TEMPLE, Texas (KXXV) — The City of Temple announced the Tanglefoot Music and Barbecue Festival will not happen this year.
Vendors from last year told me they are sad to see it go but hope the city keeps up similar events.
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Ronnie Schoepf owns Schoep's Barbecue in Belton. He served his barbecue to hundreds of people in September during the festival. He said his love for music drove his participation and contribution as a main vendor.
"I was very much looking forward to them coming back. Now of course I'm not involved in any of the strategic decisions by The City of Temple or by the planning organization of the music festival, but just as a fan and also a business that was helping support it, I was sure hoping they were gonna come back, but I'm sure there was reasons that led them to the decision," Schoepf said.
"Serving the bands and the staff and everything, that was our contribution which you can imagine adds up when you figure a few 100 people at breakfast, lunch, and dinner for, two days, yeah. So it was a big step for us, but it was something we were excited about supporting because, uh, we just weren't sure how big it was gonna be," Schoepf said.
The city put on the $3 million event for the first time, only making $1 million in revenue. Many businesses saw revenue growth, but Nohely Mackowiak with the City of Temple said the financial loss was a factor.
"Going into this event, we kind of already knew, you know, that there was gonna be a little bit of a loss, that was also one of the factors that we took into consideration for pausing 2026. It wasn't the sole factor that took effect, but it really was a contributing factor and there was so many other things that we looked at for, you know, this pause," Mackowiak said.
When asked if the city will have another event in its place, Mackowiak said they are evaluating their options.
"Anything is possible. So we're really going to take a look at, you know, the good, the bad, and everything in between from Tanglefoot and really re-evaluate what it is that our priorities should be for this next event, whether it be a large scale event like it was before or smaller events, we just don't know right now," Mackowiak said.
Last year, the city saw $7.7 million in total revenue impact for local businesses, hotels, and local attractions.
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