KINGSVILLE, Texas — Kick off the Christmas Season cowboy style at this year’s Ranch Hand Weekend in Kingsville, Nov. 22-24.
The fun begins Friday night on Main Street when the city lights up the downtown Christmas tree, along with the buildings in the Main Street district.
Enjoy hot cocoa, coffee and cookies while the Presbyterian Pan American School Choir fills the air with Christmas Carols. Shop owners on Main Street stay open late so visitors can pick up custom-made leather goods, hunting and fishing gear and one-of-a-kind clothing and jewelry. It’s a great opportunity to find the perfect Christmas gift. Street dancing begins at 8 p.m. with live music by Lauren Corzine.
Speak the universal language of art at this year’s Texas A&M-Kingsville Senior Art Exhibit on display inside the Kleberg Bank lobby. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m. Friday and includes refreshments and an opportunity to meet the artists.
The award-winning Texas rum, Wild Horse Distillery, will also be available for tasting during the art exhibit events. This year, the city of Kingsville will host an opening art reception at Kleberg Bank, unveiling the Sculpture on Main project, which is a series of seven sculptures that will remain on display around the Main Street corridor.
Saturday, start your morning with the cowboys of King Ranch, also known as the Kineños.
The 29th annual Ranch Hand Breakfast is the only opportunity of the year for guests to drive on the property and spend the morning on the legendary ranch, while enjoying an authentic cowboy breakfast. There will also be roping demonstrations, cowboy poetry and storytelling. Kineños, also known as the Kings Men, have been a key part of ranch operations since the very beginning, and some will be on hand to showcase their life on the ranch.
After the breakfast, downtown Kingsville will be filled with fun during the Ranch Hand Weekend Festival featuring live music, inflatables for the kids, archery, a chalk art contest and pony rides. Show your skills during the Two-Step and Line Dance Contest. You can also take Selfies with Santa at Kleberg Bank.
If you have a car to showcase, be sure to enter it in the Ranch Hand Weekend Roundup Car Show. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, and winners will be announced at 3 p.m..
The festival wraps up at 4 p.m., but the fun continues at the JK Northway Exposition Center with the Ranch Hand Weekend Country Concert featuring Mark Chesnutt. He will be performing along with Felix Truvere and Lauren Corzine. Concert tickets benefit the KISD Education Foundation.
The Ranch Hand Weekend continues through Sunday with the Coastal Bend Cowboy Fellowship cowboy church service at the JK Northway Coliseum, followed by a family ranch rodeo that includes dummy roping for youth ages 6-15 and features five events: steer tying, calf branding, trailer loading, steer doctoring and a cowboy stampede. There will be an open calf scramble for the kids during intermission.
Ticketed events for the entire weekend cost $26 per person. For a complete schedule, visit RanchHandWeekend.com.
Concert tickets may be purchased HERE or at Kleberg Bank (5350 S. Staples St. in Corpus Christi) or Bray’s Smokehouse (1500 Bramah Blvd. in Kingsville).
