For 30 years now, Frio's Dry 50 has been offering visitors to the Concan area in the far west end of the Hill Country everything they could possible want.
Three granddaughters of Tom and Vidal Neal—the legendary couple who began Neal's Lodges and Dining Room back in 1926—decided to start their own place along the Frio and opened the shop in 1985.
"We lived in Uvalde then and spent our weekends and all summer here having a great time, running around shirtless and shoeless. Every summer from junior high on we worked at Neal's," co-owner Gayle Korbell says. "When we grew up, we were just looking for something else to do here."
"Concan is very important to us," says co-owner Jody Farr. "And this is where everyone comes home even when they live elsewhere."
Their hearts and souls will always belong in tiny Concan, and that's also what draws in so many tourists.
"The Frio is a getaway for people from San Antonio and Houston and Dallas, even Beaumont," Gayle points out.
The visitors are happy to be there, she says, and the shop gives them hundreds of options to choose from to remember their visit by.
Today, Frio's Dry Fifty is so filled to overflowing with all sorts of gifts that they had to expand a couple years ago to accommodate all this stuff.
What stuff? Oh, dear. Look around and be dazzled with the vast array of T-shirts and caps and purses and fancy signs and old wood signs and books and plaques.
"We do have something for everybody," Gayle says with pride. She's not kidding. A first-time visitor is struck by how much stuff is for sale. It's on benches, on counters, on shelves, on tables, on racks, and hanging from walls and ceilings. It's everywhere you look. Inside and out. Hundreds and hundreds of things.
Look over there and notice some small antiques and elaborate bird mansions. Look over here and see toys and jewelry. There's a fanciful, full-color sign that proclaims, "Whatever the question is, the answer is always Bacon!" Here's a bunch of straw cowboy hats and a star-spangled pillow and an imposing cut-out of John Wayne.
Smell the fragrant botanical soaps and handcreams. Leaf through the cookbooks. Choose a postcard. Figure out where on your refrigerator this or that decorative magnet will go.
Don't miss the coffee cups, clocks, crystal decorations, sundresses, rustic crosses, painted rocks, shorts, charms, flip-flops, sun visors, jackets, or backpacks. And you know there's probably just the right place at your place for the garden decorations or fountains or Western décor or playfully painted roosters.
"We try to carry items no one else carries," Gayle says. "We wanted the shop to be fun and wanted people to want to come back. We'll do whatever we can to make it an interesting place."
One of the things that makes the shop interesting is its name. Where did Frio's Dry Fifty come from?
"You know how ranchers named their pastures, like the Back Forty? Our grandfather called this pasture the Dry Fifty because it was 50 acres with no water on it," Gayle explains. "When we opened the store and were trying to decide on a name for it, we settled on 'The Dry Fifty' since that is what it had always been called. Then we decided to add the name 'Frio's' to it so that people would know where to find us, thus 'Frio's Dry Fifty'."
Co-owner and sister Janeal Prickett has become the main buyer for the shop because she has an eye for what people want to buy.
The trio of sisters gathered old wood from their father's barn and built the first shop here with a tin roof from material their father had been saving.
"He gave us the material and Jody ramroded the construction and she handpainted the sign that's still here," Gayle says.
Sister Jody is a whirlwind of energy, getting this done, then that, all before you know it.
That original building didn't have air conditioning. "The Blue Bell melted when I served it," Jody says.
They have A/C now. And they opened a Snack Shack adjacent to the shop where visitors can cool off with Hawaiian shaved ice, ice cream, and snacks. It's run by cousin Kim Rock.
Kim's 80-year-old mother Shirley Graves works the jewelry counter in the shop.
Gayle's daughter Danna has nearly as much energy as Jody, is helping out at the shop more and more, and mom credits her with having a great eye for what the younger generation wants. Daughter Brooke Clark will also help out this summer as Emily Korbell Beard has done in the past.
"It's our goal that our kids will take over," Gayle says.
The shop is open only during the summer and that works out just fine for the family.
"It's been a lot of fun," Jody says. "And I like that I can be a mom the rest of the year."
Gayle echos those sentiments adding that she can work here for a few months then enjoy herself the rest of the year.
"It's been a fun 30 years," Gayle beams.
Frio's Dry Fifty is located on Texas Highway 27 in Concan, between US Highway 83 and the Frio River. For more information: 830-232-6300 or friosdryfifty.com
