Day Trips & Beyond: February Events Roundup
Texas travel news and more
By Gerald E. McLeod, 10:00AM, Fri. Feb. 2, 2024
February means Mardi Gras parades, Valentine's getaways, and hints of spring
Head scratcher. Since the late 1990s, three Easter Island Heads have mysteriously watched over the Zac Lentz Parkway (Loop 463) in the northeastern corner of Victoria. It turns out the replicas of the moai, the islanders’ word for the heads, were built and put there by Alvin T. Dincans, a local rancher and plumber who passed away last year at the age of 87. Basically, he did it for the fun of it and to see if he could. He ultimately made 15 of his 7-ton, 13-foot “concreations.” One was donated to Riverside Park in Victoria and placed at the intersection of Memorial Drive and McCright Drive. The other concrete statues are on property he owned in Seadrift and on his ranch outside of Victoria. Alvin did his homework on the Polynesian statues that average twice the size of his statues. He even copied the markings of a ship on their chest from the originals.
These are not Texas’s only Easter Island statues. There are two pseudo moai in Ingram at the Hill Country Arts Foundation. One is wearing a sombrero or maybe it’s a pukao.
Easter Island Heads, Victoria, northbound frontage road of Loop 463, south of Jung Tile & Granite, 5208 NE Zac Lentz Pky., free.
Bon appétit. Congratulations to the 19 Texas restaurants and chefs (plus another 20 in the Best Chef: Texas category) selected as semifinalists in the 2024 James Beard Awards last month. When you consider the hundreds of thousands of restaurants around the country, just being a semifinalist is quite an honor. Among the list of Outstanding Chefs were David Kirkland and Ernest Servantes of Burnt Bean Company of Seguin. It’s always great to see traditional Texas barbecue get the national credit that it so justly deserves.
This is not the first time Kirkland and Servantes have appeared on the James Beard list since opening in 2020 in a store front across the street from the Guadalupe County Courthouse. In 2021 they were proclaimed fourth best barbecue joint in the entire state by Texas Monthly.
Servantes honed his smoked-meat chops on the barbecue cookoff circuit. In the competitive world of Texas barbecue, pitmaster Kelli Nevarez at the award-winning LaVaca BBQ has credited him with being a mentor. The company’s name comes from when a friend, sarcastically joked, “you’re probably going to burn the beans.”
The James Beard Awards have recognized the best in American food culture since 1990. Winners will be announced on June 10 in Chicago. For daytrippers, the list of semifinalists is a culinary road map to places to check out around the state and country.
Burnt Bean Barbecue Co., 108 S. Austin, Seguin, Thur.-Sat. 11am-3pm, Sun. 8am-2pm, www.burntbeanco.com.
Travel Notes:
From Valentine, TX, with love. Each Valentine’s Day the postmaster receives hundreds of requests to have their valentine postmarked from Valentine, Texas. To have your valentine sent from Valentine, place your card in an envelope pre-stamped and addressed to your special someone. Place this in another envelope and mail it to: Valentine’s Day Postmark, Postmaster, 311 W California Ave, Valentine, TX 79854-9998. The postmaster will mark your envelope with a special postmark from Valentine, TX. In order to make sure greeting cards receive the special postmark and are delivered in time for Valentine’s Day, requests should be sent to the address above by Feb. 5. There is no added charge for requesting up to 50 Valentine, TX, pictorial postmark cancellations.
Underground art. A new site-specific media and sound installation by artist Rachel Rossin comes to the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern on Feb. 2 and stays until Nov. 2. In a journey around the Cistern, characters, and symbols will appear on LED hologram screens, while kinetic features and lighting augment the architecture of the space and play upon the water’s reflective surface. Taking key inspiration from sources including the classic children’s story, The Velveteen Rabbit, the work will take viewers on a journey that questions both the real and the imagined.
No show. The University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) has discontinued public tours at the Amos Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) in Port Aransas. The abrupt halt to the tours was due to a change in permit policies implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for captive species enclosures for birds. The ARK facilities have rehabilitated sick and injured birds and sea turtles since 1999. Tours of the facility, which began in 2021, gave the public a behind-the-scenes look at the animal rescues that often began with notification from beachgoers. The ARK will continue its crucial mission of rescuing and rehabilitating birds, sea turtles, terrestrial turtles, and tortoises from Mustang and San Jose islands, according to a press release. At least 270 cold-stunned sea turtles were brought to the ARK during the January cold snap. The turtles were released as they recuperated and the water temperature rose above 50 degrees. UTMSI offers other public education programs at the Patton Center for Marine Science Education and Wetland Education Center in Port Aransas and the Bay Education Center in Rockport.
On the move. Several studies have shown that African Americans make up a small percentage of visitors to national and state parks. That’s why it was news in 2021, when Outbound Collective, an outdoors group, claimed that Slim Pickens Outfitters in Stephenville was the only Black-owned outdoor recreation retailer in the country. Jahmicah and Heather Dawes opened the shop in a former Rexall Drug Store on the town square in 2017. Last month they announced they are moving the operation to Mingus in mid-February. The new shop will be next to the historic Smokestack Restaurant on I-20. It will also be just up the road from the new Palo Pinto Mountains State Park outside of Strawn which is scheduled to open later this year. Mingus is across the highway from the ghost town of Thurber, the site of the W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas. Until 1931, Thurber was famous for making bricks that were used around the state, including paving Congress Avenue in Austin.
Eat More BBQ in 2024. Discount tickets are on sale for 11th Annual Houston Barbecue Festival on April 14 in the Humble Civic Center Arena. I mention this three months in advance of the event because, if I wait until April, the tickets may be sold out. With more than 30 pitmasters in attendance, this festival outgrew the beer hall at Saint Arnold Brewery. The cooks will be handing out a mixture of tried-and-true smoked meats and experimental recipes.
Other February Events:
Jump to a region: Big Bend | Gulf Coast | Hill Country | Panhandle | Piney Woods | Prairies & Lakes | South Texas | Out of StateBIG BEND
Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering Feb. 15, Alpine, www.lonestarcowboypoetry.com
Hueco Rock Rodeo Feb. 16-18, El Paso, americanalpineclub.org/huecorockrodeo
Valentine’s in Valentine Feb. 17, Valentine, www.valentineinvalentinetx.com
GULF COAST
Radiant Nature: See the Garden Glow Through Feb. 25, Houston, www.hbg.org
Mardi Gras! Galveston Feb. 2-13, Galveston, www.mardigrasgalveston.com
Mardi Gras SETX Feb. 8-11, Beaumont, www.mardigrastx.com
Pardi Gras Feb. 10, Aransas Pass, www.aransaspass.org
Barefoot Mardi Gras Feb. 10, Corpus Christi, www.barefootmardigras.com
Rice University Walking Tour Feb. 10, Houston, aiahouston.org/v/event-detail/Rice-University-Walking-Tour/29q
Clay Expo and Bountiful Bowl Feb. 10-11, Rockport, www.rockportartcenter.com
Crowning the North: Silver Treasures from Bergen, Norway Feb. 11-May 5, Houston, www.mfah.org
Bird Banding Feb. 17, Lake Jackson, www.gcbo.org
Whooping Crane Festival Feb. 22-25, Port Aransas, www.portaransas.org/whooping-crane-festival
Dive Into the Gulf Exposition Feb. 23-25, Galveston, www.moodygardens.com/dive-expo
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Feb. 27–March 17, Houston, www.rodeohouston.com
Charro Days Feb. 29-March 2, Brownsville, www.charrodaysfiesta.com
HILL COUNTRY
Carnaval Brasileiro Feb. 3, Austin, www.sambaparty.com
Old Gillespie Jail Tour Feb. 3, Fredericksburg, www.pioneermuseum.org
Kerrville Renaissance Festival Feb. 3-4, Kerrville, www.kerrvillerenfest.com
Hill Country Wine Symposium Feb. 5-7, Horseshoe Bay, texashillcountrywineries.org
Living History Feb. 10, New Braunfels, texashandmadefurniture.com/livinghistory
Valentine’s Farm to Table Balloon Experience Feb. 10, Fredericksburg, thebestoftexas.org
Come and Taste It Feb. 15, Gruene, www.grapevineingruene.com
Suzanna’s Kitchen Coffeehouse Concerts Feb. 15, Wimberley, www.wimberleyumc.com
Castell Store Chili Cook-off Feb. 17, Castell, www.facebook.com/groups/142869584063
U.T. Trombone Choir in Concert Feb. 18, Fredericksburg, www.fredericksburgmusicclub.com
Texas Testicle Festival Feb. 24, Fredericksburg, thebestoftexas.org
PYO Tulips Late Feb. (depending on weather), Marble Falls, sweetberryfarm.com/index.html
PANHANDLE
N.C. Wyeth and the Golden Age of American Illustration Through March 31, San Angelo, www.samfa.org
The Day the Music Died Feb. 3, Lubbock, ci.lubbock.tx.us/departments/buddy-holly-center/events
Buffalo Soldier Heritage Day Feb. 25, San Angelo, www.fortconcho.com
PINEY WOODS
Winter Fantasy Faire at Faire of Champions Through Feb.11, Palestine, www.faireofchampions.com
Helen Lee's Daffodil Garden Mid-Feb.-March, Tyler, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083016203161
Prison City Film Festival Feb. 23-March 2, Huntsville, www.prisoncityfilmfestival.com
PRAIRIES & LAKES
Dinosaurs Live!
Through Feb. 19, McKinney, www.heardmuseum.org
Central Track: Crossroads of Deep Ellum Through May 31, Dallas, aamdallas.org
Lunar New Year Feb. 2-4, 10-11, Grand Prairie, www.asiatimessquare.com
Pearl Texas Bluegrass Jam Feb. 3, Gatesville, www.pearlbluegrassjam.org
First Saturday Service Day Feb. 4, Bastrop, pplt.org/events
Black History Month Special Events Feb. 4-23, Dallas, www.aamdallas.org
Czech Festival Feb. 17, Ennis, www.ennisczechmusicfestival.com
Gemboree Feb. 17-18, Georgetown, www.wcgms.org/gemboree.html
National Margarita Day Feb. 22, Dallas, www.visitdallas.com/food-drink/margarita-mile
Texas Fly Fishing and Brew Festival Feb. 24-25, Mesquite, www.txflyfishingfestival.org
Dallas Blooms Feb. 24-April 8, Dallas, www.dallasarboretum.org/events-activities/dallas-blooms
SOUTH TEXAS
Washington’s Birthday Celebration
Through March 2, Laredo, www.wbcalaredo.org
Birding Festival Feb. 7-10, Laredo, www.laredobirdingfestival.org
San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Feb. 8-25, San Antonio, www.sarodeo.com
Mardi Gras Celebration and River Parades Feb. 10, San Antonio, www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com
Jalapeno Festival Feb. 17, Laredo, www.jalapenofestival.org
OUT OF STATE
Chocolate Fantasia, XOCLATL: Mayan Chocolate Feb. 10, Silver City, NM, www.chocolatefantasia.org
2024 Kentucky Bourbon Classic Feb. 21-24, Louisville, www.bourbonclassic.com
Gerald McLeod has been traveling around Texas and beyond for his "Day Trips" column for more than 25 years. Keep up to date with his journeys on his archive page and follow him on Facebook.
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Gerald E. McLeod, July 3, 2024
Gerald E. McLeod, May 31, 2024
July 12, 2024
July 5, 2024
Day Trips, Easter Island Heads, Victoria, Burnt Bean, James Beard Awards, LaVaca BBQ, Valentine, Valentine's Day, Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, UT Marine Science Institute, Outbound Collective, Houston Barbecue Festival
