Snook, TX

Snook is a Burleson County city with Czech roots that still show up in the local culture. Czech families began buying the area’s fertile blackland in the late 1800s, and by 1888 a school had been established between the nearby settlements of Sebesta and Snook. The community grew around a store, lodge, school, church, post office, and water system, then picked up better connections when FM 60 was paved in the 1940s and the farm-to-market road network filled out in the following decade. Snook incorporated in 1972, with city hall arriving three years later.

The big date on the local calendar is Chilifest. Started in 1991, the two-day charity chili cook-off and music festival brings tens of thousands of people into a town whose regular population is a fraction of that crowd. The rest of the year, Snook ISD and the Snook Bluejays provide the daily center of gravity, with school events, city services, and local clubs doing the ordinary community work. Snook is a small Czech-Texas town with a surprisingly large annual sound system: farm roads and school life most days, country music and chili smoke when Chilifest rolls around.