Slither on into Apache for the annual snake fest

APACHE — It’s not everyday someone walks into a snake pit and lives to tell the tale.

At the Apache Rattlesnake Festival, that’s not the only scary, yet exciting, thing to happen.

Kevin McCray, one of the board members of the Apache Rattlesnake Association, said the festival is a nonprofit organization that was started 40 years ago.

“The main purpose of it was to … give the money back to the town of Apache,” McCray said. “Just to try to help people within a community and give them something that everybody needs once in a while.”

McCray said the money raised will go to organizations such as the Fire Department, Nutrition Center, fire victims, and the school’s cheerleaders and football players.

“It’s all about putting back into the community,” McCray said. “We’re strictly a nonprofit, so everything we make, we try to put it back into the community.”

McCray said they chose the rattlesnake theme because they’re “plentiful in the Slick Hills outside of town.”

“It was just kind of unique at the time because you wouldn’t think of that being an attraction for people,” McCray said. “It’s ended up being a good attraction for people coming from all over the country. We have people from every state in the U.S. that make it one time or another.”

According to TravelOk’s website, the festival allows participants to have a hands-on approach to the slithery danger noodles or look at them safely through glass.

The website said competitors can weigh their snakes and win prizes, but McCray said otherwise.

“We used to have a longest snake and a most pounds, but it got pretty dangerous when you’re trying to stretch a snake out from it,” McCray said. “We’ve had people get hit before and we just didn’t want to have any problems.”

According to the Slick Hills Foundation website, one of the cool activities being held is a Snake Pit. People who are wary of snakes may worry about running into one, but McCray said attendees have to pay to see a snake.

“That’s one part where we generate money,” McCray said. “We give the educational talks to them (at the Snake Pit), showing the different species, how to identify poisonous versus non poisonous species.”

McCray said they have two scheduled snake hunts throughout the day.

“We have professional snake hunters,” McCray said. “Individuals can sign up for it. If they have the right license and their permit, we will take them out to areas where normally our snakes are at and give them an opportunity to hunt and possibly catch a snake.”

McCray said they try to have at least 500-600 pounds of snakes, but they’ve had upwards to 1,500-2,000 pounds in the past.

McCray said some places they hunt for snakes are in Slick Hills, areas West of Apache, the Snyder Mountain Park area and in Randlett along the Red River.

“The local people that live here in the land, a lot of them will get in contact with us and let us know they’ve got snakes,” McCray said. “All of them are eager for us to come and get them all.”

McCray said people are afraid of snakes, but they have to be more acknowledgeable toward them.

“You gotta respect them, you gotta appreciate them,” McCray said. “The educational part of it is a big deal. It’s just helped for us in this area to be able to do that.”