The Levelland Chamber of Commerce is taking care of all the small details for Saturday’s Cotton and Crude Festival and Concert.
An event planned by the Levelland Chamber of Commerce, the event its second year. It is the revamped celebration of what was Early Settlers that most Levelland community members had grown accustomed to. “In order for us to continue to do a good community festival we had to include more than the early settlers,” explained Mary Siders, Levelland Chamber of Commerce president. “Our goal from the Board of Directors was to include more generations. When you include more generations, we can provide things that are appealing to those generations.” Talking with the Levelland Emerging and Active Professionals (LEAP) and the Young Emerging Leaders of Levelland (YELL) group at the high school helped board members understand what younger individuals would be attracted to.
LEAP President Kati Moody explained that the group was previously known as the Young Professionals of Levelland but was renamed and rebranded to be more encompassing of the group.
Working heavily on the revamp of what is not Cotton & Crude, LEAP will be holding raffle giveaways. There is a $5 raffle for a custom set of cornhole boards with bags included courtesy of Wood Works RX and a Yeti Cooler courtesy of Vexus. Additionally, there is a raffle for three options which include a Cotton & Crude VIP Package, a Springfield Mil-Spec 1911 Pistol courtesy of SS Outfitters and a pair of Apple Air Pods courtesy of Walmart. Raffle tickets for each option can be bought for $10 a piece or all can be covered for $25. LEAP will also be holding a cornhole tournament during Cotton & Crude that opens at 11 a.m. and tournament play will begin at 12 p.m. Individuals interested in participating can download the SCOREHOLIO app and can now register.
The tournament will be separated into two divisions.
A Social Division which is considered public will require teams to pay a $50 fee. First place will receive $200, second place will receive $100 and third place will receive $50.
For the Open Division, this side of the tournament is considered competitive with the entry fee being $100 and it includes two concert tickets. First place receives $500, second place receives $300 and third place receives $200.
“The goal is to create quality of life or to enhance the qualityof- life aspects of Levelland to reach our demographic which would be middle-aged adults mostly families with young children,” explained Moody.
While focusing on celebrating the early settlers of Levelland, the Chamber has been focused on attracting everyone from all age groups to participate or attend the event.
“We spent a lot of time in conversations and surveying kids about what would they want to see in a community festival,” said Siders. “What are some reasons why they wouldn’t come to the festival or what would they be interested in seeing.”
Siders explained that their answers stayed the same, there was nothing for them. Last year the chamber implemented some interactive games that were not just for younger children but more focused on teenagers.
“We saw good results last year when we implemented entertainment that was appealing not only to what we call our early settlers or the last great generation but more generations including the baby boomer’s generation and X, Y, Z and millennials,” said Siders. “As a result, our event saw more than just one generation at the festival.”
When bringing events that appeal to not only younger children, but teenagers, the Chamber has a gaming truck coming for the event along with giant inflatable slides. Slated for the festival is the Stick Horse Race at 11 a.m. under the Gazebo, the Sack Race at 12 p.m. and the Turtle Race at 1:30 p.m. all hosted by the Hockley County 4-H. The Rotary Pancake Breakfast will be located at Avenue G and Houston Street and will go from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Downtown merchants will open their doors at 9 a.m. and will close at 3 p.m. and will be offering daily specials. The Krestridge Funeral Home will be sponsoring the VIP tent honoring all Early Settlers from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. the tent will be east of the courthouse lawn on Avenue G.
Recognition of the 2022 Hockley County Early Settlers will be presented by the Hockley County Senior Citizen Center at 11 a.m. at the Gazebo.
For the parade portion of Cotton & Crude, there is no cost to enter the parade and all participating simply need to be there the day of. Line-up begins at 8:45 a.m. and everyone needs to be in their necessary spots for judges at 9 a.m. The parade kicks off at 10 a.m.
Parade sponsor, Smith Auto Family will begin the parade, but will lineup at Avenue H, in front of the Chamber of Commerce.
The youth category consisting of 13-year-olds and under with bicycles and wagons will be in group two and will be located at the Chamber of Commerce parking lot on Avenue H. For group three, elected officials and municipal entries will lineup at Avenue H by Lobo Lake in front of Tattlers. Group four will consist of automobiles and motorcycles which will line up at 11th Street and Avenue G, in front of the LISD administration building. Antique tractors consist of group five and line up will be located at 11th Street between Avenue H and Avenue I.
Group six includes commercial and business entries and will line up at 13th Street and Avenue H by Sodexo in the street.
Group seven will include non-profit organizations, schools, churches and school bands. Those entries will line up at the old LISD football stadium parking lot east of the administration building facing south.
All other entries will fall under group eight which will line up on 12th Street between Avenue H and I. Group nine is comprised of mounted horses and horse drawn wagon or carriages. Those entries will line up on the empty grass lot west of the LISD bus barn.
Parade judges will select three “Best of Parade” floats with first place receiving $300, second place earning $200 and third place earning $100.
Each category, two through nine will have a winner. The awards will be presented before the parade and winners will be asked to display the awards upon entry of the parade for the public to see.
Cotton & Crude is the largest fundraiser for the Chamber of Commerce. Siders explained that the goal is to put out a quality product and that in turn helps generate revenue.
“We are tasked with raising a large portion of our revenue to operate throughout the year during this one festival,” said Siders. “We do two events a year that raise revenues to generate the programs of the Chamber of Commerce.”
The event is responsible for raising a certain amount of money to run the chamber, pay its bills, pay the employees, pay for our programs, and pay for advertising. Now that the event has been moved to the fall season, Siders and the Chamber knows there are a lot of different events and activities that are fighting for people’s time.
“Anytime you move an event to the fall you just create more competition,” explained Siders. “Because September 17th it is not a bear weekend or Texas Tech football weekend a lot of people have chosen that event.”
Towns such as Seagraves will be hosting an event is doing an event while Idalou will be hosting their Cotton Fest.
Siders explained that the date of the festival and concert aren’t chosen until the release of the Texas Tech Football schedule. Most entities trying to host events in the fall usually tend to wait and see where the dates fall for Texas Tech football.
“We also work very closely with the entertainment outlets in Lubbock to make sure there is no overlap when it comes to announcing and planning events,” said Siders.
The chamber is continuing to take vendors and are eager to receive vendor applications. Laying out the map for the event, the chamber is looking to place all food trucks on the south side of the courthouse.
“We’re trying to put all food trucks on the south side of the courthouse and naming it food truck alley,” said Siders. “We also have the kid’s area which is going to be on the Southwest corner of the courthouse lawn.”
The concert stage will be at the corner of Houston Street and Avenue H facing the courthouse. The hospitality room for vendors, sponsors and bands will be located directly behind the stage in Studabakers.
There’s a lot of complementary activities the community can enjoy according to Siders. The Rotary breakfast starts the day and they’re selling Rotary tickets currently for their fundraiser.
Once the breakfast wraps up, the chamber will move into the parade which free. The Smith Auto Family sponsors the parade. Once the parade concludes there are events scattered throughout the day that the community can enjoy.
With all the events and activities in place for Cotton & Crude, Siders hopes that the local shops surrounding the event in the downtown area have an increase in revenue as well.
“All the surrounding businesses downtown will be open for shoppers to go and have a look around and hopefully purchase some things they might like,” said Siders. “There me small fencing which may require a few steps to go around to get to a business, but none of the businesses will be intentionally blocked off until 3 p.m. when we start setting up for the concert and can ensure everything is sectioned off.”
Siders feels that everyone involved will benefit from the event and is excited to see the people take part and enjoy the hard work the chamber has put into the second year of Cotton & Crude.
Music and free entertainment will be available under the Gazebo on the courthouse lawn.
Erin Wolff & Soul Foundation from South Plains College will be starting off the music side of things under the Gazebo from 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Tejano band Group Equis will take over the Gazebo at 12 p.m. and will play until 12:50 p.m.
Lainie Nelson of SPC will be playing under the Gazebo at 1 p.m. and will wrap up at 1:30 p.m. Ashton Naylor of SPC will follow with a start time of 1:35 p.m. and wrap up at 2 p.m.
The Tumbleweed Trio of SPC will conclude the festival music portion of the day at 2:15 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The concert portion of the event will begin with gates opening at 6:30 p.m. Tickets at the gate are $25 while purchasing tickets in advance will cost $20.
Cooler passes are available for purchase at $20, but glass is not allowed.
Food vendors will be available throughout the day during the festival and will be available during the concert portion of the event.
South Plains College’s Jukebox Country will open up the concert at 7 p.m. while Will Banister will follow at roughly 8 a.m. Giovannie & The Hired Guns will take the stage at 10 p.m. with music ending at midnight.
After talking with both groups, Siders is confident that both bands will provide a family friendly experience which should draw a considerable crowd in the downtown area with the popularity of the music groups the Chamber has been able to bring in.
The Chamber is still looking to fill a handful of spots for volunteer work. All volunteer work is broken up into several time slots through various activities. More information can be given by calling the Levelland ChamberofCommerce.