Day Trips & Beyond: June Events Roundup

Don’t be blue! Texas blueberry season is finally here, along with other fun things to do in June.

The West Texas sun sets behind the mountains near Balmorhea State Park. The park’s renovated campgrounds have reopened to RV and tent campers coming to enjoy the chilly waters of the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

Desert swimming. After years of waiting, the campground at Balmorhea State Park is finally open again. Texas Parks & Wildlife Department announced on May 1 that the tent and RV campsites are once again open to the public after infrastructure upgrades to the water lines, electrical system, paved areas, and restrooms. Each of the 33 sites has a covered picnic table with water and electrical hookups, and a dump station is in the park. The sites include three new ADA-accessible RV spots. Within the campground is a very cool underwater viewing area of the desert wetlands. San Solomon Spring Courts, the motel-style lodgings in the park, remain closed for restorations.

The Far West Texas park has seen more than its share of troubles the last few years. The spring-fed Civilian Conservation Corps-built pool closed in 2018 because of structural issues, reopened briefly, and then closed again in 2019 for more repairs before reopening in June 2021. The 1.3-acre pool opened in 1936 as the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool. More than 15 million gallons of water flow through the pool each day at a constant temperature of 72 to 76 degrees. Reservations to the pool or the campgrounds are highly recommended, especially during the summer months.
Balmorhea State Park, Toyahvale, 432/375-2370, tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/balmorhea

Start your visit to Boquillas, Mexico, with a ride on the river taxi, and then hop on a pony for a ride to Falcon’s Restaurant for a plate of tacos and cold beer. The port of entry is open Friday through Monday during the summer heat in Big Bend. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

More West Texas news. The hours of the Boquillas Port of Entry in the Big Bend National Park have adjusted to its summer schedule. Temperatures average well over 100 degrees in Rio Grande Village from May through August. During the summer heat the port of entry limits access to Boquillas, Coahuila, Mexico, to Fridays through Monday. In the winter months (November through April) the entry point is open Wednesday through Sunday. The summers in Big Bend National Park can be brutal. Plan for an afternoon siesta in the shade.

Visiting Boquillas is an experience. After showing your passport at the port of entry you take a rowboat taxi across the Rio Grande, and then you can ride a horse or donkey to the Mexican village overlooking the crossing. Don’t expect too much when you get to the dusty little town. There are a few curio vendors, a small cafe with a great view of the river, cold cerveza, and a pool hall. U.S. money is accepted, but bring small bills. Just remember you’re a guest who has stepped back in time.
Boquillas Port of Entry, Big Bend National Park, www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/visiting-boquillas.htm

Travel Notes:

Free fishing. On the first Saturday of June each year, Texas Free Fishing Day allows everyone to drown a worm without a license or endorsements in any public body of water in the state. The license-free day is held so that more people can try fishing for the first time. Ordinarily fishing licenses are required for most people 17 years and older. Anglers can enjoy free fishing all year at more than 70 state parks (park entry fees still apply).

Harriet Tubman: The Journey to Freedom comes to Bastrop. (Photo courtesy Wofford Sculpture Studio)

An American hero. This summer, Bastrop will bring the Harriet Tubman: The Journey to Freedom sculpture by Wofford Sculpture Studio of North Carolina to the Kerr Community Center. The powerful traveling 9-foot monument celebrates Tubman’s heroic journey to rescue enslaved people in the 1800s. The art has traveled the country since 2020 and has been exhibited in many prominent locations, but it has never traveled to Texas before. The sculpture will be on view at 1308 Walnut St. from June 15-Aug. 31.

New waters. Texas’ first major reservoir in more than 30 years opened northeast of Dallas in Fannin County. The 16,641-acre Bois d’Arc Lake officially opened in April. The reservoir was built by the North Texas Municipal Water District to supply 82 million gallons of water per day to Dallas and surrounding areas. Currently there are no public campgrounds on the lake, but access is allowed at three boat ramps with day-use picnic areas and restrooms. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began stocking the lake with fish in 2018 during construction and are calling the reservoir “a budding new fishing haven.”

Other June Events:

BIG BEND

Agave Festival
Celebrate the cultural influence of agave in the desert through food, film, music, science, and spirits.
June 6-9, Marfa, www.agavemarfa.com

GULF COAST

Buu Mon Temple Lotus Festival and Vesak Celebration
Wander the internationally recognized gardens and enjoy the vendors and cultural programs.
June 1-2, Port Arthur, visitportarthurtx.com

Czech Kolache Klobase Festival
It’s a festival benefiting local charities and includes lots of pastries and sausage along with music with a Czech accent.
June 8, East Bernard, www.kkfest.com

HILL COUNTRY

Gruene Hall celebrates the “mayor” of Gruene with cheap beer. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

Craft Beer Festival
Food, music, and wine will be a part of this annual showcase of small Texas breweries.
June 7-8, Fredericksburg, www.fbgcraftbeerfestival.com

Lavender Festival
The Lavender Capital of Texas holds a party around the old courthouse with vendors, music, food, farm tours, and all things made with lavender.
June 7-9, Blanco, www.blancolavenderfest.com

Abendkonzert
Enjoy free evening concerts by the oldest continuously active German band outside of Germany on the lawn at Main Plaza.
June 11, 15, July 2, 16, Boerne, www.ci.boerne.tx.us

Peach JAMboree and Rodeo
Sample this year’s peach crop or join the peach pit spitting contest after enjoying all the food and music.
June 20-22, Stonewall, www.stonewalltexas.com

Frank Schlather Day in Gruene
Frank Schlather was a cultural icon at Gruene Hall for many years. When current owner, Pat Molak, bought the Hall in 1975, Frank came with it. A saddle tree maker at the shop across the street from the bar, he stopped in every day after work for what he called a “tranquilizer,” a longneck Falstaff beer. He became the unofficial “mayor” of Gruene and was part of the social fabric of Gruene Hall when he died in 1993. Help commemorate what would have been Frank’s 103rd birthday with cheap drinks and lots of laughs.
June 23, Gruene, www.gruenetexas.com/frankday

PANHANDLE

The Storybook Capital of Texas hosts a kids’ book and art festival. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

Texas Route 66 Festival
Remember the “Mother Road” with classic cars, period music, and tours.
June 6-15, Amarillo, www.visitamarillo.com/events/route-66

TEXAS Outdoor Musical
There’s nothing quite like seeing the story of Texas played out in Palo Duro Canyon with the colorful canyon walls as a backdrop. This year they have added performances of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on July 9, 16, 23 & 30. Shows run Thursday-Sunday.
June 6-Aug. 3, Canyon, www.texas-show.com

West Texas Western Swing Festival
They’ll be rosining up the fiddle bows for two days of dancing and top-notch music.
June 12-15, Snyder, www.snyderchamber.org

Children’s Art + Literacy Festival
This party’s for the kids, turning downtown into a playground making art and reading accessible and fun.
June 13-16, Abilene, www.abilenecalf.com

Fort Griffin Fandango
Beneath the summer stars of the Texas sky, history comes alive the last two weekends of June with singing, dancing, pantomime, and real livestock. Over 250 Albany performers re-create Texas of the 1800s in an outdoor amphitheatre.
June 21-22, 28-29, Albany, fortgriffinfandangle.com

PINEY WOODS

Now’s the time to celebrate Texas blueberries. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

PYO Blueberries
Pick your own blueberries fresh off the bush on Saturday and Sunday, 6:30am to 8:30pm. Moorhead’s Blueberry Farm doesn’t spray the plants, weeds, bugs, or blueberries with anything. This means no pesticides or herbicides: just Mother Nature doing her thing.
June 1-July 2, Conroe, www.moorheadsblueberryfarm.com

Texas Blueberry Festival
Downtown hosts one of the sweetest festivals in Texas celebrating the blueberry harvest with music, PYO tours, and lots of food vendors.
June 8, Nacogdoches, www.texasblueberryfestival.com

Texas Shakespeare Festival
East Texas’ only professional theatre company performs multiple plays in rotating repertory Thursday through Sunday with afternoon matinees and evening performances.
June 27-July 28, Kilgore, www.texasshakespeare.com

PRAIRIES AND LAKES

Join the watermelon eating contest for a thumping good time in Luling. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

Bastrop Juneteenth Celebration Family Freedom Festival
Celebrate freedom with a street dance, barbecue cook-off, games, and food vendors.
June 1, Bastrop, bastropjuneteenth.com

Chisholm Trail Roundup
The Barbecue Capital’s biggest party of the year features a parade, pig races, barbecue cook-off, a carnival, rodeo, and more fun in downtown and Lockhart City Park.
June 13-15, Lockhart, www.lockhartchamber.com/chisholmtrailroundup

Watermelon Thump
Local farmers bring their melons to market with a festival featuring food booths, a carnival, watermelon eating contests, seed spitting contests, and lots of music.
June 27-30, Luling, www.watermelonthump.com

Big Bang Celebration!
Start the Fourth of July early with music in Fisherman’s Park followed by fireworks at dusk.
June 29, Bastrop, www.cityofbastrop.org

SOUTH TEXAS

Presidio La Bahia hosts reenactors on Wednesdays. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

Wayback Wednesdays
The history of Presidio La Bahia, Texas’ only fully restored Spanish presidio, is brought to life every Wednesday during June and July.
June 5-July 31, Goliad, www.facebook.com/events

Fiesta Noche del Rio
The oldest outdoor dance performance of its kind in the country is a musical show with authentic Mexican, Spanish, and Texas songs and dances performed by local professionals on Friday and Saturday evenings in La Villita.
June 7-Aug. 3, San Antonio, www.fiestanochesa.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.