Known as one of the city's biggest annual events, the Katy Rice Harvest Festival returned over the weekend with elaborate celebrations. But behind the fanfare remained the rich history of the city and how it was established because of a modest grain.
. The celebration is run entirely by volunteers and benefits Katy charities the Rotary Club and the Katy Lions Club, which in turn support other charities like the Katy FFA and Katy Christian Ministries with the funds.
When the city reclaimed the festival, organizers revamped it to its former verve, bringing back the carnival, and perhaps most importantly, Thiele noted, accepting only authentic artisanal vendors."When we focused on bringing back the artists and crafters, people returned to the festival," Thiele said."This is the type of festival people truly wanted. It's the way the festival was meant to be from the beginning.
"The Rice Harvest Festival is a huge part of Katy's history," Walker said."That the city is dedicated to preserving it and celebrating the rice farmers is really a credit to Katy." Even when her father was stationed in Korea during the Korean War, he took his love for rice farming with him. Unless, he noted, there's a severe drought and all the well reserves are dried up, which happened this year.Celebrating at the festival was bittersweet for the brothers, who love farming rice, but lost more than 160 acres of rice as a result of this year's drought.