Around two and a half tons of western diamondback rattlesnakes are rounded up each year for the festival, which was founded in 1958 as a way to control the population.
Thousands of people, including families with young kids, flocked to take part in festivities this weekend at the Nolan County Coliseum in Sweetwater, Texas.
Children watched in awe as handlers tipped buckets of venomous snakes into a writhing pit.
Handlers grabbed them safely behind the jaws so children could stroke them up close.
And it took four men to hold the largest wriggling reptiles down on a table so they could be measured for the biggest snake contest.
The bloodiest part is the skinning pit, where people can try their hand at pulling off the pelts - which are preserved and used as leather.
Heads are pickled in jars complete with exposed fangs, while the flesh is chopped into nuggets and deep fried.
The hungriest competitors went head to head in the eating contest.
And teenage girls vied to be crowned Miss Snake Charmer.
This year's winner, Avery Schiffner, 16, greeted festival-goers with a live snake coiled round her neck.
There was also a guided hunt on the outskirts of town, a carnival parade and a gun show.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifted a mandate requiring face masks and limits on bars and restaurants from March 10, just in time for the 2021 roundup.
The festival has been criticized by animal rights and environmental groups for the way the snakes are rounded up using gasoline fumes to drive them from their dens.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has expressed concerns about how it could impact other species that share their habitat.
McCann said: "If someone could come up with a better way of killing rattlesnakes so we can keep doing our event, then please come teach me. I'd love to have that discussion.
