According to FOX San Antonio, Seguin kicks off its 21st annual Pecan Fest Saturday, October 24, with downtown and Central Park transforming into a sprawling celebration of food, music and local history from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Organizers are expanding the festival's downtown footprint this year, closing Austin Street from Court Street to Washington Street to make room for the growing crowds. The event, presented by CMC Steel Texas, will feature vendors, food trucks, a kid's zone, a beer and wine garden and pecan-themed raffles throughout the day.
According to KABB, the Food Truck Throw Down starts at 11:30 a.m. downtown, with participating vendors creating dishes, desserts or drinks exclusively for the festival and handing out awards for the best pecan-inspired creation. Those limited-run items will only be available for purchase during the event. Live music takes over Nolte Street throughout the afternoon, with the Keen Country Band opening at 10:30 a.m., Kayla Jane following at 12:30 p.m., and Bidi Bidi Banda closing out the day as headliner at 2:30 p.m. Pecan Fest raffle winners are scheduled to be announced at 4 p.m., capping a day of ticket sales that, per the outlet's reporting, fund beautification projects and operational support across Seguin's Downtown Historic District.
A Nut With A Hundred-Year Rivalry
The festival's centerpiece attraction sits at the Texas Agricultural Education and Heritage Center, known locally as the Big Red Barn, where visitors can snap photos with the World's Largest Pecan alongside an antique tractor pull, antique cars, hayrides, agricultural demonstrations, an artisan market, pecan vendors, crafts, farm animals, contests, square dancing and heritage demonstrations, the station reports. Admission and parking at the Big Red Barn are free, and guests can also wander through the Heritage Village, the agricultural education wing, the equipment wing and the Pecan Museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
That giant pecan carries real civic history. Local dentist Dr. Edmund “Doc” Darilek first put Seguin on the map in 1962 by erecting a five-foot-long, 1,000-pound concrete pecan outside the Guadalupe County Courthouse, according to Texas Highways. Seguin lost the World's Largest Pecan title to Brunswick, Missouri, in 1982, but reclaimed it in 2011 when civic leaders built an 8-by-16-foot fiberglass pecan, funded by $5,000 in community donations, that now stands at the heritage center. The region's bond with the nut runs even deeper: 16th-century Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca dubbed the Guadalupe River the “river of nuts” after living among Indigenous tribes along its pecan-lined banks, the outlet notes.
That agricultural identity still has stakes beyond festival novelty. Texas pecan specialists forecast the state's 2025 harvest at 32 million pounds, an average or mediocre crop shaped by recovery from prior drought conditions in some areas and pecan scab pressure, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. That's a fraction of the state's record 91 million-pound harvest in 1979, a reminder that Seguin's playful rivalry over a concrete nut is rooted in a real, fluctuating industry.
Pottery, Limecrete And A Haunted Hotel
History takes center stage away from the barn as well. The Sebastopol House Historic Site hosts the Wilson Pottery Show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring Texas pottery collections, items for viewing, sale and trade, a silent auction, a pottery-wheel photo opportunity, children's activities and pecan pie for purchase, per KABB's rundown. This marks the 23rd annual gathering organized by the Wilson Pottery Foundation, which honors H. Wilson & Company, established in the 1860s near Seguin by formerly enslaved potters Hiram, James and Wallace Wilson. H. Wilson & Company is thought to have been the first African American-owned business in Texas.
The Sebastopol House itself is a landmark in its own right. Built in 1856 by skilled enslaved workers using limecrete — an early concrete mixture of lime, gravel and water — the Greek Revival structure earned Seguin the historic nickname “The Concrete City” and remains one of the country's best-preserved 19th-century limecrete buildings, according to the City of Seguin. The city's Parks and Recreation Department owns and operates the site.
Across town, the Historic Magnolia Hotel holds a free open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The restored 1840s landmark began as a two-room log cabin built by Seguin co-founder and Texas Ranger James Campbell before becoming the town's first stagecoach stop, according to Visit Seguin. It landed on Preservation Texas's Most Endangered Places list in 2012 before private restoration efforts beginning in 2013 turned the dilapidated structure into the bed-and-breakfast it is today.
Honoring Seguin's Namesake And Filling Out The Weekend
Saturday also marks a 220th birthday commemoration for city namesake Colonel Juan Nepomuceno Seguín, held from 11 a.m. to noon at his burial site, as reported by FOX San Antonio. Seguín survived the 1836 Battle of the Alamo because commander William B. Travis sent him across enemy lines as a courier to seek reinforcements before the fort fell, according to Humanities Texas. He went on to serve as mayor of San Antonio and a Republic of Texas senator. Downtown bars and restaurants will also host the Hats Off to Juan Seguín pub crawl in his honor.
The Seguin Heritage Museum hosts its own free open house highlighting Seguin and Guadalupe County history, displaying the city's antique fire truck outside for photos, per the station's reporting. The Seguin Conservation Society offers guided Heritage Village walking tours at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., with sign-ups available at Booth No. 29, and a free shuttle runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., connecting Central Park, the Big Red Barn and the Sebastopol House Historic Site for visitors hopping between venues, as noted by FOX San Antonio.
Plenty more fills out the schedule: the Pecan Country Chiropractic Fun Zone brings human whack-a-mole, lumberjack axe throwing, a bungee run and jousting, while the Get Crackin' Pecan Shelling Contest takes over the Central Park gazebo at noon. The First Methodist Church pumpkin patch runs 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Blue Lotus Winery and Texas Mead Works hosts a pecan pairing with Texas-grown pecans and handcrafted wines from noon to 6 p.m., and Seguin Brewing Company hosts Barktober Fest. Archive Coffee & Cocktails and Amika present the Donegan Street Block Party, including yoga and coffee starting at 10 a.m., while the Seguin Film & Arts Festival at the Historic Palace Theatre features local and international short films, filmmaker Q&A sessions and theatre and cinema museum tours.
The celebration continues Sunday, October 25, with the Saints Alive Riverside Cemetery Tour from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., presented by the Women's Federated Clubs of Seguin. The tour features dramatic portrayals of eight historic citizens buried at Riverside Cemetery, sharing stories spanning from the 1800s through Seguin's history. The full Pecan Fest schedule, including this year's sponsor list led by Pecan Country Chiropractic, Guadalupe Trading Company, Schertz Bank & Trust and H-E-B, is available at seguingonuts.com.
