Chairman
Daisy Scheske Freeman

Co-Chairman
Keith Schauer

Secretary
Allison Davis

Treasurer
Naomi Brown

Food & Beverage Chair
Linda Menking

Entertainment Chair
Britney Jones-Caka

Activities Chair
Kasey Condel Rhodes

Finance Chair
Darla Machacek

Marketing Chairman
Jessie Holt Campion

Grounds and Safety
Kenny Hyden
Frank Wallace

Parade Chairman
Renee Rathman

Arts and Crafts
Chamber of Commerce Staff

Vendor Booth Application Form

Submit for a 10 ‘ by 10’ vendor space for the Come and Take It Celebration. Downloadable PDF includes all instructions and a three-page form. Form can be mailed to the Chamber, dropped off, or emailed online. Forms submitted online are not considered submitted until payment is received by the Chamber of Commerce.  Mailing address is  304 Saint Louis St, Gonzales, TX 78629

2024 Come and Take It Parade Form

The “Come & Take It Parade” is held on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m.; with judging beginning promptly at 9:00 a.m.  Please be in place as early as possible. Please read the application carefully, as there are deadlines and signatures required.

2024 Come and Take It Sponsorship Form

The Come and Take It Celebration would not be possible without our sponsors! If you have any questions regarding sponsorship, please contact the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce at admin@gonzalestexas.com or (830) 672-6532.

Sage Capital Bank’s Annual Come and Take It 5k Run/Walk

More information coming soon!

Gonzales Noon Lions Club T-Bone, Chili, & Beans Cook-Off

Join the Gonzales Noon Lions Club T-Bone, Chili, and Beans Cook-Off during Come and Take It weekend. We can’t wait to see you there!

2024 Come and Take It Art Show

Love art? If you said “yes,” then the Come and Take It Art Show is perfect for you! Submit your masterpiece and join the fun.

2024 Come & Take It Golf Tournament

In Memory of our Fallen Heroes in Vietnam: Cpt T. Chenault, CPL L. Schatteet, SP4 D. Tomas, LCPL C. Bolden, CPL J. Tuch, CPL B. Baker, SGT R. Asher. Proceeds go to” The Community Foundation of The Gonzales Area (CFGA)” Providing Gonzales area, and Student and Faculty Educational Scholarship opportunities.

2024 Come and Take It Food Vendor (APPLICATIONS CLOSED)

We look forward to receiving your food vendor application for the 2025 Come and Take It Celebration!

The Come and Take It Celebration commemorates the firing of the first shot of the Texas revolution on Oct. 2, 1835, which took place near Gonzales. Come and help us celebrate history with the firing of the first shot!

The town of Gonzales was established by Empresario Green DeWitt in 1825, two and one-half miles east of the confluence of the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers. It was the westernmost Anglo settlement until the close of the Texas Revolution and was named in honor of Don Rafael Gonzales, provisional governor of Coahuila, Mexico and Texas. The town was laid out in the shape of a cross, with seven squares. During the colonial period of 1825 to 1835, there were many problems with Comanche and Tonkawa Indians, but Gonzales flourished. It was the thriving capital of the DeWitt colony by 1833. In 1831 the Mexican government loaned the citizens of Gonzales a six-pound cannon for protection against the Indians. In September of 1835, as political unrest grew, Mexican officials at San Antonio de Bexar demanded the cannon be returned. A corporal with five soldiers and an oxcart were first sent by Col. Ugartechea, Bexar military commander, to Gonzales. The corporal carried a request that the small reinforced cannon, a bronze six-pounder, be returned to the Mexican Army. Andrew Ponton refused to relinquish it, stalling for time, the little cannon was buried in George W. Davis’ peach orchard, near the Guadalupe River.

Lieutenant Castaneda and 150 mounted soldiers were sent to “take” the cannon. When the soldiers appeared on the west bank of the Guadalupe River, there were only 18 men in Gonzales, but these ‘Old Eighteen’ stood at the river in defiance, denied the Mexicans a crossing by hiding the ferry and sent out a call for volunteers to assist them. As the soldiers scouted the river for a place to cross, they moved upriver a short distance, near the present-day community of Cost and camped for the night. There, in the early-morning hours of Oct. 2, 1835, the colonists crossed the river with their cannon, surprising the troops and waving their hastily fashioned flag, which proclaimed “Come and Take It.” Almost immediately the cannon was fired, killing one of Castenada’s men and scattering the rest, forcing them to retreat to San Antonio de Bexar. Thus was fired the shot that set off the struggle for Texas independence from Mexico. When the smoke cleared, the Mexican troops had taken off. The Texas Revolution had begun. Gonzales became known as “The Lexington of Texas”, where the first shot was fired, and where the first Texas Army of Volunteers gathered. A few months after the first shot, men and boys from the region would gather in Gonzales, sending the only reinforcements ever received at the Alamo. Each October, on the first full weekend of October, the citizens of Gonzales gather to celebrate their Texas heritage in a three-day festival called “Come and Take It.”