THE BACK FORTY OF THE TEXAS FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL

Part Owner of Texas

I was one of the early ambassadors of the Texas Folklife Festival that started 48 years ago on the grounds of the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio.

It was designed to show off the state’s diverse cultural population. Jo Ann Andera was hired as a bilingual tour guide at the start and now she is the director of the festival, a post she has held for 39 years.

“The festival was all about unique characters getting together in one place,” says JoAnn. “The festival became a family and participants looked forward to their annual reunion.”

The Lebanese belly dancers drew a big crowd. So did the crawfish races put on by the Cajuns from Port Arthur. So did the stage where storytellers told outrageous stories, most of them based on their own experiences.

Spot Baird, Professor of Possumology, used to parade around holding a silver platter with a baked possum, sweet potatoes and various garnishes on it. Possum Queen Daisy Potter accompanied him dressed in regal attire complete with tiara. They were promoting the annual Yamboree in Gilmer.

Cowboy Williams of Chappell Hill was there with his hog dogs telling about his adventures hunting wild hogs and demonstrating how he calls up his dogs.

Bill Brett, former postmaster of Hull, Texas made rope from horsehair and hung out at the back forty where pioneer crafts were demonstrated. JoAnn says Bill brought moonshine to the festival. “He called it his fortified Vitamin C and offered it so people could taste real moonshine.”

JoAnn went to Bill’s funeral. “He built his own coffin. When he was depressed or wasn’t feeling too good he’d go lie down in his coffin and just kinda think about the world. At his funeral he was wrapped in his grandmother’s quilt and carried to his final resting place in a horse-drawn carriage.”

Hondo Crouch of Luckenbach was a popular figure at the festival. He used to dance with the belly dancers. “One of the racing crawfish died and Hondo got a funeral together. They had this huge funeral procession complete with a couple of nuns and laid the little crawfish in a burial plot on one of our berms.”

The festival takes place the first weekend in June. None of the original characters are around anymore but there are new ones to take their places. JoAnn says it was just the best time when all the extraordinary characters were there.

“They were just wonderful people who had an unusual hobby or talent or love of something. We truly miss them. The festival is preserving the history of these people. I’m very proud of what this event has done. I know people who met at the Folklife Festival and have been married for 40 years. I know friendships made here that have lasted. It’s a very unique event.” JoAnn’s office is full of festival memorabilia and photographs.