Monday, March 24, 2008

Honoring hobos

Did you know that Kirby, a suburb of San Antonio, was once known as the "Hobo Capital of Texas?"

I didn't, but it apparently was. And the Kirbyites seem to be proud of the label, proud enough to hold a Hobo Festival.

The Northeast Herald explains:

Organizer Larry Wolfe said the idea came to pass when Councilman Mike Grant did some research and found out Kirby was once known as “Hobo Capital of Texas” due to a large number of “hobos” gathering under the railway bridge just outside of town.

While the moniker faded decades ago, many in the city thought it might be worth the city’s efforts to pay homage to a piece of its distant past.

“We thought it would be nice, nostalgic, something to give our park committee some way to raise funds, so we developed a theme for it,” Wolfe said.

The city is attempting to contract with a carnival for the three-day period, he said. “Right now, starting out we’re going to have an auction, a chili cook-off, a parade on Saturday, a talent contest, and we’re working on getting a second stage for bands for our younger groups,” he said.

Ah, nostalgia for under-the-bridge-dwelling hobos. I guess we all have something we can be proud of.

Oh, by the way, the festival will be held May 2-4 at Kirby City Park.

3 comments:

Dave said...

If only we had some sort of lite-rail to get the Hobos from under the highway bridge in San Antonio to under the bridge in Kirby... that would be a celebration.

Kels said...

I should swing by considering I'm not far from Kirby... in fact, my Opa used to live in Kirby!!! Little did I know that the very neighborhood I spent so many summer days playing in used to be home to so many hobos!

Albatross said...

Wow, I don't think I've seen the word hobo used so many times in one place! That alone has made this post worthwhile.

I wonder if any will be invited to the celebration.