The annual Hairy Man Festival celebrated its 30th-anniversary last weekend on Saturday, Oct. 19 with live music, Halloween-inspired arts and crafts, games and vendors.
The festival raises money for the Round Rock Area Serving Center in the name of the local “Hairy Man” legend, a story of a Bigfoot-like man who roams the woods of Brushy Creek. Every year, one person gets the opportunity to dress up in the Hairy Man mascot costume and bring the legend to life.
“The [Hairy Man Festival] is our way of giving back to everybody, it’s a great way to bring the community together, and give them and their family something to enjoy,” mascot Edgar “Hairyman” said. “This is my second year [working here] and it’s my favorite job I’ve had so far. The community really comes together, we all look out for each other.”
Local businesses set up booths to display goods including handmade friendship bracelets, crocheted clothes, candles made in teacups and more. Some small businesses had their first opportunity to share their goods with the community, like Eclectic Witches, a craft business run by moms with students at McNeil.
“We just started working on this business about four or five months ago, we just got together and started crafting,” Brittany Finomore of Eclectic Witches said. “Everyone [here] has been nothing but nice, it’s super organized and very easy to set up [a booth]. The vendors all walked around and said ‘Hi’ to each other beforehand.”
Students from McNeil’s Key Club also attended the festival to volunteer and get point opportunities for their club as well as to participate in the activities available, like pony rides, rock climbing and a petting zoo.
“It’s my first time here, so far we’ve been passing out brochures for the Round Rock Service Center and asking people if they need help,” junior Lily Ho said. “I think the pumpkin painting and pumpkin patch is cool, I’d come back next year because it’s a fun event you can go to with your family or friends just to kill time.”
In addition, the festival gave students from RRISD and beyond an opportunity to experience a Brushy Creek tradition, with the Round Rock Cheer Team running a “flips for tips” fundraiser and Mansfield’s Girl Scout Troop 2165 running the Cupcake Walk.
“A lot of cool people have come around, they’ve been super nice, I like all the cool contests that go on here like the sauce contest and hairiest man contest,” junior Girl Scout Mikayla Westard said. “My troop is localized here but I don’t live around here so I haven’t come to the Hairy Man Festival before. This event was passed down to us [by another troop] because we need it to earn money to go on our final trip since we’re going to age out of Girl Scouts soon.”
The festival also represented integral parts of the community within Round Rock with booths for the RRISD Bond directors, martial arts classes, restaurants such as Santiago’s Tex-Mex and Cantina and the Sam Bass Fire Department.
“I really enjoy the community around here, we only do this so often with the fire truck, and it’s nice to get to know the people we serve,” firefighter Isabel Conkle said. “We go to the barbecue competition every year, fall events and Halloween. It’s nice to be on shift but not waiting for calls or anything, just getting to know the community so I really enjoy coming to these types of things.”
Overall, this year’s Hairy Man Festival showcased an important tradition within the Brushy Creek community, continuing the legacy of the festival for both old and new visitors. “If someone’s never been to Hairy Man, they should come as a vendor or civilian because it’s amazing, we’ve come every year for almost 10 years so it’s definitely fun to be on this side of the tradition,” Finomore said. “This is the first time we’ve done a vendor event, but based on just the vibe, we would totally come back.”
