Maybe the marriage is strained. Yet there will be no divorce between a long-running chili cookoff and the Marble Falls hotel/ motel occupancy tax (HOT).
Perhaps that is the most right-to-the-point way to describe the current status of the longterm relationship between the city of Marble Falls and the Highland Lakes CASI Regional Chili Championship, known locally as the Howdy Roo.
For the first time in more than 50 years, the popular cooking event won’t be held in Marble Falls. Rather, the chili and barbecue cookoff will take place May 2-3 in Granite Shoals at Quarry Park at 2221 N. Phillips Road.
“We’re still going to use your hotels, your restaurants, your stores, “Howdy Roo coordinator Craig Schlicke told the Marble Falls Hotel Motel Tax Advisory (HOT) Committee Feb. 19 during a meeting at Marble Falls City Hall, 800 Third St.
“We’re not changing anything – just the location,” Schlicke said of the event.
Howdy Roo 2025 promises to be as popular as it has ever been during previous years, he added.
Indeed, Roo organizers expect to host more than 100 cooks as well as 40 barbecue teams during spring 2025.
However, the organizers decision to move the perennially popular event to Granite Shoals is prompted mainly by its perception of limited space and parking at Marble Falls park venues, Schlicke added.
During several past years, the Howdy Roo hullabaloo has been at the Marble Falls Lakeside Park and Pavilion, he recalled. Prior to that, starting with its inception, the cookoff traditionally occurred under the pecan trees and along Backbone Creek in Johnson Park.
“I love the Pavilion, but it is small,” Schlicke said.
As such, Howdy Roo organizers fear participant numbers for the event are “slowly deteriorating,” he added.
In response to Schlicke, Marble Falls Economic Corporation Executive Director and HOT committee member Christian Fletcher mentioned the city can still sponsor the Howdy Roo event, provided its attendees continue to fill local guest houses with “heads in beds.”
HOT committee member Jamiee Lynn Smith pointed out local hotels would be willing to reserve “blocks” of rooms to accommodate numerous Roo participants.
“There are definitely hotels out there who could help you,” Smith told Schlicke.
Schlicke responded to Fletcher and Smith.
“We don’t want to leave Marble Falls out of it (the event), he said. “Our people love Marble Falls. There’s no doubt about it.”
Marble Falls Mayor Pro-tem Craig Magerkurth, another HOT committee member, asked if Howdy Roo organizers would consider an imminent return to Marble Falls to stage their future events.
Probably, that circumstance may depend on more accessible parking and the availability of venues in Marble Falls other than the Pavilion, Schlicke told Magerkurth.
“I can’t say yes, I can’t say no,” Schlicke said.
By the end of the discussion, the HOT committee voted unanimously to approve an award of $750 to support Howdy Roo.
Combined with $750 the committee had awarded weeks before the meeting, total city sponsorship for the chili cook-off amounts now at $1,500.
“You’re good,” Marble Falls City Manager Mike Hodge told Schlicke. “No refund (of $750) required.”
Also during the HOT meeting, the committee approved an award of $2,500 requested by the Texas Tournament Zone to help sponsor its Bass Fishing Tournament scheduled for one day, March 21 on Lake LBJ.
About 200 anglers are expected to participate in the tournament, Zone representative Bryan Mater told the committee.
“There will be a good number of people here,” Mater said. “We will have people traveling to Marble Falls from all over Texas. It will probably be our largest tournament of the year, because it is a very popular area.”
