Rides, food and more at the Raymondville Picnic

By Editor | May 29, 2024 |

Photos by Shari Harris
Above, these youngsters raced around the carousel on their motorcycles Saturday evening at the Raymondville Picnic. Below, dancers enjoyed the music of the Pure Country Band.

By Shari Harris, Publisher

The annual Raymondville Picnic ran from Thursday, May 23 through Saturday, May 25, offering carnival rides, music, dancing, food, politics and more.

Several rides for younger children were offered, with children lining up to see if they measured up to the minimum height requirement for each ride. Teenagers and the young at heart took repeat rides on the Avenger, SCAT, Swinger and Rock-O-Plane, eager to experience the thrills of the spins and drops.

Others enjoyed bingo, while many brought chairs and/or their dancing shoes to the pavilion, where a different band was featured each night.

Many partook of the carnival food, including hamburgers, walking tacos, hot dogs, cotton candy, funnel cakes, ice cream and more. The Blue Heaven Club, Wildcat Travel Club, Tina’s Mexican Restaurant, Raymondville PTO and the carnival food trailer were all popular places. The Village of Raymondville enlisted the help of a few organizations to run the soda stand, with the organizations each taking a share of the profits on the night they worked. Saturday evening, the Licking FFA Chapter manned the soda stand.

The Raymondville Fire Department sold tickets for a gun raffle.

Grant Heithold, owner of Heatmor Midwest, had an outdoor furnace on display, but also took time to speak to voters about his current run in the Republican primary for U.S. Representative in Missouri’s 8th Congressional District. Randi McCallian, who is running in the Democratic Primary for the same seat, was present at the Texas County Democrat’s booth Saturday evening, greeting voters and answering questions. Sheriff Scott Lindsey could be found at the Texas County Republicans’ booth Saturday. Other politicians could be found at the political parties’ booths at other times.

All in all, it appeared a good time was had by all at the annual Raymondville Picnic.