Hill Country Flourish

Saturday & Sunday, June 9 & 10

9am-6pm

Blanco

www.blancolavenderfestival.com

Move over bluebonnets, peaches, and Enchanted Rock: The Texas Hill Country has a bona fide new tourist attraction! What began as a lavender homage to Provence by a globe-trotting Blanco-area couple about 10 years ago has literally blossomed into a thriving agri-tourism industry for the Hill Country. While fragrant lavender is now being planted from the shores of Lake Travis all the way to Fredericksburg, it started near Blanco and has earned them the designation as the lavender capital of Texas. This weekend, the Blanco Chamber of Commerce celebrates the third annual Blanco Lavender Festival with a packed slate of activities, and we're all invited.

Enjoy a Lavender Market with arts and craft items, as well as lavender and other herbal products, a Quilt Show and sale, an informative speaker's pavilion, and a Texas Wine & Beer Tent on the historic Blanco County Courthouse square. There will be live music programming in Bindseil Park and tours of nine area lavender farms. On both Friday and Saturday nights, the restaurants, shops, and art galleries of nearby Johnson City will host Lavender Evenings. Most of the festival events are free of charge, but there will be ample dining, drinking, and shopping opportunities in both Blanco and Johnson City. Each of the farms on the tour has their own distinctive activities planned: Many offer cut-your-own lavender options; some sell lavender plants; most have their own line of lavender products, such as soaps, sachets, essential oils, linen sprays, skin or aroma-therapy care; and some will be selling lavender-flavored foods and drinks, as well as boxed lunches or picnics to be enjoyed al fresco.

After the farm tours along Highway 281, it's only a short trip north and then west on Highway 290 toward Fredericksburg to check out another famous Hill Country culinary attraction, as the Gillespie County peach crops are producing, and stands are open for business.