10/06/2025
The first Saturday of October was a BANGER!! The Eastland Chamber of Commerce hosted the annual Old Rip Festival on the downtown square! The streets were lined with vendors as far as the eye could see, from merchants to non-profits, to amazing culinary masters. The scent of food filled the air, the sound of laughter and chatter mingled around. This year was spectacular!
In case you missed a few of the great things, we have a quick summary:
The Old Rip Parade lasted nearly a full hour! One of the longest we can remember! Our friends at the Bankhead Community Theatre - Lyric Arts Center won first place in the non-profit float division as they brought Shakespeare to our West Texas culture.
Our friends at the Lyric Art Center held Rips Respite and Old Rip's Art Competition bringing hundreds of people to the Lyric Theatre! The performances by Andrea Goodman, The Cognitos, and Brent Elrod were phenomenal! They deserve a round of applause (and perhaps an encore 😉)! We are excited to see the results of the Art Competition; we will share those as soon as they are posted, can't wait!!
This year was a phenomenal success for newcomers wanting to spread their visibility and awareness to the people of Eastland County. CASA for the Cross Timbers Area Volunteers had an excellent turn out and received great feedback. They will be at the First Financial Bank in Eastland October 14 at 5:30pm to provide more information about their program and their importance! The Eastland Rifle and Pistol Club Texas was set up as well, handing out membership packets, spreading awareness about the new board and new things coming to the gun range. For those of you that did not get a chance to stop by their booth, membership packets can be found at I-20 Pawn and you can visit their page by clicking their name above!
And last but not least, our friends at the Eastland Lions Club raised over $1,200!! These donations are going to the new city park playground, which should soon be getting constructed and accomplished before spring of next year. The dunking booth was a smashing success this year, a special thank you to the Eastland Chamber of Commerce!
The great success of this festival couldn't have been achieved without the dedicated work from the Chamber of Commerce, their volunteers, the employees of City of Eastland, Texas, the Eastland Fire Department and Police Department! Special thanks to those that worked so hard to get this festival together and a thank you to all the vendors that came out this year.
Special thanks to Leah Chalet Flowers for these pictures taken during the festival!
