Bandera made a stab at cowboying itself up in 1948 with the invention of the ?Free State of Bandera,? Cowboy Zeke, the blue jeans flag and the Stompede. The Stompede grew so ?wild and wooly? that Sheriff R.B. Miller shut it down in 1961, winning both accolades and recrimination at the same time from two diametrically opposed groups of people.

Remarkably, the person who branded the Stompede into Bandera?s history was not from Bandera. Samuel D. Montague, a public relations expert, journalist and photographer, was not even related to Bandera?s Montague family who has been in Bandera since the 1850s. On his way to accept a position at the American Embassy in Mexico, Montague ?landed? in Bandera and was impressed by the friendliness and hospitality of the town. With its dozen dude ranches and the western flair of Main Street, Montague found something unique. He started asking people why they didn?t ?do? something to promote Bandera. Getting mostly blank looks but sensing some excitement and anticipation among the Bandera County Chamber of Commerce members, Montague helped forge the Stompede.

?We were going to stompede out of the country, out of the nation,? he explained. ?We are going to set up our own Free State of Bandera. According to Texas law, Texas can be divided into seven different areas?that was agreed upon when it became the Republic of Texas.

?The reason we were going to stompede out of the union is because there is a Mother?s Day, a Father?s Day, a sweetheart?s day?but nothing had ever been done for the cowboy. The cowboy had settled the west and brought law and order. The Pony Express delivered mail. Yet they had no recognition.?

So Montague and chamber members drafted an ultimatum to President Truman to authorize a day for recognizing the cowboy. The president was given 48 hours, or Montague explained, ?we were going to stompede. We appointed then Texas Senator Tom Connally as ambassador to Washington. The message was signed by a fictitious cowboy, Zeke.?

Truman received a letter from Zeke that stated, ?Dear Mr. President: Even though we have stompeded and are no longer a part of the United States Government, we hold no hard feelings. So if you decided that you need help in keeping the mail going, we?ll continue to do it like we did back in the days of the Pony Express because we never thought the iron horse was going to stay around very long anyway.?

Bandera?s Stompede committee never heard from Truman?who was having a difficult time with the railroad at that moment in the nation?s history. So they visited former Vice President John Nance Garner (Garner State Park) in Uvalde. Garner had spent time in Tarpley at the Tarpley hotel and had garnered a reputation as a colorful character in both his public and private life. He appreciated Bandera?s tongue-in-cheek joke.

Montague slipped out of Bandera as unexpectedly as he slipped in, but the Stompede was branded into the fabric of the town. It stayed. Reminders, even years after the Stompede officially ended, were Zeke?s hamburger stand, Cowboy Zeke on the Town And Ranch Shop sign at the Frontier Hotel and Free State Oil Company (now Shell?s Gas and Go).

Unfortunately, while Bandera residents appreciated the humor for what it was, out of town revelers took the ?Free State? literally, lacking the discernment to keep from biting their tongue and spitting it out in the face of the Cowboy Capital?s hospitality. From the start, the western-styled event drew tourists into towns by the thousands. It started off with cowboys riding through town and ?shooting it up.?

Riding into town and shooting it up opened up the Stompede through 1952 and was then eliminated. Or rather, the arrival of the trail riders still opened up the Stompede?they just quit shooting up the town. Other events remained constant: the raising of the blue jeans flag across from the courthouse; Judge Roy Bean presiding in the Bandera replica of his famous building; tall tales; rodeo action; shooting exhibitions; armadillo races; a cowbelle contest?even a beard contest. There were demonstrations of archery skill, horseshoe and washer pitching contests and a stock weight guessing contest. Youngsters could enter the ?Best Dressed Little Top Hands? contest. A young fiddlers contest was held, along with a western parade and street dance.

An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 turned up for the seventh annual Stompede in 1954. Headlines for the 1955 Stompede read, ?Bandera?s Thundering Stompede Starts Today.? The story contained a hint of the problem that eventually shut the event down?drinking in the streets and the boisterous behavior that ensued.

By 1956, many Bandera residents fled from their country during the Stompede and turned it over to the drunks. Merchants were torn between their loyalty to the people who supported them the other 362 days a year and the revenue that visitors infused into their businesses during the three-day free-for-all that began as a joke but was embraced as truth by revelers. The out-of-town guests believed they could come to Bandera and do things in the ?Free State? that would land them in jail in their own hometowns. The Stompede divided residents so severely that when R.B. Miller ran for sheriff with the promise that he would close down the Stompede, he beat incumbent Democrat, Sheriff Faris.

The 10th Annual Stompede, held in May 1957, started with the arrival of the trail riders, the Bandera Cowbelle Contest, the Bandera Cowbelle Bawl, the Miss Stompede Contest, fiddlers contest, Best Dressed Top Hands, rodeos, a beards contest, stock weight guessing, washer pitching, dancing and a western parade. However, Sheriff R.B. Miller put his stamp on the Stompede. After the event ended, two very different stories printed in newspapers. One related, ?Sheriff R.B. Miller is receiving congratulations and commendations on the very efficient manner in which he handled the situation here during the Stompede. Previous Stompedes have been more wild with only indifferent attempts to control the crowds. Bandera?s hospitality was often abused by outside people who felt that they were in the Free State of Bandera and privileged to do as they pleased here despite the fact that our local people did not endorse some of their outrageous doings. Sheriff R.B. Miller did not intend to tolerate so much wildness this year so he arranged for assistance from the Texas Rangers and the Texas Highway Patrol.?

The other story stated, ?62 Chamber of Commerce members gathered at Joleta Guest Ranch to discuss the events of the recent Stompede and why so many arrests were made by local law enforcement, Texas Rangers and DPS. A committee was formed to go to Sheriff Bryan Miller and ascertain why 144 people were arrested and fined during the Stompede.?

The Stompede rode off into the pages of history after making a splash in national news in 1961. The May 16, 1961 edition of The San Antonio Light reported, ?The Stompede Has Had It.? While President JFK headed to Canada on a goodwill tour and chiefs of South Korea?s armed forces seized power in a coup, Bandera pulled in the reins on its lucrative?and expensive?western celebration. During the event, 29 had been arrested for public drunkenness, six for driving while intoxicated, 87 juveniles had been fined for possession of beer and one person was arrested for the possession of untaxed liquor.

Miller told the press, ?there will be no more Stompedes as long as I am sheriff. Why should our town be subjected to such wild and wooly celebration which brings hoodlums and racketeers with get rich schemes to prey on the citizens of our community. I am not going to permit it. If I have to, I will fight every man in the chamber of commerce to keep from having such disgraceful celebration in our town.?

A fight did ensue. But Bandera residents possess a great capacity to both forgive and reinvent themselves. The Bandera Stompede was herded out of town as a miscreant and dogged back in as the Bandera Western Festival, the current Frontier Days celebrated over Memorial Day Weekend.

The International Medina Apple Festival and Celebrate Bandera shimmer around the edges with the ghostly images of the deceased Stompede. The Apple Fest introduced Mr. Johnny Appleseed and Miss Apple Dumpling along with a host of contests and fun family events. Celebrate Bandera starts with longhorn cattle running down Main Street and a western parade. Last year, trick horse-mounted shooting was reintroduced to Bandera.

Celebrate Bandera Coordinator Genie Strickland remembers incidents from the Stompede when she was a child. She said the event was a lifeline for the merchants in Bandera. Her father, Chamber member Henry Adams, vowed to get rid of the drinking but keep a family-oriented celebration to draw tourists. Like father, like daughter. Adams collected money from merchants to hire gunslingers and continue the Wild West shows in town. Strickland works with the Cowboys on Main Street program hosted by the Frontier Times Museum. Her first job was getting thrown into a horse trough twice a day at Frontier Village (at Lost Valley) to entertain tourists.

?It was so colorful and wonderful to grow up in Bandera,? she remembers. ?I had a wonderful childhood. I remember my sister and us riding down Main Street on a bicycle-built-for-two. We had a wreck in front of the OST and just lay there in the street laughing. No fear of getting run over!?

Perhaps there are those who would argue that Bandera, ?Cowboy Capital of the World,? has evolved into a real cowboy town, for just as there were two shades of opinion about the Stompede, so there were two sides to the cowboy.

While some celebrated the ?wild and wooly? and freedom-loving cowpoke, Hopalong Cassidy told boys and girls, ?If you want to be respected. You must respect others. Show good manners in every way. Only through hard work and study can you succeed. Don?t be lazy. Your good deeds will always come to light. Many animals are good and loyal companions. Be friendly and kind to them. A strong, healthy body is a precious gift. Our country?s laws are made for your protection. Observe them.?

The Lone Ranger told his audience, ?to be a friend, a man must be one. All men are created equal and everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world. God put the firewood there but every man must gather and light it himself. Be prepared to fight for what is right. Men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.?

Gene Autry said, ?a cowboy never takes unfair advantage?even of an enemy. A cowboy never betrays a trust. He never goes back on his word. A cowboy is kind and gentle to small children, old folks and animals. A cowboy is a Patriot.?

Roy Roger?s prayer was, ?Lord, when trails are steep and passes high, help me ride it straight the whole way through.?

The cowboy creed is integrity, honor, courage, truth and God. Sounds a lot like our Bandera?Stompede or no Stompede.