Lampasas Spring Ho Festival

History:
How Spring Ho Came to Be

In 1972 two Lampasas businessmen, Milton Boone and Gary Martin, developed the plan for a town festival. A local contest was held to submit ideas for the name of the festival with a $25 prize for the person who suggested the winning name. No one knows for sure who submitted the winning title, “Spring Ho,” as the person requested to remain anonymous and donated the $25 back to the new festival. With $25 in the bank, the first Spring Ho Festival began with something for everyone. Originally, Spring Ho was held the second full weekend in July, but through the years has grown into a week long event.

Where did Spring Ho come from? It is definitely not Spring the second week in July, but Lampasas’ history revolves around our healing sulphur springs. The first settlers to this area came here because of the springs as they had heard of the healing waters from the Native Americans. And Ho? The word “ho” is actually an interjection and is used as a call to attract attention to something usually a destination…such as, “Land ho!” or “Westward ho!”

So knowing the significance of the springs in Lampasas and the meaning and usage of the word “ho”, one can envision that when the settlers arrived to the area, the first person who found the springs could have ran back to the group of settlers, wagons and horsemen and in the excitement of finding unlimited spring water, very likely shouted over and over, “Spring Ho! Spring Ho!”