| Rodeos, Festivals, Music, Cookoffs & Fun Getaways in Texas
Everything you need for a vacation or weekend of Texas style fun.
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January
- Cutting Horse Show, Abilene, Jan 2-12
- Fort Worth
Stock Show Rodeo, Jan 11-Feb 3
- Texas Citrus Fiesta, Jan 3, 25-28
- South Texas BBQ Shootout, San Benito, Jan 20-21 (956-778-8555)
- Southwest Farm & Ranch Classic, Lubbock, Jan 31-Feb 2
- Jefferson Quilt Show, Jefferson, Jan 25-27
- Galveston
Mardi Gras, Jan 25-Feb 5
- Mardi Gras, Port Arthur, Jan 31-Feb3
February
- Carnival Brasiliero,
Austin, Feb 2
- Luckenbach
Valentine Hug-In, Feb 15-16
- Eagle Fest,
Emory, Feb 8-9
- South Texas Championship U.S. Team Roping, Katy, Feb 15-18
- St. Valentine's Day Massacre Rally (motorcyle), Boerne, Feb 15-17
- Galveston
Mardi Gras, Jan 25-Feb 5
- San Angelo
Stock Show & Rodeo, Feb 15-25
- Charro Days,
Brownsville, Feb 18-25
- Buffalo
Soldier Heritage Day, Fort Concho, San Angelo, Feb 26
- Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, Feb 27 - Mar 18 (I grew up going to this every year. The Cutting Horse competition was my favorite event, but the Cutting Horse Association has their own events now. See listings above. And if you're going to the rodeo, for heaven's sake, see a C&W performance, not some "pop" star)
March
- Gen'l Sam Houston's Birthday
& Texas Independence Celebration, Hunstville,
Mar 2
- Houston Livestock
Show & Rodeo, Feb 27- Mar 18
- Texas Independence
Day Parade, Austin, Mar 4
- South by Southwest,
Austin, Mar 9-18
- Rio Grande Valley Livestock
Show, Mercedes, Mar 9-18
- Star of Texas
Fair and Rodeo, Austin, Mar 9-24
- 24th Annual Fords of the 50s Old Car Show, LaPorte, Mar 18
- General Granbury's
Birthday/Brazos River Music Fest, Granbury, Mar 24-25
- Goliad Massacre /Fort Defiance Living History, Goliad, Mar 24-25
- German Heritage Festival, Tomball, Mar 28-30
- Galveston FeatherFest, Mar 29-Apr 1
- Walker County Fair, Huntsville, TX Mar 31-Apr 8
- Hogs Hunt Trail Run, Huntsville State Park, Mar 31
- Salsa Festival, Three Rivers, Mar 31
- Republic of Texas Festival, Richmond, Mar 31-Apr 1
April
- Texas Sand Sculpture Festival, Port Aransas, Mar 31-Apr 1
- Walker County Fair, Huntsville, TX Mar 31-Apr 8
- Galveston FeatherFest, Mar 29-Apr 1
- Billy the Kid Day,
Hico, April 1
- Three
Rivers Salsa Festival, Three Rivers, April 1
- Poteet
Strawberry Festival, Apr 13-15
- Runaway Scrape
Reenactment, Fort Bend, tba
- Stagecoach
Days (Fanthorp Inn SHS), Anderson, Apr 14
- Fiesta San Antonio,
April 20-29
- San Jacinto Day Festival and Battle Re-enactment, LaPorte, Apr 21
- Presa Canyon Hiking Tour, Hueco Tanks State Park, El Paso, , Apr 21
- Annual Nature
Quest, Concan, Apr 25-30
- Denton Arts
& Jazz Festival, Apr 27-29
- Texas State Mariachi Festival, San Marcos, tba
May
- Scarborough
Faire®, the Renaissance Festival, Weekends, Waxahachie
- Airing of the Quilts, Huntsville, TX, May 5
- Viva!
Cinco de Mayo state menudo cookoff, San Marcos, May 4-6
- Blessing of the Fleet, Kemah, May 6
- PRCA Rodeo & Texas State Championship Pitts and Spitts Stampede of Pits BBQ Cook-Off May 8-10 Conroe 281-413-5961
- Ole Time
Music Festival, Pearl, tba
- Maifest, Brenham, May 11-12
- Western
Heritage Classic, Abilene, May 10-12
- Lone Star Irish
Dance Feis, Austin, tba
- Legends
of Texas Music Festival, Austin/Dripping Springs, May 10
- Czech May Fest, La Grange, tba
- Fire
on the Strings Bluegrass Festival, Montgomery, May 17-19
- Texas Natural & Western Swing Festival, San Marcos, May 19
- World
Champion Rocky Mountain Oyster Festival, Throckmorton, tba
- 17 Annual Monumental Bug Bash, San Jacinto BattlegroundPark, May 20
- Cowboy Capital
PRCA Rodeo, Bandera, May 25-27
- Kerrville
Folk Festival, Kerrville, May 24-Jun 10
June
- NCHA
Cutting Horse Series, San Angelo, Jun 1-3
- Tom
Tom Festival, Yoakum, tba
- Kerrville Folk Festival, May 24-Jun 10 (see May listing above)
- Texas
Scottish Festival & Highland Games, Arlington, Jun 1-3
- Heritage
Travel Program, Los Caminos Reales, June 2-8
- Heart
of Texas Thunder Drag Boat Races, Brady, tba
- West
Texas Western Swing Music Festival, Snyder, Jun 5-9
- Texas
Blueberry Festival, Nacogoches, Jun 9
- El
Camino Real Archaeology Tour, Mission Tejas, Jun 10
- Texas Sawmill Festival, New Caney, Jun 13-14
- West Texas Black Gold PBR & Pro Rodeo, Andrews, June 17-21
- Watermelon
Thump, Luling, Jun 21-24
- Texas Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Trail, Cochran County Park, Morton, Jun 22-24
- 124th West of
the Pecos Rodeo, Pecos, tba
- Jim Bowie Days, Bowie, June 24-30
- Western Trade Days, Tioga, June 28
July
- Miss Texas
USA Pageant, Laredo, Jul 1
- U.S.
Team Roping Championships, Alpine, July 3-4
- Great Texas Balloon
Race, Longview, Jul 13-15
- Tour de Paris
Bicycle, Paris, tba
- Great Texas Mosquito Festival, Clute, Jul 26-28
- Texas
Open Hang Gliding Fly In, Leakey, tba
- Rain, rain, rain... more rain... at least where I am.
August
September
- Cal Farley's Boys
Ranch Rodeo, Boys Ranch, Sep 2-3
- Farmersville Chautauqua Art Festival, Farmersville, Sep 6
- "Autumn Splendor" Quilt Show, Pearland, Sep 15-16
- Rally 'Round Greenville!, (cycling)Greenville, Sep 15
- Cowboys of Color Rodeo, Conroe, Sept 16
- 24th Annual Model Train Show, Temple, Sept 16-17
- Houston Gem and Mineral
Society Show, Houston, Sep 22-24
- Renewable Energy
Roundup & Green Living Fair, Fredericksburg,
Sep 22-24
- Annual Cotton Harvest Festival, Moody, Sep 22
- PowWow, Comanche, Sep 23-24
- Oktoberfest,
Fredericksburg, Sep
- State Fair of Texas,
Dallas, Sep
- "Come
and Take It" Days, Gonzales, Sep
- Texas Renaissance Festival (through Nov 19), Plantersville
October
- South
Texas Maize, Hondo -Sept 29 through Nov 25 (LOTS of FUN!)
- Folk Art Fair, Round Top, Oct 5-7
- Texas
Mushroom Festival, Madisonville, Oct
- Yorktown Western Days, Yorktown, Oct 17-19 (Armadillo races and more)
- Sassafras
Festival, San Augustine, Oct 26-27
- Sweet
Potato Festival, Golden, 4th week of Oct (Golden is east of Dallas.)
- Harvest Moon Festival,
Granbury Oct 20-21 (Great crafts and foods here)
- National Championship Barbecue Cook-Off, Nov 26-27,Meridian (about in the middle of Texas)
November
- Texas Renaissance Festival (through Nov 19), See September listing above
- Texas Fishermen's Seafood Festival, Nov 2-3, Palacios (makes me hungry just thinking about this!)
- 17th Annual George West
Storyfest, George West, Nov
- Live
Oaks, Dead Folks, Columbus, Nov
- 39th
Annual Terlingua Chili Cookoff, Rancho CASI De Los Chisos, Nov 3
- Wurstfest,
New Braunfels, Nov 2-11 (beer, beer, sausages, beer, funnel cakes, beer, and music)
- Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival,
Harlingen, Nov 7--11 (field trips and seminars and fun for birders)
- Heritage
Syrup Festival, Henderson, Nov 10 (sort of between Dallas and Shreveport)
- Festival
of Lights, Lake Jackson, Nov
- Poinsettia
Celebration, Brenham, Nov
- Christmas
on the Square, Leakey, Nov
December
- Gruene
Town Lighting, Gruene(New Braunfels), Dec
- Campfire Christmas at George Ranch Historical Park , weekends in December
- Fiesta
de las Luminarias, San Antonio, Dec
- Tomball German Christmas Market, Tomball, Dec 13
- Christmas
at Fort Concho, Fort Concho, Dec
- Dickens
on the Strand, Galveston, Dec
- Trail of Lights , Austin, Dec (Visit this to delight your children and yourself. And don't miss twirling under the Tree of Lights until you get dizzy. It's an Austin tradition)
|
Texas Bed & Breakfasts
= Recommended
Gruene
Apple Bed & Breakfast
(830) 643-1234, Gruene, TX
Gourmet B&B on the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels
List your B&B.
Find a Texas town on Google Map (new window)
Motels:
 Heart
of Texas Motel
High-speed Internet and friendly folks in Southwest Austin
Some favorite THINGS TO DO in Texas:
Drive around the Hill Country.
Seriously. Drive from Fredericksburg to Bandera and take your time. The Medina River with its huge, old cypress trees is just gorgeous. And if you live on the Medina and have no descendants or none that you like, and you want to pass your property on to someone who would truly appreciate it, I'm your person. You can adopt me!
Visit Historic Places:
•The San Jacinto Monument and Battleship Texas are amazing tributes to Texas heroes. And while you're down that way, take the ferry from Galveston to Port Bollivar. Fun, fun, fun!
•The State Capitol, of course.
I have a chunk of the original from the restoration done in 1995. Pretty cool.
•Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg. It's pretty small, but also pretty interesting.
Always a good bet: The Bob Bullock State History Museum. Fabulous exhibits and you must go to the Star of Texas theater for an interactive bit of Texas history that will surprise and delight you.
The Claiborne Kyle Log Cabin is a 4 room "dog trot" cabin that's very much the same as it was in 1850. It's amazingly difficult to find. It's on CR136, better known as Old Stagecoach Road, maybe 3-5 miles from Center Street. It's on the right and watch for an orange street sign marking a gravel road. Note that it's only open the first Saturday April through September. It's a shame more people are helping preserve and appreciate these historic treasures.
Send a gift of Texas
at Basket Concepts
Can you smell the smoke?
Enjoy a firepit from Wilke's Baddass Pits
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Fun
Things to Do in Texas: Rodeos to birding to living history, and great Bed &
Breakfasts to stay in.