Annual Fall Festival kicks off at Great American Lone Star Ranch

By: Sierra Wells

Multimedia Journalist

The Great American Lonestar Ranch launched its second annual fall festival in Stephenville, Texas, on Oct. 22 and will remain open every weekend until Nov. 21. The festival will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Opening their first fall festival last year, the Great American Lonestar Ranch is a traveling educational company that provides entertainment and learning opportunities related to agriculture.

Ranch owner Dianne Linderman said, “The best part of this is we really got to know our community, and it’s been just amazing to know our neighbors, you know, they came by for food, and now we know people that we would have never known, and people are coming from everywhere now. It’s kind of a destination to come here. We did this last year; it was huge.”

Providing a plethora of events and activities to keep visitors busy, the Ranch offers a Dino-Dig, pedal tractor area, potato launcher, sandbox, stick horse arena, corn hole, Porky’s Express Pig Train, the Great American Petting Farm, the Great American Pony Trail Ride, the Great American Speedway Crazy Animal Races and several photo opportunities.

When asked what the most popular attraction at the festival is, Linderman said, “I would say our petting zoo or petting farm we call it, because all of our animals run loose. We don’t have a bunch of pens. Every single one of them has been hand-raised on our petting farm. They have no fear of anybody, and we have all kinds of variety of animals.”

Also available for participation, the Cowboy Bootcamp features various interactive stations including Gold Panning, Cowboy Campout, Horse Saddling, Milk-a-Cow, Dress Like a Cowboy, Rope-a-Steer, Old-Fashioned Go Fish Game, Craft Station, Corn Box, Horseshoe Toss, Music Station, Eggs-to-Market and Build-A-Scarecrow. 

Featuring an educational experience with animals such as a mini horse who has a prosthetic leg, the Farmyard Follies animal behavior show will run three times a day. 

Describing what is new about the festival this year, Linderman said, “We switched around the whole place. We have animals we haven’t had in there before. We added some ag-venture stations, so some of that stuff wasn’t here last year, and we have a neat Dino-Dig, but that was here last year, but let me think. I think that we have added a bunch of new stations, we’ll probably have a new animal show, and we have things in the front entrance that are going to be really different, and we’re just growing every year, and making it better and better.”

Guests also have a chance to leave with a wide range of pumpkins, which will be on sale at the ranch with prices ranging from $3 to $7. 

Linderman said, “They’re all about four to five pounds. They’re really a nice size for carving.”

While on the ranch for the fall festival, attendees can eat at Dianne’s Ranch Diner or shop at the Texas Junk Company.

Regarding the diner, Linderman said, “The way we make our food is all from scratch, I don’t use any white sugar or white flour, and everything is so decadent that you think you’re eating really unhealthy food. Whenever we do anything, we never fry anything, so I have unfried chicken fried steak, and people told me it’s the best chicken fried steak they ever had. It’s super simple, and I cook it in organic coconut oil.”

Tickets are $20, and children below 3-years-old will receive free admission.

For more information, visit https://www.greatamericanlonestarranch.com/fall-festival. 

 779 total views,  3 views today