Robert Earl Keen’s Fourth on the River

Looking for a quintessentially Texan July 4th celebration? Kerrville offers up a worthy contender with Robert Earl Keen’s Fourth on the River. Held annually at Louise Hays Park on the Guadalupe River, the free event opens at 2 p.m. with the music starting at 4 p.m. Four acts take the stage, including Bruce Robison at 6:30 p.m. and Keen—a Kerrville resident himself—at 8 p.m., followed by a fireworks show at 9:30 p.m. Along with music, the event offers food and drink vendors, as well as children’s attractions like face-painting and bounce houses. And if you get too hot, you can jump in the river.

Eye of the Collector

Many of us tinker with collecting at some point in our lives, whether it’s an obsession with baseball cards, ceramic penguins, or some other personal fascination. In Dallas, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science explores collecting in Eye of the Collector, an exhibition of wildly diverse personal troves—from Dallas Cowboys memorabilia to PEZ dispensers, and vintage bicycles to African American dolls. “It’s important to understand that collections are why museums exist in the first place. We wouldn’t be here without them,” says Colleen Walker, museum CEO. Through September 5.

Taking Flight: The Butterfly Project

The Holocaust Museum Houston memorializes the 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust with Taking Flight: The Butterfly Project, an exhibition of handmade butterflies crafted by children across the globe. Over the past 20 years, the museum has collected butterflies for each child lost, culminating in the exhibition and its diverse selection of creations made from materials like paper, feathers, fabric, metal, concrete, wood, and stained glass. Taking Flight runs through July 31, and the museum will exhibit cases of the butterflies at locations throughout Houston until March 2017.

Gladys Porter Zoo Summer Safari

A treasure in the Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville’s Gladys Porter Zoo is a lush, 31-acre enclave built around a meandering resaca. The zoo, which is known for its success in breeding endangered animals, is home to 377 different species. In the summer, the zoo’s Summer Safari (June 6–August 12) offers classes and camps for children as young as pre-kindergarten with topics such as “Sharks and Rays” and “Junior Zookeepers.” And on Animal Play Day (July 3), zookeepers will engage the animals with entertaining enrichment activities and games, such as giving the sea lions fish encased in blocks of ice.

Photos: (from top) Darren Carroll; Bob Bragalone collection/courtesy Ron St. Angelo; courtesy Holocaust Museum Houston; Will van Overbeek