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The Hopkins County Stew Festival has made the “50(-ish) Small Town Festivals” guide in the September 2019 issue of D Magazine. Screenshot/D Magazine online
Media | Fall Flavors
“North Texas is swimming in small town festivals. This fall, allow us to guide you along a farm-to-market road less traveled,” touts D Magazine in their September 2019 issue. The Dallas-based periodical has compiled a guide of “50(-ish) Small Town Festivals,” and Sulphur Springs has made the cut.
“It’s like a day trip, and this is kind of like the cherry on top. You’d be able to experience the small town and then the festival on top of that. You get to see the town square. … Everybody knows each other, and it’s like you’re in the family for a little bit,” said D Magazine senior editor Zac Crain in an interview on KDFW Fox 4 Good Day show Wednesday.
Specifically, the World Champion Hopkins County Stew Contest is in the guide with photos of the scrumptious concoction that is staple fare, not just at the contest, but on dinner tables and school lunch menus throughout the county.
In the paragraph dedicated to the Stew Contest, D Magazine sums it up: “In the late 1800s, Hopkins County’s nearly 100 rural schools would celebrate the end of the year with a stew supper, usually consisting of squirrel, cooked in iron cauldrons over an open fire. Cooking over campfires is still required for this nearly half-century-old competition, but proteins are limited to beef and chicken. For $6 you get a bowl to hold all the stew you can eat.”
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Hopkins County Stew Contest, which will see upwards of 7,000 visitors to Buford Park on Oct. 26. Perhaps even more with the publication of D Magazine’s Small Town Festivals guide.
“We’re excited that the surrounding communities are talking about the 50th anniversary of the Stew Contest. We want people to know about it, to come out for the day — you know, destination Sulphur Springs!” said Lezley Brown, executive director of the Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce, the organization behind the Stew.
Other festivals near Hopkins County that made the list are:
• Bois d’Arc Bash in Commerce on Sept. 27-28,
• Iron Horse Festival in Mineola on Sept. 27-28,
• Uncorked Food & Wine Festival in Mount Pleasant on Oct. 5, and
• Paris Festival of Pumpkins in Paris on Oct. 26.
To read the entire guide online and print out D Magazine’s handy Small Town Festivals 2019 Calendar, visit https://bit.ly/2kokC9m.