Homecoming week to end with sesquicentennial celebration

Take a trip through time as Jacksboro enters into homecoming week, starting Monday, Sept. 22 with a bonfire at the lake and ending with the 150th anniversary celebration of the founding of the city Friday night through Saturday, Sept. 26-27.

The celebration begins with the annual Jacksboro ISD bonfire, lighting up the night starting at 7:30 p.m. at Jacksboro Lake. Through the week the school will have themed dress up days to get school spirit going, with pajama day Monday, hat day Tuesday, twin day Wednesday and class color war Thursday. Students do not have school Friday.

The homecoming parade gets underway Friday, Sept. 26 with lineup starting at 11 a.m. near the First United Methodist Church. The parade takes off at 12:30 p.m., taking its usual route around the square downtown and ending at Jacksboro High School, where the homecoming court coronation ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the high school gym. The homecoming pep rally starts immediately following the coronation ceremony.

Contact Randi Fry at fryrr@jacksboroisd.net or 940-567-7204 ext. 336 for more information or to enter the homecoming parade. Leave a message and your call will be returned.

The JHS junior class Homecoming Dinner fundraiser starts serving in the high school cafeteria at 4:30 p.m. through 6 p.m Friday. This year’s meal is catered by Trevino’s Craft Smokehouse with a menu of smoked fajita turkey, chopped barbecue, Tex-Mex creamed corn, coleslaw and cherry cheesecake. A silent auction will also be held during the dinner.

Email Bailey Clack at clackbd@jacksboroisd.net or leave a message at 940-567-7204 ext. 337 for more information or to purchase tickets. 

The homecoming pregame ceremony starts at 6:30 p.m. and the Tigers kick off against the Burkburnett Bulldogs at 7 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.

But the night’s not over after the big game as the Jacksboro 150th Celebration kicks off downtown with Justin Myers Band taking the stage on the courthouse square from 7-9:30 p.m., followed by Summer Dean at 10 p.m.

No stranger to Jacksboro as a JHS Class of 1998 graduate, Dean returns to her old stomping grounds armed with a set of country tunes to carry the crowd to midnight. Dean was recently named Texas Country Music Awards Female Artist of the Year and is a 2025 JHS Hall of Fame inductee.

Picking things up at 9 a.m. Saturday is the Sesqui-Stride— a mile and a half long fun run through downtown Jacksboro. Sponsored by Faith Community Hospital, the free, family-friendly fun run starts on the corner of Belknap and Church Streets and heads east down Belknap Street towards the Fort Richardson State Park Trail. 

An optional loop goes across the spillway with views of Lake Jacksboro before reconnecting to the trail entrance. Runners will exit the park into the Concerned Citizens’ parking lot to head down east Pine Street towards Church Street and the finish line. Runners should be aware the course includes a combination of pavement and trail surfaces.

JHS Class of 1976 graduate Dave Cowley brings Weatherford College’s radio station The Coyote to the Jacksboro from noon until 2 p.m. as vendors and food trucks open up along the square downtown, then the Jacksboro centennial time capsule will be revealed on the stage at 2 p.m. 

Many residents remembered when the time capsule was buried in 1975, and Polaroid photos found stashed in the Jack County Courthouse revealed its location at the base of the bell tower on the lawn. The time capsule was dug up Tuesday, Sept. 16 so sesquicentennial volunteers could prepare the contents for the reveal. A list of contents with names of contributors was also found in the courthouse, and sesquicentennial time capsule volunteers began contacting those families listed from 1975.

A new time capsule will be prepared, giving everyone a chance to leave a little piece of history for the next 50 years. Use the link at form.jotform.com/252154396177059 to leave a letter, tell a story or just talk about what life is like in Jacksboro. Submissions will be collected until Saturday, Nov. 1, and the new time capsule will be buried following the Christmas parade Thursday, Dec. 4.

Starting at 4 p.m., Voices of Jacksboro brings history to life at the First Baptist Church. A combination of prerecorded sequences and live performances from community volunteers, the audience will take a walk through Jacksboro’s history and some of its favorite ancestors.

Shellie Thompson will perform the national anthem at 6 p.m. followed by the announcement for winners in the Jacksboro Lions Club gun raffle, Chamber of Commerce Shop Local drawing and Friends of the Jacksboro Animal Shelter pet photo contest.

Boro Athletics Tumbling and Cheer performs at 6:30 and Manhattan Live Band closes out the evening entertainment, taking requests and playing all the favorites from 7-10 p.m.

Other entertainment throughout the day on the square includes vendor shopping and info booths, free carnival rides, laser tag and gellybelly shooting, as well as a kiddie barrel train, cornhole and more. The Jack County Museum will also be open for visitors and tours.

The day rounds out with a fireworks display at 10:15 p.m., so bring a lawn chair and help celebrate Jacksboro’s 150th anniversary.