Carrollton's TEXFest Draws Rain-Soaked Crowds for 11th Annual Celebration

Ponchos outnumbered umbrellas at Historic Downtown Carrollton on Saturday, March 7, but the rain did nothing to thin the crowds at TEXFest's 11th annual edition. Residents and visitors showed up in large numbers despite wet conditions that persisted throughout the weekend, turning the festival grounds into a decidedly damp but spirited celebration of Texas culture.

The Carrollton Leader described the turnout plainly: "the city of Carrollton turned out in bunches." Attendees who came prepared found plenty to keep them occupied. The festival offered live Texas music, a beer garden featuring breweries from across the region, smoky barbecue, craft beer, and the chance to pose for pictures on a longhorn, one of the more distinctly Texan attractions on offer.

Rain was the defining backdrop of the day. The Carrollton Leader reported that guests "donned ponchos and braved the rain to enjoy a day of live music, a beer garden featuring breweries across the region, pictures on a longhorn, smoky barbecue and craft beer." The weekend's wet pattern continued well beyond the festival itself. A weather forecast for Carrollton updated March 10 showed a 90% chance of overnight thunderstorms with potential for severe weather, following afternoon showers that pushed temperatures to a high of 79 degrees with southerly winds between 15 and 25 mph.

TEXFest has become a reliable fixture on Historic Downtown Carrollton's calendar. Its 11th consecutive edition signals more than a decade of the city organizing a signature community event around Texas food, drink, and music in one of the county's most walkable historic districts. Specific performer names, participating brewery lists, and attendance figures were not immediately available; the city's events office and festival organizers would have those details.

What the 2026 edition confirmed is that Carrollton's appetite for TEXFest is weather-resistant. The soggy Saturday drew a crowd willing to trade dry shoes for barbecue and cold craft beer under gray skies.