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The Free State of Bandera blue jean flag in front of Lily Pearl's on Main Street.
Courtesy Photo/The Bandera County Convention and Visitors Bureau
June 16, 2025
Smithsonian Institution Day declared for Bandera
Residents encouraged to raise their blue jean flags for the Free State of Bandera
By Jessica Nohealapa’ahi
The Bandera Prophet
Bandera City Council members unanimously approved a proclamation dedicating June 21, 2025 as Smithsonian Institution Day in Bandera. The Museum on Main Street exhibit, Crossroads: Change in Rural America, will launch June 21; the main installation will be at Bandera Middle School, with satellite exhibits throughout the county. During the exhibition, businesses and residents are encouraged to raise blue jean flags, bringing back the tradition of the historic Stompede.
In 1948, the Free State of Bandera was coined by journalist and photographer Samuel Montague, a passerby who stopped to visit on his way to a new job at the American Embassy in Mexico. Inspired by Bandera’s friendly western culture, Montague proposed a playful ultimatum asking President Truman for an official day recognizing the American cowboy and the Pony Express - or else Bandera, and horseback mail delivery, would stompede out of the union. The demand was signed with the pseudonym Cowboy Zeke, a fictitious name that would later become iconic.
That presidential proclamation never came, however the idea of the Stompede stuck, and each year trail riders arrived with guns blazing. In 1954, an estimated 20,000 people descended upon Bandera for the annual three-day Stompede, all ready to rodeo, parade and party. Headlines read, “The Thundering Stompede Is On,” and “Bandera’s Thundering Stompede Starts Today.” By 1956, Bandera merchants and residents were divided, torn between the influx of tourist revenue, versus public disorder and reckless behavior. Many locals left their homes during the chaotic events, while business owners clung to the profitable lifeline.
In 1957, after campaigning to end the lawlessness, a newly-elected Sheriff R.B. Miller, with help from the Texas Rangers and Texas Department of Public Safety state troopers, arrested and fined more than 100 people during the Stompede, a trend that continued. By 1961, headlines read “The Stompede Has Had It,” and the wild days of Bandera were at an end.
Bandera’s Smithsonian Institution Museum on Main Street will conclude July 26, on National Day of the American Cowboy.
In 1948, the Free State of Bandera was coined by journalist and photographer Samuel Montague, a passerby who stopped to visit on his way to a new job at the American Embassy in Mexico. Inspired by Bandera’s friendly western culture, Montague proposed a playful ultimatum asking President Truman for an official day recognizing the American cowboy and the Pony Express - or else Bandera, and horseback mail delivery, would stompede out of the union. The demand was signed with the pseudonym Cowboy Zeke, a fictitious name that would later become iconic.
That presidential proclamation never came, however the idea of the Stompede stuck, and each year trail riders arrived with guns blazing. In 1954, an estimated 20,000 people descended upon Bandera for the annual three-day Stompede, all ready to rodeo, parade and party. Headlines read, “The Thundering Stompede Is On,” and “Bandera’s Thundering Stompede Starts Today.” By 1956, Bandera merchants and residents were divided, torn between the influx of tourist revenue, versus public disorder and reckless behavior. Many locals left their homes during the chaotic events, while business owners clung to the profitable lifeline.
In 1957, after campaigning to end the lawlessness, a newly-elected Sheriff R.B. Miller, with help from the Texas Rangers and Texas Department of Public Safety state troopers, arrested and fined more than 100 people during the Stompede, a trend that continued. By 1961, headlines read “The Stompede Has Had It,” and the wild days of Bandera were at an end.
Bandera’s Smithsonian Institution Museum on Main Street will conclude July 26, on National Day of the American Cowboy.