April 26, 2008. Melody Mountain Ranch, Stephenville, Texas.
For the past 20 years, fans of Texas style country music have been meeting in Texas for Larry Joe Taylor's Texas Music Festival and Chili Cook-Off. The event attracts well over 40,000 people from all over the the United States as well as Canada, Germany, England and many other European countries.
The festival and chili cook-off was first organized by Larry Joe Taylor, one of Texas' premier country artists, back in 1989, in Meridian, Texas. The event changed locations to a much bigger site in 2003, the Melody Mountain Ranch in Stephenville, Texas. Here, thousands of campers make the trek to the small, sleepy village of Stephenville for four days of non-stop partying- Texas style. The event features dozens of top notch country bands from Texas. It also draws some of the best chili cooks from around the country who compete for the famous "Leather Certificate" for the best chili in Texas.
College students from nearby Tarleton State in Stepehnville and the University of Texas in Austin help make this the biggest party of the year, and one that is not to be missed.
I arrived on Saturday, the last day of the festival and also the day they would announce the winner of the chili cook-off.
