Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

            I read with great interest on page one of the September 11th edition that the Lockhart Chamber of Commerce will no longer produce the rodeo portion of the Chisholm Trail Roundup.

            My perspective on this is unique to both Lockhart and Caldwell County. I was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I’ve been to dozens of its parades, its rodeos and night shows, the carnivals and other celebrations celebrating Cheyenne’s rich history and traditions. On top of that, I am a contributor to Cheyenne’s Capital Avenue Bronze Project which has placed over seventy historic sculptures throughout the downtown area, and I am a supporter of Cheyenne’s Water Tower Murals Project to place two enormous artworks on water towers overlooking the entire city. These are not water towers like in Lockhart and Luling; these towers are more than six stories high, with murals the size of football fields!

            Lockhart and Caldwell County have a rich heritage, too. In my historical research in venues as far afield as the Bancroft Library and libraries in Miles City, Montana and archives all over the West, there are thousands of references, interviews, and photos of this area. Indeed, in J. Marvin Hunter’s epic collection, The Trail Drivers of Texas, there are dozens of references to the people and heritage in Lockhart and Caldwell County.

            So, the Lockhart Chamber will no longer support the rodeo portion of the celebration. I am not surprised, and I have two proposals to further their progressive goals. Perhaps Lockhart can drop the antiquated cowboy references altogether. Rename the celebration Fiésta Lockhart. Then in another progressive modernizing move, Lockhart could ban all BBQ restaurants and encourage only fast-food chain restaurants. Troublesome unique tradition and heritage can thus be on their way out, and Lockhart can look forward to a new era as a homogenized, pasteurized, recycled, plastic-cloned suburb of Austin!

Dennis McCown

Lockhart, Texas