NPR

Rattlesnake Roundup: A Texas Community Tradition

Photographer Lizzie Chen traveled to Sweetwater, Texas, for the annual rattlesnake festival. Families have been participating in the community event for generations.
Travis Gardner moves snakes around inside a pit as he talks to the crowds at the Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas. Families have been participating in the community event for generations.

Before the coronavirus, there were certain questions local government officials never imagined having to answer. Order every restaurant in town closed? Call off the school year? And in Sweetwater, Texas: cancel the rattlesnake festival?

Every March, what's billed as the World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup brings an estimated 25,000 visitors to

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