The Barbecue Is Back: “Back to the Ranch” Revives LBJ’s Legendary Ranch Cookouts This September
- Bevvy Group
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Only 400 tickets available for the September 26 fundraiser at the LBJ Ranch, featuring music by Two Tons of Steel, barbecue by KG BBQ, Texas Wine Trail tastings and a silent auction benefiting the Friends of the LBJ National Historical Park
STONEWALL, Texas — Aug. 19, 2026 — For the first time in years, the gates of the LBJ Ranch will swing open for an evening in the tradition of the barbecues that made this Texas Hill Country ranch famous all over the world. On Saturday, September 26, from 6 to 10 p.m., Back to the Ranch returns to the Showbarn at the LBJ National Historical Park in Stonewall, reviving the spirit of the legendary cookouts President Lyndon B. Johnson once hosted for kings, senators, and heads of state, right here on his own back forty.
It’s a homecoming six decades in the making. During his presidency, LBJ spent roughly a quarter of his time at this ranch, so often summoning dignitaries here that an invitation to “come to the White House” sometimes meant flying to Texas instead of Washington. He called on pitmaster Walter Jetton, known nationwide as “the Barbecue King,” to feed heads of state under the same live oaks where guests will gather this fall, while First Lady Lady Bird Johnson turned Hill Country hospitality into a signature of the presidency itself.
Now the Friends of the LBJ National Historical Park is bringing that tradition back to life — and every ticket sold helps preserve the very place where it happened.
"I live in Dallas, but the LBJ Ranch will always be home to me. My family has lived on the Ranch since 1960 — my late father served as the longtime Ranch Foreman, and my mother was secretary to the President in his post-Washington years. She still lives there today, the only person who calls the Ranch home now. The Johnsons have always felt like family: Luci taught me my manners when I was six. Mrs. Johnson hosted a 'Welcome to the University of Texas' lunch for me and ten of my new college friends at the LBJ Library when I arrived at UT — she even invited her own roommate from her UT days to join us. She was there for my graduate school graduation from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and she sat with my family at my wedding. This event is personal to me," Alisa Malechek Sell, Board Chair
A Ranch With a Story Worth Celebrating
The LBJ Ranch remains a working Hereford cattle ranch to this day, one of only two working ranches left in the entire National Park System. Visitors can still watch registered cattle graze the same pastures the Johnson and Bunton families worked when they arrived in the Hill Country in the 1880s, first as farmers and ranchers, later as cattle brokers driving herds north to the rail yards of Kansas. That family story —the Johnsons, the Buntons, and the Baineses — runs more than a century deep, from a marriage license still on file at the Fredericksburg courthouse to a young congressman named Lyndon who bought this ranch with Lady Bird in 1951 and never really left it.
The timing of this year's return is no coincidence. The park's iconic Texas White House, closed since 2018 after structural damage from decades of foot traffic, is nearing the end of a multi-year restoration funded in part by the Great American Outdoors Act, with a public reopening targeted for summer 2027. A newly reimagined Visitor Center, complete with immersive technology that will recreate the sights and sounds of the Johnson era, is part of the same $1.8 million campaign the Friends of the LBJ National Historical Park is racing to complete. Back to the Ranch is one of the most direct ways the community can help close that gap.
An Evening to Remember — and a Cap of Just 400
Tickets to Back to the Ranch are limited to 400 seats. General Admission is $200 per person, with a Lady Bird Contributor ticket available for $600. Guests looking to gather friends, family, or colleagues can reserve a full table of eight through the Ranch Table ($1,600), Pedernales Sponsor ($2,500), BBQ King Sponsor ($5,000), or Texas White House Sponsor ($10,000) tiers — each one named for a piece of the Johnson family story. A dedicated winery participation program invites Hill Country wineries to pour and be recognized alongside the evening's other partners.
Guests will dine on barbecue from KG BBQ, dance to live music from Hill Country favorites Two Tons of Steel, and bid on a silent auction of Hill Country experiences and goods, with proceeds going directly to the Friends of the LBJ National Historical Park. Because several tiers sell as tables of eight, organizers expect the event to sell out well ahead of September 26 — getting your table early is strongly encouraged.
Sponsors and Partners Welcome
Back to the Ranch is also introducing a distinction unique to this relaunch year: every business, winery, and individual who signs on as a sponsor or auction donor for 2026 will be recognized as a Founding Sponsor of Back to the Ranch — a distinction that only grows in meaning as the event returns year after year. Full sponsorship and winery participation details are available at friendsoflbjnationalpark.org/backtotheranch.
How to Get Your Table or Ticket
Tickets, tables, and sponsorships for Back to the Ranch are available now at friendsoflbjnationalpark.org/backtotheranch. Businesses and individuals interested in donating a silent auction item may contact Jess Gillespie at opsdirector@friendsoflbjnationalpark.org.
Follow the countdown to September 26 on Facebook and Instagram (@friends_of_lbj) and join the conversation with #BackToTheRanchBBQ.
Media Contact:
Jess Gillespie, Operations Director
Friends of the LBJ National Historical Park
512-644-2624 | opsdirector@friendsoflbjnationalpark.org
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About the Friends of the LBJ National Historical Park
The Friends of the LBJ National Historical Park is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to support the education, restoration, and preservation work of the LBJ National Historical Park in Stonewall and Johnson City, Texas — home to more than a century of Johnson, Bunton, and Baines family history and the working ranch where President Lyndon B. Johnson lived, governed, and hosted the world. The Friends organization enhances the park experience for students, tourists, and visitors beyond what park budgets alone can provide, and is currently leading a $1.8 million campaign to help complete restoration of the Texas White House and Visitor Center. Learn more at friendsoflbjnationalpark.org.
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