In the Texas cattle epic Lonesome Dove, which celebrates its 40th birthday this year, Captain Augustus McCrae always cooks the first meal of the day for the cowboys at Hat Creek Cattle Company. He rises every morning at 4 a.m. “to see to the breakfast,” Larry McMurtry wrote in his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel.
On Nov. 21, during Kingsville’s annual Ranch Hand Weekend, visitors to King Ranch have a chance to eat like the Hat Creek Outfit. The National Historic Landmark property opens its gates to the public for the Ranch Hand Breakfast, a Saturday morning tradition since 1990.
The Ranch Hand festival, always held the weekend before Thanksgiving, begins with a community tree lighting downtown on Friday night. “This event is the perfect way to bring families together to celebrate the holidays,” said Connie Womack, City of Kingsville tourism director. “The Christmas Tree Lighting not only marks the start of Ranch Hand Weekend, but also ushers in a season of joy, tradition and togetherness in Kingsville.”
The next morning, the Ranch Hand Breakfast kicks off a Saturday full of festivities. King Ranch employees rise before dawn to cook for the weekend ranch hands, with culinary techniques true to Kingsville history. “The biscuits are cooked over a parilla, which is an iron grill that cooks with an open flame,” said Lorette Williams, director of hospitality and community services at King Ranch. “Coffee is brewed over a campfire.”
By 7 a.m., local volunteers start serving eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, tortillas and refried beans. A menu that once fueled a full day of ranching work, the 2025 Ranch Hand Breakfast now provides sustenance for spectators of team roping exhibitions, cooking demonstrations and storytelling in the tradition of McMurtry. “Profits raised from the Ranch Hand Breakfast go directly to the non-profit La Posada de Kingsville, which supports the annual December Parade of Lights,” Williams said.
Back in town, the festival culminates with a concert from William Clark Green and Cameron Sacky Band at JK Northway Coliseum Saturday night.
The Ranch Hand Breakfast is served 7-11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, at the King Ranch on Highway 141. Tickets for breakfast are available online or on-site at ten bucks a head, except for buckaroos age 3 and under, who eat for free.
In Lonesome Dove, Gus cooks outdoors for three reasons: the heat, the taste and the sunrise over the chaparral. The sunrise breakfast, whether on the trail or back at the ranch, serves up a Texas tradition from the founding of King Ranch and the Chisholm Trail in the mid-19th century through today’s popular culture. During Ranch Hand Weekend, everyone can have a taste of that Texas history.
