BURLESON COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — Organizers canceled the second day of Chilifest in Burleson County on Saturday after severe weather and heavy rain moved through the area, leaving behind muddy grounds and a massive cleanup effort.
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In a statement, organizers said the heavy rain created conditions that made it impossible for emergency crews to reach the venue and left parking areas unusable.
Fraternities that spent days setting up for a weekend of music, memories, and tradition are now working to clear out the muddy property.
"I saw the message that it was canceled and I was like, this is a joke," Sigma Phi Epsilon memeber, JC Rodriguez said.
Students from the Texas A&M fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon are tearing everything down as cleanup gets underway across the property.
"We've taken the walls out. We had to take all the walls down, the whole facade back here, we're working on getting that down now," Rodriguez said.
"That's what we're trying to do today is just save everything, I mean, for next year so we can save some money,"Sigma Phi Epsilon memeber, Reed Braly said.
"I had a lot of fun day one, I can tell you that, but just doing all this work for not even getting to have a day two really just sucked," Braly said.
Despite the disappointment, students said organizers made the right call.
"We have to just take a step back and realize that it was probably for the better, and for the safety of everybody here and all of us Aggies here just looking to have a good time and it could have been a lot worse, but unfortunately, the right decision was made to cancel it the second day," Rodriguez said.
Members of Sigma Phi Epsilon said much of the cleanup is already underway. If the weather holds, they expect to be finished by the end of the week.
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