For more than five decades, the weekend-long Texas Rice Festival at Stowell Park (307 Park Rd.) in nearby Winnie has been entertaining thousands of people with live music, activities for the entire family and fantastic food.
The 55th annual affair continues Thursday, Oct. 3-Saturday, Oct. 5.
One staple of the Texas Rice Festival is the “world famous rice balls.” A major fundraiser for the St. Louis Catholic Church in Winnie, hundreds of volunteers begin preparing rice balls a week before the festival even begins.
According to Monica Jones, one of the many volunteers of the church, what once started as selling as little as 50 or so rice balls years ago has grown into more than 16,000 each festival.
What is a rice ball? Well, it’s a ball of chili surrounded by cooked rice (which has been cooked with cheese and butter) then rolled in cracker meal and fried to golden perfection. It’s the ultimate festival food.
And to create 16,000 rice balls for all to enjoy, it literally takes a village. More than 200 volunteers help assemble the delicious ball.
Jones said five days before the festival, a dozen or more people cook the chili using 540 pounds of ground beef. Once the chili has cooled for 24 hours, volunteers then scoop 16,000 chili balls with a tablespoon for a spot in the freezer.
On Day 3, the process gets started as early as 4 a.m. as 135 massive pots of Douget’s rice (which is donated) is cooked, then dumped into a pan and mixed with cheese and butter. Volunteers then scoop about 1/3-cup rice to make rice patties. Once those are cooled and created into a cup-like ball, the chili meatball is placed in the middle of the rice and covered completely. The rice ball takes a final roll in cracker meal, then back to the cooler where it stays before its fried at the festival, for $4 a ball.
Gates open at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3; 10 a.m. on both Friday, Oct. 4, and Saturday, Oct. 5. Parades, pageants, antique car show, carnival midway and loads of live music from the likes of Wayne Toups, Jake Worthington, Kings of Neon, Bri Bagwell, Stoney LaRue and Bag of Donuts will all perform this weekend.
For advance tickets and complete schedule of the 55th annual Texas Rice Festival in Winnie, view texasricefestival.com.