Come and *Blank* It

This week, we've been discussing the types of silverware that might be useful to load into your cannon if you ever wind up in a war with Mexico.

The "Come and Take It" flag has become a worldwide sensation, and Gonzales embraces its history. The party is this weekend, marking both the 190th anniversary of the battle and bicentennial of Gonzales, Texas itself.

The Texians won that battle (although the director of the Gonzales Memorial Museum explains it was really more of a "skirmish" than a battle), and they also won the war.

So "Come and Take It" has become a source of pride in Gonzales.

The history of Gonzales goes deeper than just that flag, though. The latest entry in the podcast includes the history of the Bowie knife.

Texians were already talking about the Bowie knife, But, as can happen when you do a lot of disembowling, Jim Bowie needed a tool to stab more efficiently. He went to John Sowell, a blacksmith in Gonzales, with a model of what he'd like whittled into some wood.

Sowell returned with the knife a couple months later.

Gonzales brought us the Come and Take It cannon and also the bowie knife. You couldn't be surprised, then, a town this peaceful also hosted Bonnie and Clyde.

They stayed at the Alcalde Hotel until the law caught on to them. A local historian says they picked a room on the second floor strategically located near some banana trees in case they had to make a quick exit out the window.

Now, the people of Gonzales use their history as a point of pride. The museum uses this weekend to raise money for the rest of the year (They have a donate button near the bottom of their website), but they're open year round. They have more than just the cannon; the director has produced videos about the Immortal 32, a company from Gonzales that helped at the Alamo, and the Runaway Scrape, when Texians were trying to evacuate to the United States.

They've also got other historical items from the Republic of Texas and other wars.

At a bar a few blocks away, a flag reading, "Come and drink it" was flying. Like a round of Match Game, you can hear in the last part of the podcast as the group at the museum lists other businesses that have use the name like the laundromat, Come and Wash It, and the breakfast place, "Come and Crepe It."

That slogan was just painted on a wedding dress last-minute, but now it's become such a phenomenon, you can compete in the Come and Steak It cook-off in Erath County then you can Come and Bake It from these recipe books for dessert and, if you need a landscaper, try Come and Rake It.