Posted on by Phil Strawn

The 4th of July and Beer In Clear Plastic Cups


Granbury, Texas, Town Square

The Devil’s oven has descended on our renowned small town of Granbury. It’s hot, so there is no reason to piss and moan. It’s July, so we get over it, mostly.

Every year, the 4th of July weekend brings thousands of folks to the square looking for something they don’t have in Fort Worth, Dallas, Waco, or somewhere in rural Texas. The lake itself is a big draw. It borders downtown, and at least two thousand overloaded pontoon boats and jerk kids on jet-powered crotch rockets, ripping up the water.

Throngs of folks in SUVs and expensive pickup trucks show up and wander around the square, drinking beer in clear plastic cups. A few of the restaurants sell it in pop-up minibars along the streets. Men with a cup of beer in each fist, and women with their cups of white wine, walking, stumbling into shops, buying up everything they can find; great for the merchants, tough on the locals who want to enjoy some of the festivities.

We have a square that is the epitome of the old west. White rock buildings were constructed in the 1800s, with narrow streets and quaint shops. The Paramount television series 1883 was filmed in our town square and the countryside around us. Being voted the best small historic town in the country for four years has much to do with the invasion. I am noticing more young folks now than in years past, and that’s a good thing. The old folks are too tired to walk around in the heat, and they don’t spend much money and tend to only drink one beer if that.

MoMo and I sat at our usual picnic table at the Brew Drinkery on Pearl Street, enjoying a craft beer, some chips, and people-watching. Young folks, and old folks dressed in red-white-and-blue attire, some with hardly any attire, some with too much attire, dogs with clothes, dogs with shoes, big dogs pulling small people around, folks with too many kids to corral, and everyone has a clear plastic cup of beer. Cheers and a happy Fourth of July from Granbury, Texas, and the Cactus Patch.

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11 Replies to “The 4th of July and Beer In Clear Plastic Cups”

      1. A few scenes were in the Fort Worth Stock Yard district but most filmed here in Granbury, the countryside around Weatherford, Glen Rose, the brazos river valley and west Texas. Elliot and the cast were here for a few weeks, then they hit the trail into no mans land and Indian territory.

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      2. Reminds me of my years, working in Downtown Austin. We were forever being told to move our vehicles for Hollyweird gear. Tommy Lee Jones, Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock…get out of the way, they are filming.

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  2. Never was able to drink beer from a plastic cup. Not snobbery, just isn’t right, never cold and never tastes as it should. Good read. Pity the locals.

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    1. It’s blasphemy to drink beer from plastic cups, but the city fathers won’t let you walk around with a glass, or a bottle of beer. Plastic ruins everything it touches. I detest Tupperware.

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  5. Sounds like the heat isn’t keeping anyone indoors! I agree that heat is a young person’s game. It wilts me like a violet anymore. When I watched the “special features” on the “1883” disc I remember thinking what a nice little town they chose to film parts of it in. Happy Belated 4th!

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