The Hill Country Venture Fest announced that its October 1, 2026 student pitch night will take place at the historic Odeon Theater in Mason, Texas. The festival, named the 2025 Texas Venture Fest of the Year by the Texas Venture Alliance, invites rural Hill Country students to pitch their ideas to judges and the community. The choice of venue underscores the festival's commitment to keeping the event local, as the Odeon has been a cultural landmark since 1928.
Located on Mason's courthouse square, the Odeon bills itself as the longest continually operating theater in west Texas. It sits within a National Historic Register district and has hosted premieres of films like Old Yeller and Savage Sam, both adapted from books by Mason native Fred Gipson. 'A local kid's story once went out to the whole world from that stage,' said Milton Jordan, organizer of the festival. 'On October 1, our students step onto the same boards and pitch what they want to build. That's not a metaphor we invented – it's the history of the room.'
The Odeon remains a working theater, showing first-run films four nights a week and undergoing a 2019 restoration that added modern seating and sound. Its intimate size is intentional for the pitch night, allowing students to present to a full, close room where every seat feels like the front row. The Hill Country Venture Fest is free to attend and enter, co-hosted by townie.ai and SimpleEDO.ai. Reservations open at hillcountryventurefest.com and close August 28; due to limited seating, early registration is encouraged.
