Cheeseburger Festival & Chieftain Master's Golf Tournament

Today was the Friona Cheeseburger Festival followed by the FHS Chieftain Master's Golf Tournament. Friona is the "Cheeseburger Capitol of Texas", and each July the town meets downtown, throws on the feedbag, and enjoys the company of each other while trying some of the best burgers in the business. Patrons buy a wrist band for $7, with four 1/4 tabs (you redeem each for 1/4 of a hamburger...you can use them all on a full burger or 4 different types) on it and then go around the park having fun. Some folks buy three or four bands (I only had one this year...I've lost around 80 pounds since Jan 11, 2013) because there are many booths. My favorite was made by the folks at Excel Energy, a basic cheddar cheese burger with barbeque sauce and mustard. Whomever collects the most tabs wins the first prize of $1,000. Today's winners were "The Hot Mamas", yes two local moms, named Ashlee and Tawnin. I didn't have one of their burgers but it was a jalapeno burger with habanero sauce. The festival also featured classic cars, a concert by Texas country singer, and Friona native, Kris Gordon, a presentation from the cast of "Texas" (outdoor musical at Palo Duro Canyon), and a number of booths selling crafts, clothes, toys, and goodies.

After the festival the FHS Athletic Department hosted its 1st Annual Chieftain Master's Golf Tournament as a fundraiser for FHS sports programs. I had a team with two friends that I went to school with (kindergarten through college) and the dad of one of them (always good to have a ringer who can hit from the Sr. tees!). It was great to play with some old friends, and we finished with a 65, going 7 under par, which earned us 5th place. The winning team shot a 56, going 16 under par, and was composed of two local farmers and their sons. The sons are both members of the FHS golf team and one of the dads is a former professional golfer...so they were a bit stacked! One of our assistant football coaches is the lead singer for the country band Whiskey Rebellion, and they played for the crowd after the tournament finished as we all had a burger and enjoyed the music.

I lived in El Paso, TX, for eight years, and it's great having 3-4 million (El Paso + Cd. Juarez) people around with everything you might ever need being within an hours travel. However, there is something special about living in a small (Friona's population is 3,500-4,000) town where people all grew up together and truly care about one another. I hope you all have a great weekend!