest
1 p.m. Balloon toss
1:30 p.m. Egg toss
2 p.m. Frontier Day Parade winners announced
2 p.m. Old-fashioned gunfight
3 p.m. Car and Bike Show awards
4 p.m. Club 100 drawing
April 27
Carnival rides open at 1 p.m.