The International Accordion Festival is back.

The celebration of the button-box will return to La Villita in San Antonio the weekend of September 14-15 following a one-year hiatus. Admission is free.

The lineup for the 2013 edition—the 12^th year of the festival—looks to be as diverse as ever, with bands representing styles ranging from zydeco to French, Klezmer, Dominican, Balkan, Peruvian, Conjunto, and Middle Eastern.

“To us, the accordion is a way that communities can come together that maybe wouldn’t normally, and to learn about different musics and customs through something that everybody recognizes and likes,” says Cathy Ragland, the festival’s artistic director and a professor of ethnomusicology at the University of North Texas.

I’ve attended about half of the previous editions of the International Accordion Festival. I keep going back because the festival is a rare opportunity to see an internationally diverse line-up of talented musicians playing roots-based music; the picturesque outdoor setting at La Villita with its plazas and historic adobe structures along the San Antonio River Walk; and the accessibility of the family-friendly event, which can draw sizable crowds but doesn’t get uncomfortably overcrowded.

For this September’s event, Ragland says she looked for both traditional acts and those offering contemporary interpretations on ethnic accordion music. To name a few, there’s the Petrojvic Blasting Company, a young and energetic Los Angeles band specializing in Eastern European music; Chicha Libre, a New York act that has revived a rural Peruvian cumbia that was popular in the 1960s and 70s; and Norbert Slama, an accordionist of French Algerian birth who plays classic Gypsy jazz and French musette.

Ragland says a few factors led the nonprofit festival to take a break in 2012. The festival’s finances suffered throughout the economic recession, including the loss of some sponsors. Also, heavy rains during part of the 2011 festival cut into attendance and the sale of important revenue-raising concessions, such as beer. Third, the festival underwent a transition in leadership as Ragland took a bigger role.

The 2013 festival will be smaller than years past. There will be two stages, down from four, and there will be no Friday night show.

Ragland says festival directors were motivated to revive the festival by an outpouring of public interest when the 2012 event was scratched.

“A lot of people didn’t want us to let it go, so we responded to that,” she says. “We’re working with the funding we have right now, but I think it will grow.”

Dallas may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of seafaring activities, but backers of the proposed Dallas Maritime Museum say the city would be a fitting host for the facility.

The Dallas Maritime Museum Foundation is organizing a fundraising effort to build the $81 million project, says John Shellene, executive director. The foundation recently announced that it had secured a site for the museum—3½ acres on South Riverfront Boulevard along the Trinity River levee. The site is next to one of several lakes the City of Dallas plans to dredge as part of its long-term overhaul of the Trinity River corridor.

Shellene says the maritime museum would be a good fit for Dallas partly because the entire project is motivated by the U.S. Navy’s offer to hand over the USS Dallas, a nuclear-powered submarine, when it decommissions the attack vessel next year. The USS Dallas was commissioned in 1981 and is best known for its role in Tom Clancy’s novel Hunt for Red October. The Navy first approached the vessel’s namesake city in 2010, prompting Dallas to reach out to some Navy veterans, who then formed the museum foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Shellene says.

“North Texas, the Metroplex, is the largest recruiting ground for our maritime services, including the Navy, of the entire country,” Shellene says. “So there’s a lot of interest here and a lot of history here when it comes to maritime services, which a lot of people don’t know about. We’re excited to be a catalyst for making that known and having that impact.”

The foundation’s plans call for a 30,000-square-foot, three-story museum. The USS Dallas would be exhibited in dry-dock, hanging over the water of the yet-to-be-developed lake, Shellene says. The foundation is also negotiating to bring two other vessels to Dallas, but details haven’t been released yet.

The schedule for the proposed museum revolves around the decommissioning of the USS Dallas, Shellene says. The foundation hopes to open the museum in 2017 or 2018, once the submarine is decommissioned, stripped of its classified components and nuclear reactor, and then rebuilt as an intact submarine.

“The museum itself will take 18 months to construct,” Shellene says. “So in essence we’ll break ground on the museum in three years and then have the museum and submarine and other vessels in place for public viewing in 4½ years.”

In the meantime, it’s all about money.

“We are putting together our capital campaign committee and starting to look for major lead gifts, which we hope to identify this summer,” Shellene says. “Then we’ll launch an individual campaign and large gift campaign beginning in the fall.”

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Photos courtesy of Dallas Maritime Museum Foundation

One of Texas’ biggest zydeco trail rides is coming up this weekend in Beaumont at the Bill Pickett Trail Riders 9^th Annual Trail Ride, Zydeco Festival & Rodeo.

Zydeco trail rides are festivals that celebrate African American Western ranching heritage and the zydeco music that flows out of southeast Texas and Louisiana. Along with zydeco concerts on Friday and Saturday nights, a band will play during Saturday’s trail ride through the roads of the Cheek area. There will also be a full rodeo on Sunday.

Don’t have a horse? No problem. You could potentially borrow one, or ride in one of the party wagons that follow the trail ride route.

“The overall purpose is to educate and let people know and be aware of the Creole heritage, food, and music,” says Acynthia Villery, the event producer. “What makes ours different is we have the rodeo. A lot of our cowboys cross over from trail-riding into rodeo.”

Born in Travis County in 1870, Bill Pickett was an African American cowboy who developed the bulldogging technique that became a popular rodeo competition (also known as steer wrestling). The Bill Pickett Trail Riders is a group dedicated to helping at-risk youth and youth organizations that participate in rodeo.

The upcoming event is “a historical weekend where we teach people who don’t know about our culture—the food, the music, how important the drives were back in the days,” Acynthia says.

Of course, the music isn’t a thing of the past. The bands on the Friday schedule are Leon Chavis & The Zydeco Flames, and Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band.

On Saturday, Brian Jack & The Zydeco Gamblers will perform along the trail ride, and Lil Nate & The Zydeco Big Timers will close out the night. On Sunday, J Paul Jr. and the Zydeco Nubreeds play after the rodeo.

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Photos courtesy of Bill Pickett Trail Riders

Before the April explosion at the West Fertilizer plant, the town of West was best known for its Czech heritage and culture—both of which are celebrated annually on Labor Day weekend at Westfest.

West is still recovering from the explosion, which killed 15 people and injured 200, but the tragedy isn’t deterring plans for this year’s Czech and polka festival. If anything, organizers expect the festival will grow stronger and bigger in the tragedy’s aftermath.

“We’re curious to see what it’s going to be like this year,” says Brian Muska, public relations director for the festival. “We’re expecting a pretty good crowd.”

Photo by Ben Ranzinger; Rabenwolf Entertainment/Courtesy Westfest.

The 20-acre festival grounds are on the opposite side of town from where the explosion occurred. In the hours after the blast, the festival grounds turned into a makeshift staging area for donation drop-offs and distribution, Muska said.

The volunteer board that runs the nonprofit festival is still working on plans for how the event will recognize the town’s tumultuous spring, including honoring the firefighters who died in the blast as parade marshals, Muska said.

The festival’s line-up is already set, with everything from polka band performances to a Miss Westfest contest, arts-and-crafts vendors, a kolache baking contest, and more.

Westfest’s purpose has always been to raise money for local community organizations, such as fire departments and scholarships. Muska says this year’s proceeds will likely contribute to the community’s recovery efforts.

“There were a lot of concerns that we wouldn’t have the festival, but that’s not true,” Muska says. “It will go on and will be stronger and bigger than ever.”

The rainstorms that soaked parts of the Hill Country over Memorial Day weekend are providing a welcome boost to tubing on the Frio River, at least for a little while.

About a foot of rain fell in the Frio headwaters area on Friday and Saturday, with particularly good amounts over the west prong in northern Real County.

The downpour raised the Frio’s “floatability” level in Garner State Park from “below minimum” two weeks ago to “ideal water conditions for floating,” for the coming weekend, according to the National Weather Service’s Texas River Recreation Advisory released Wednesday.

“It’s a significant recharge and it fell right in the area that it was needing this time,” says Frank Roberts, interpretive specialist at Garner State Park. “It fell high on the headwaters and a lot of it fell, so water will run down hill, and it will continue to help. It wont’ last forever. … We’re hoping that now that we got some moisture it will trigger some more showers and help it out.”

The Frio River level in Garner State Park is up two to three feet.

“It wasn’t a big, big flood, like 2002, but it was a significant rise on the river,” Roberts says. “It’s good for floating. It may be a few days or a week or so, but for people coming in for Memorial Day weekend and starting the summer, it’s excellent.”

The Super Bowl is heading back to Houston—Super Bowl LI, to be exact.

NFL owners voted Tuesday to award the 51^st Super Bowl to Houston in 2017. Houston’s Reliant Stadium last hosted a Super Bowl in 2004, and the big game was last held in Texas in 2011 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

Houston officials cheered Tuesday’s announcement, citing the game’s benefit to tourism, media attention, and the local economy.

“This is a worldwide stage that will be constructed in Houston and the world will be watching,” Houston Texans owner Bob McNair said in a press release. “It’s an opportunity to showcase our wonderful city, the NFL and the Super Bowl all at the same time.”

The Houston Super Bowl Bid Committee is planning a 10-day festival called “Super Bowl El Centro” leading up to February 2017 game, according to a news release from the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“Our plans for the international celebration leading up to the game will create an unprecedented fan experience for Super Bowl LI,” said Ric Campo, chairman of the bid committee.

Nearly two years after massive wildfires, the director of Possum Kingdom Chamber of Commerce says tourism has rebounded but drought continues to trouble the area.

The level of Possum Kingdom Lake is down about 10 feet, but there are still two public boat ramps open, says Gayla Chambers, chamber director. Chambers says she’s hopeful when it comes to the summer tourism season.

“We’re beginning to have lots of inquiries regarding camping and lodging for the upcoming holiday,” she says. “We need rain like everybody else, but in a nutshell, we have more water than a lot of Texas lakes do, so we’re hopeful that everything will still work itself out and it will be a good season.”

Two fires in 2011 burned more than 125,000 acres—including part of Possum Kingdom State Park—and destroyed more than 160 homes.

Chambers says the wildfires hurt tourism for a period stretching into spring 2012, but the tourism industry has since recovered. At this point, the drought and lake level are a bigger factor than the 2011 wildfires, Chamber says.

On Tuesday, firefighters battled another Possum Kingdom wildfire, which was reported to have burned more than 130 acres.

“It’s just part of the deal,” Chambers says. “We’re in the drought and there’s wind, and unfortunately we had another little flare-up. We’re just urging everybody to be particularly cautious.”

For book-lovers drawn to the Texas Book Festival and its engaging congregation of authors each fall in Austin, it’s worth noting that the festival also partners with other events around the state to highlight books and authors.

The next such event takes place tomorrow at the Highland Park Centennial Anniversary Literary Festival. Authors including Lawrence Wright, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Stephen Harrigan, and Joe Nick Patoski will speak.

The free event is at the Highland Park Methodist Church. As its name suggests, the literary festival is part of the 100^th anniversary celebration of the founding of Highland Park, an enclave in Dallas.

Lois Kim, who took over last month as the Texas Book Festival’s executive director, says the festival looks for opportunities to contribute to events that promote community engagement with authors and stimulate intellectual conversation.

In the past, the festival has partnered on events in Houston and Austin. In April, it held the Texas Book Festival/San Antonio Edition in conjunction with the San Antonio Library Foundation, which was celebrating its 30^th anniversary.

The Highland Park event starts at 10 a.m. and includes a 12:30 lunch that requires an RSVP.

“We would just love for people to come out, because it’s free and there are going to be great authors,” Kim says.

With the reopening of the Boquillas border crossing in Big Bend National Park, curious travelers have raised questions about the activities and safety associated with crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico.

The United States and Mexican governments opened the Boquillas port of entry on April 10, reestablishing local tourist access between the two countries for the first time since 2002.

Local officials estimate that more than 500 tourists have visited Mexico since opening day, most of them on a jonboat operated by Boquillas International Ferry, the company awarded the permit to operate the ferry.

“We’re seeing a great response,” says David Elkowitz, chief information officer for Big Bend. “Lots of visitors. Folks are enjoying Boquillas. We really don’t have any negatives.”

A ferry boat lands this week on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande at the Boquillas border crossing. Tourists can take a horse ride for the mile trip to the village of Boquillas del Carmen. Photo Courtesy of National Park Service.

I talked with Elkowitz and Mike Davidson, director of the Brewster County Tourism Council, this week about the tourism experience for those interested in visiting Boquillas.

The tourism economy in the village of Boquillas del Carmen, on the Mexican side of the crossing, is just starting to take shape, says Davidson, who also is CEO of Boquillas International Ferry.

The town’s population dwindled considerably since 2002, when the U.S. shut down the crossing in the aftermath of 9/11. About 130 people live in Boquillas now, Davidson estimates, or about half of what it used to be.

In the old days, Boquillas had a reputation as a “Wild West” getaway, a place to drink tequila beyond the border. Such activity has declined, especially with no overnight lodging available, Davidson says.

“For some people it may not be as raunchy or free-swinging as they want it to be, but for most people it will be like stepping back in a time machine,” he says. “And it will be different in a year. People on the Mexican side didn’t have the confidence to invest time and money before. Now that the proof is there, and there’s some money starting to trickle into the economy, there’s no telling what will happen in three to five years.”

Round-trip ferry tickets are available for $5 at the Rio Grande Village Store; children age 7 or younger are free.  The ferry runs 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Visitors can also wade across the Rio Grande or take their own boat.

After crossing the river, visitors can rent a burro, horse, or car ride for the one-mile trip to town, or they can walk. Upon arrival, visitors first need to check in with the local Mexican customs office. Visitors should bring a passport, because they’ll need one to return to the U.S. anyway.

Davidson says the Mexicans have also established a visitor center that sells local handmade crafts, and where tourists can hire a guide to show them around town. Boquillas is home to two restaurants and a bar with a pool table. As mentioned earlier, there is no overnight lodging available.

“A lot of people are going over there to ride the ponies up to town, walk around town, and go to the restaurant,” Davidson says.

For hikers, the current options are limited. You can walk a short road to the entrance of Boquillas Canyon, or rent a truck to give you a lift. But Davidson says the tourist infrastructure is not yet in place to transport hikers who want to venture further into the national parks on the Mexican side.

The hot springs on the Mexican side of Boquillas Canyon have fallen into disrepair. Davidson says he expects them to be rebuilt as tourist traffic increases.

Returning to Big Bend National Park, crossers must check in at the National Park Service Visitor Center, about a five-minute walk from the river on the Texas side. At the visitor center, tourists place their documents on a scanner and conduct a short customs interview via telephone with Border Patrol officials based in El Paso. People re-entering the U.S. must arrive to the visitor center by 6 p.m.

Davidson and Elkowitz say crossing to Boquillas has been a safe activity so far.

“We’re trying minimize the risk of (visitors) getting hurt getting on or off the boat, which is statistically the biggest risk of getting hurt,” Davidson says. “Our border is pretty quiet down here. We don’t have too many problems. This is putting 15 more security people right down in this area.”

Elkowitz says there have been no incidents that he’s heard about, though he cautions that visitors are entering another country.

“The town is welcoming. There is staff from the Mexican immigration and parks service there,” Elkowitz says. “I do know that Mexico has a great investment in this, as do we, and we’re certainly not anticipating problems.”

Davidson says Boquillas International Ferry has hired Mexican residents to operate the boat and others are in training. The company, which is an offshoot of New Mexico-based Far Flung Adventures, plans to expand into more guiding and tourism services on the Mexican side of the river, he says.

As for the Big Bend tourism economy, the reopening of the crossing gives visitors another reason to spend time in the region.

“At the minimum it would induce them to spend another night in the area, which requires them to buy food and services, etc.,” Davidson says.

The public gets its first chance this week to the see the newly restored Texas Governor’s Mansion.

The Governor’s Mansion began public tours on Tuesday, nearly a year after Gov. and Mrs. Perry returned to the home last summer. Anita Perry remarked on the first public tours and posted a couple of photos on her blog.

The Governor’s Mansion first opened as home to Texas’ top elected official in 1856. The Perrys moved out of the mansion in 2007 to make way for an extensive maintenance project. While that project was taking place, arsonists set fire to the mansion on June 8, 2008, gutting the building.

Shortly thereafter, the restoration project commenced, backed by a $21.5 million appropriation from the Texas Legislature. The project included the re-creation of the “X-and-Stick” porch railings, the ionic columns on the front porch, and the restoration of all historic rooms to their pre-fire appearance.

Tours are available Tuesdays through Thursdays, and require one-week advance reservations.