Upcoming Events
“I’d like to be in Texas for the roundup in the spring.” So goes the old cowboy song, reflecting many a Texan’s longing for the most vibrant of seasons. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin celebrates spring with Wildflower Days, including The Spectacular Wow!, an exhibit of Texas Highways’ springtime photos from our annual April wildflower issue. The show runs April 25–May 31 at the center’s McDermott Learning Center. Also on April 25, TH Photo Editor Brandon Jakobeit will host a wildflower-photography portfolio review from 1–4 p.m.
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The Lone Star State’s Czechoslovakian heritage will be on full display as Ennis hosts its 49th annual National Polka Festival, May 22–24. Polka and dancing are the highlights, including 14 bands and nightly performances at three Ennis fraternal halls. Don’t miss Friday night’s King and Queen Dance Contest, featuring dancers in traditional Czech kroj, or folk costumes, and music by the Dujka Brothers. The weekend also includes a parade, arts-and-crafts show, horseshoe tournament, kolache-eating contest, fun run, and polka Mass.
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Started 68 years ago as a tour of historic homes, the Jefferson Pilgrimage has expanded over the years into a weekend of activities harkening to the town’s 19th-Century heyday as a Northeast Texas inland river port. Events taking place April 30–May 3 include five presentations of the Diamond Bessie Murder Trial at the Jefferson Playhouse; tours of four homes built between 1851 and 1893; a parade; reenactments of Civil War land and naval battles—including a locomotive chase and a gunboat on Big Cypress Bayou; living history encampments; twilight garden strolls; and a craft fair and sale.
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Presidio La Bahia played an active role in Texas’ tumultuous early days, both militarily and agriculturally. Established by the Spanish in 1749, the historic limestone presidio, located in present-day Goliad and home to an active Catholic parish, will interpret different historical eras spanning 1749 to 1836 with the inaugural “In the Shadow of the Presidio.” The May 16 event will feature reenactors portraying the Spanish Colonial era, the Texas Filibuster era of the 1810s and ’20s, the subsequent Mexican period, and the Texas Revolutionary period. On May 15, the presidio will rekindle a lost tradition by marking the Feast of San Isidro, named for the patron saint of farmers and a patron saint of the presidio’s Our Lady of Loreto Chapel.
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Glen Rose’s Oakdale Park celebrates its 90th anniversary on May 2 with historical tours of the park, live music from bluegrass to doo-wop, a Model A Ford Club meet, woodcarving demonstrations, and the Art on the Paluxy Show. That same day, Glen Rose marks the induction of its downtown square into the National Register of Historic Places with live music and tours that feature Barnard’s Mill and Art Museum and the old jail house. You can even ride in a vintage fire truck to Oakdale Park and back.
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May 1–July 26, Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs blends art and science with a collection of new artwork that offers a glimpse back in time through the eyes of award-winning paleo-artist Julius Csotonyi. Exhibit includes fossilized skeletons and reconstructed models of the amazing but bizarre creatures that dominated land and sea. Travelling to Midland from Australia, this will be the first time this exhibition has ever been displayed in the United States.
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In 1974, a small group of enthusiastic Pasadena citizens gathered to celebrate San Jacinto Day with their very first Strawberry Festival. Strawberries, famous for their size and sweetness, were Pasadena’s first big business. As many as 28 train carloads of strawberries a day left Pasadena loading sheds going as far north as Chicago and Kansas City. These strawberries not only brought premium prices, but also earned Pasadena the coveted title “Strawberry Capital of the South.” May 15–17, the Pasadena Strawberry Festival continues to celebrate Pasadena’s heritage on the 106-acre Pasadena Convention Center and Municipal Fairgrounds complex and attracts more than 45,000 visitors.
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Photos: (from top) ©Rob Greebon; Michael Amador; Courtesy Diamond Bessie Murder Trial; J. Griffis Smith, Courtesy Oakdale Park, Glen Rose (1925)
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Don't forget...
All of these events and more can be found at the Texas Highways Events page 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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Find Texas Highways at your local newsstand.
This officially licensed Don’t Mess with Texas T-shirt is made and designed by Los Angeles Pop Art. Image is screen printed in white on the front of a tapered shirt. 100% pre-shrunk cotton. Available in adult sizes S-XL; other colors and styles available.
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Concours d’Elegance classic car show
The 4th Annual Concours d’Elegance classic car show comes to Conroe, TX April 24–26 at La Torretta Lake Resort & Spa.
Boerne Events are Blooming
Outdoor markets & movies, art & wine tours, music, car shows. There’s something for everyone here!
Canyon of the Eagles
A nature-based destination resort nestled within a 940-acre nature preserve in the Texas Hill Country’s Upper Highland Lakes Region.
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