After seven successful years of organizing the Wimberley GumboFest, the Wimberley Cajun Cultural Alliance will be returning it to My Neighbor’s Keeper to serve as their annual fundraiser.
The popular gathering, first held in 2012, was known as “The Mardi Gras Gumbo Cookoff” and held at 7A Ranch’s Pioneer Town by MyNK’s co-founders, Tom Keyser and Madonna Kimball.
The cookoff was created as a fundraiser for the non-profit whose mission was, and continues to be today, a way to provide immediate assistance to Wimberley area residents affected by fire, flood or other natural disasters. The immediate support allows residents, driven out of their homes, the means to find a safe place to stay, funds for personal items and time to regroup.
During the devastating 2015 flood, MyNK paid $450,000 to the victims impacted by that event. Since then, their support has helped numerous fire victims.
For seven years, MyNK continued to organize the event which grew in popularity, requiring larger and larger venues around town.
In 2019, with the approval and participation of MyNK’s Jamie Clark, Madonna Kimball and Tom Keyser, one of the gumbo cookoff teams organized the Wimberley Cajun Cultural Alliance to enable the Mardi Gras Gumbo Cookoff to continue. The members of the WCCA alliance were Huey and Kristina Sandifer, Joshua and Heather Jones, Travis Martin and Lynnsey Hastie, manager of Cypress Falls properties. Later it grew to include Allison Seideman and Callie Jones. Hastie donated the spacious grounds of Cypress Falls for the cookoff.
The group initially focused on raising funds for any non-profit in the Wimberley area who needed a boost, but after several years of consistently assisting MyNK, and the untimely passing of Tom Keyser, the focus of GumboFest returned as the annual fundraiser for MyNK.
Since 2019, Hastie has continued to provide the Cypress Falls venue as her donation to MyNK. A stage was donated by a returning sponsor, which proved to be a boon, not only to GumboFest performers, but to any band performing at Cypress Falls. The last major community event before the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, was GumboFest. It was also the first community gathering in 2021.
Travis Martin, current WCCA President summed up WCCC’s experience of leading GumboFest for seven years. “GumboFest has no owners; only stewards. When we revived it in 2018, we never imagined how many wonderful people it would bring together. During COVID, it remained one of the few uninterrupted events, offering a platform for healing. We’re deeply grateful for the memories we’ve shared with this community. My Neighbor’s Keeper led it for years before we had the privilege to contribute. I can’t imagine a better organization to carry it forward.”
The 2026 event will not be WCCA’s Eighth GumboFest, but MyNK’s Fourteenth Annual GumboFest Cookoff and Fundraiser. It will be held April 16, returning again to Cypress Falls.
