Home of Herefords to be celebrated Feb. 27

By Sandy Morris

After months of planning, the Albany Chamber will host the Hereford Ball celebration on Saturday, Feb. 27 at the Whitney Theater, 100 years after the original ball in 1921.

Albany Chamber of Commerce director Mary Beth Jones said the dress-up ball is a celebration of Shackelford County’s ranches and history and that tickets were quickly purchased, making this a sold-out event. 

“We had to work around COVID and keeping attendees socially distanced,” said Jones. “Ideally, we would like to be able to host more guests.”

Jones said this is a busy week preparing for Saturday’s event.

“We have RSVP food choice cards to get submitted,” Jones said. “And of course, we are working on decorations.”

Jones had requested pictures or memorabilia from the public that dealt with Herefords or the Hereford Ball to be used in decorating for the celebration. 

Jones is looking forward to Saturday night and hopes to make this a larger biennial event.

“Right now, we are looking at hosting this ball every other year on odd years,” said Jones. “Hopefully, we will be able to expand the size of the next ball with no COVID issues in the future.”