If you are on the west side of Lake Texoma this weekend, don’t miss the National Sand Bass Festival in Madill, Oklahoma, this weekend. It began Monday, June 7, and runs through Saturday, June 12.
This festival attracts 15,000 people every year from all over the U.S. It is a mostly free, weeklong event featuring food vendors, craft vendors, lots of activities, a variety of live entertainment, and a carnival in Chickasaw Country. It is held during the first full week of June, and ends with free concerts on Tuesday through Saturday nights.
In the spring, white bass, also called sand bass, begin the annual sand bass run or their migration because of spring rains and water temperature in Lake Texoma rising. Madill, Oklahoma, celebrates the sand bass migration with its annual National Sand Bass Festival in Madill.
The National Sand Bass Festival in Madill began in 1963. Sand Bass Planning Committee Chairman, Donny Raley, says the committee works hard to make sure it’s family friendly and fun for everyone. Mr. Raley’s father was an original founder of the event in 1961, and it first ran from 1963 until 1976. Then it took eleven years off, and returned in 1987.
Madill, Oklahoma was founded in 1886 and known for its mineral springs. Madill is located at the junction of U.S. Highway 70, U.S. Highway 177/State Highway 199, and U.S. Highway 377/State Highway 99 in Marshall County Oklahoma, twenty-five miles southeast of Ardmore and seventeen miles north of the Red River’s Willis, Oklahoma, bridge over Lake Texoma.
Judge George A. Madill of St. Louis, Missouri is Madill’s namesake, because Madill was situated on the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway (Frisco). Madill established a post office in 1901 and received its town charter in 1902. The first Madill public school in 1903 was a four-room wood frame house on the south side of town. With the discovery of oil, Madill experienced a couple of oil booms in 1904 and 1924.
The late 1930s saw the Pure Oil Company move into Marshall County. Then, with the construction of the Denison Dam that began the impoundment of Lake Texoma in 1944, built in part by WWII German prisoners of war, Madill saw another boom with tourism because of the many miles of Lake Texoma shoreline in Marshall County, Oklahoma.
National Sand Bass Schedule June 10 -12
The Sand Bass Planning Committee built the festival around family fun for people to enjoy fellowship with each other. Everything is free except the vendors and the carnival rides. The concerts and activities have no admission fees. All you need to bring is your friends and family and lawn chairs. You can even bring your own ice chest with drinks and a picnic.
Thursday, June 10
9:00am – Madill Library Book Sale @ William Ray Park
11:00am – Food Vendors Open
5:00pm – Art & Crafts Vendors Open
5:00pm – Carnival Opens – Arm Band Night
5:30pm – Turtle Races
On the Woody Ford Concert Stage
6:30pm – Trent Fletcher Band
8:00pm – 3rd Place Talent Contest Winners
8:30pm – Ned Ledoux
Friday, June 11
9:00am – Madill Library Book Sale @ William Ray Park
11:00am – Food Vendors Open
5:00pm – Art & Crafts Vendors Open
5:00pm – Carnival Opens – Arm Band Night
5:30pm – Turtle Races
On the Woody Ford Concert Stage
6:30pm – C7 Band
8:00pm – 2nd Place Talent Contest Winners
8:30pm – Triston Marez
Saturday, June 12
6:00am – Car, Truck, Motorcycle Show @ Lillie Blvd
7:30am – 3K & 5K King Sandie Fun Run @ Madill High School
9:00am – Madill Library Book Sale @ William Ray Park
9:00am – Cornhole Tournament @ Courthouse Lawn
9:30am – 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament @ Madill High School Gym
10:00am – Turtle Races
10:00am – Food Vendors Open
10:00am – Art & Crafts Vendors Open
12 noon – Carnival Opens – Arm Band (good all day, slightly higher rate)
On the Woody Ford Concert Stage
6:30pm – Logan Russell and the Young Guns
8:00pm – 1st Place Talent Contest Winners
8:30pm – Neal Mccoy
Terrapin Races at National Sand Bass Festival
