06/18/2026
What is the Cannon Caper? Read on....According to our research this event happened on the 3rd. Any historical occurrence involving a community keg party deserves a complete and thorough re-enactment, and we are ready for the task. Join us? Share with your friends because beer spoilage is a tragedy we can (must?) all work to prevent.
Traces of Texas did you know the town of Comfort has been re-enacting this event yearly for the last few years? It's happening this year on JULY 3rd.
The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:
Comfort, Texas (in Kendall County) was the sight of an amusing event in 1856. At that time the town had a cannon that was to be fired only in the event of an emergency, like a fire or an Indian attack. But on at least one occasion it was used for something quite different.
It seems that back in 1856 the little town of Comfort was preparing for its Fourth of July celebration and had ordered a wagon load of beer from the Menger Brewery in San Antonio. The wagon, unfortunately, arrived on July 2, two days early. At that time there was no cold storage in Comfort and the unpasteurized beer was basically a living organism just WAITING to spoil. Well, a wagon full of beer in such danger was judged by at least some of the Germans thereabouts to be a calamity of the first magnitude, so somebody fired the cannon and everybody came running to the cannon, where they learned the true nature of the emergency.
Some of the citizens were miffed because, by strict definition, the firing of the cannon was a false alarm. But those voices were drowned out by (intoxicated?) voices of reason, who decided right there on the spot to celebrate the 4th of July on July 2nd. You've got to love that pragmatic way of thinking!
I was told this story several years ago by a man from Comfort. He was presented to me as somewhat of a local historian and told me this tale at a picnic. He was a tad inebriated, though, and I never knew whether it was true. But I received "A Treasury of Texas Trivia" by Bill Cannon, and this story is included. So apparently it IS true. And, if it isn't, it should be. 😉 The book is pretty good by the way. Lots of interesting tidbits.
Shown here: the corner of 8th and High Streets in downtown Comfort, 1904. These buildings still stand.
