Published: October 05, 2009 02:25 pm      

John Watson: Cotton Pickin’ Fair held in Hillsboro

The City of Hillsboro held their Go-Texan Cotton Pickin’ Fair on Sept. 25-26.

At one time Hill County was the top cotton producing county in the state. The Elm Street Rod Run Car Show was held in conjunction with the Fair.

Two blocks of East Elm Street were closed for the auto show.

The show was open to all rods, customs, bikes and classics. More than 200 cars were shown.

The show was co-hosted by Roadside America Museum and The Cruisers Club.

Cars lined up on both sides of Elm Street, with a line of cars down the middle of the street and two parking lots filled with cars.

A good sized crowd filled the street looking at the cars.

The first car that caught my attention was a white Volkswagen with black fenders. On the door was a “Constable, Hill County, Texas” emblem and beside that “574’s Cop-Bug Retired.”

There were several street rods along with many of the classics from the late 1940s through the 1960s.

A 1950 Ford on one of the lots had been completely redone so it was hard to recognize from the front, but the tail lights were recognizable. It had been made into a low rider and the sides could not have been much more than an inch off the ground.

Near the end of the line was an old, late 1930s bus, rusty color, with “Bus #12, Goose Creek Penitentiary” on the side.

Among several motorcycles, there was an older one with a sign labeled “NH 1928.” I had no idea what the NH stood for. With a little searching on the internet I found that the NH was a brand of motorcycles made in Sweden by Nordstjernan from 1926 to 1960.

A large bandstand was set up at the end of the show strip with music playing all day.

A block north on East Franklin Street were several craft and food vendors along with several old tractors.

I will not call them antique tractors because none of them appeared old enough to be called antique. There were several Oliver Tractors on display.

These were all newer models than the one I ran when I was plowing for Mr. Harper north of Covington in the late 1950s.

After looking over everything on these two streets I enquired about the guitar show that was supposed to be going on along with the car and tractor show.

I was told that the gun and guitar show would be in the old Walmart building on Texas 22 just west of I-35.

We drove on over to the Walmart building, and as we drove onto the parking lot we could hear gunfire.

I just figured a group from the gun show was having target practice. When I opened the door to get out of the car I smelled the gun powder.

We went on inside the building and just inside the door was a lady sitting at a table taking the admission fee.

I told her I was from the newspaper to do a story on the show, and she pointed to a lady in a booth across the aisle and said I needed to talk to her.

The other lady had heard us talking and started over toward me. The first thing she said was, “Don’t I know you?”

“I’m from Cleburne,” I started out.

“Oh yes,” she replied. “You write for the newspaper and your name is John.”

It was Mrs. Kreason, who, with her husband, operate the Texas Musicians Museum located at 212 North Waco Street in Hillsboro, and they were the sponsors of the Gun and Guitar Show.

When I told her I was there to do a story on the guitar show, the first thing she said was, “They are having a World War II re-enactment outside now. You need to go get some pictures of that.”

We went back outside and over to the west end of the building where all the shooting was coming from.

It appeared that the American army had set up operations in a cleared area at the end of the building, and the Germans were in a field of sudan nearby. The sudan was about waist high and made a good hiding place for the enemy.

They were firing blanks at each other and setting off smoke bombs throughout the field to give it a sense of reality.

After watching the re-enactment for a while and taking some pictures, we went back inside.

Several dealers were showing their stock of guitars, everything from the early standards to the latest in electric guitars along with amps and other accessories.

Several Gibson guitars were on display, for sale at a good price. Some of the dealers had fiddles along with a few other instruments. I saw one saxophone.

Some of the dealers and musicians were planning a party after the show Saturday night at Pooh’s Pair A Dice in Malone, with live music by Kevin Ray Adams and The Silver Steel Band.

The gun dealers were set up in a separate area.

While visiting with one of the ladies at a gun booth, I mentioned that I had recently read that there was a shortage of ammunition among gun dealers.

“Oh, I have plenty,” she replied, pointing to a box, “It’s $25 a box.”

None of the dealers there seemed to have a shortage of ammo.

The Kreasons sponsor the Gun and Guitar Show twice a year in Hillsboro.

The next show is slated for March.

For information on the Texas Musicians Museum and updates on the Gun and Guitar Show visit www.TexasMusiciansMuseum.com

Starting October 15, I will begin a series of discussions titled Take a Stroll Through Texas History. They will be at the Cleburne Public Library and start at 6:30 pm and last an hour. The topic for the first meeting will be Early Indians of Texas and the United States. Later topics will include Early Spanish influence on Texas, Early English settlers, Early Fort of Texas, and The Outlaw Era. If you plan to attend please call 817-517-5395 to register as the seating is limited. The discussions are free to attend.



John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.