Cotton Gin Festival – Burton
Lunch on Your Own
Saturday, April 18, $25 pp
Depart COWAN CREEK 10:30 a.m.; Return 5:30 p.m. Celebrate the legacy of the oldest operating cotton gin in America! The annual Burton Cotton Gin Festival includes folk-life demonstrations, tractor pull, pie eating contest, cotton seed pulling, arts and craft booths, and food vendors.
The festival’s centerpiece is the 1914 Burton Farmers Gin. When a group of farmers built the first co-op gin in Burton in 1913, it is doubtful that they could have foreseen that 100 years later it would be touted as the oldest operational cotton gin in the country. The last cotton was ginned commercially in 1974, but in 1987 “Operation Restoration” returned the business complex back to its original glory. A major attraction is the Bessemer Type IV, twin cylinder, diesel oil engine “Lady B,” brought in to replace a steam engine in 1925. During the festival the engine is fired up, and cotton bales are ginned like in the old days. The Museum is also a draw with interesting exhibits about when cotton was king in Texas.
Ticket cost includes transportation only.
Volunteer Trip Leader: Valerie Weis |
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