The Boquillas border crossing in Big Bend National Park is set to re-open.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday that the crossing will open 30 days after its final ruling is published. A precise date wasn’t immediately available.

The federal government closed the Boquillas crossing of the Rio Grande in 2002 in the aftermath of 9/11.

Big Bend National Park has pushed to re-open the crossing to foster both tourism opportunities and resource management cooperation with its Mexican counterparts.

Boquillas will be the only port of entry between Presidio and Del Rio, which are about 300 miles apart. For visitors entering Mexico, the crossing will provide access to the town of Boquillas and the protected areas of Maderas del Carmen, Ocampo, and Cañon de Santa Elena.

In their joint announcement, the National Park Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the “decision to open the state of the art border crossing is based on extensive CBP analysis, consultation with our Mexican counterparts, and is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure that we continue to take steps to enhance security along our borders.”

Visitors will cross the Rio Grande via a rowboat operated by a concessionaire. The port of entry will be open to pedestrians from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Cars won’t be allowed to cross.

Crossers entering Mexico from the United States will be required to have a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative approved document.

Crossers from Mexico to the United States will go through entry procedures at a  National Park Service interagency facility. The facility will have two kiosks for visitors to transmit their documentation to Customs and Border Protection and participate in an interview via a remote link, DHS said in its news release.

National Park Service rangers and Border Patrol agents will provide security in the area, and National Park Service personnel will staff the interagency facility.

Big Bend National Park’s plan to re-open the Boquillas border crossing to Mexico is still pending, nearly two years after the park proposed the idea.

Park spokesman David Elkowitz tells TH that the plan is still in the works, but there’s no set schedule. The federal government closed the Rio Grande rowboat crossing at Boquillas in 2002 in the aftermath of 9/11.

Big Bend wants to re-open the crossing because it provides tourism opportunities and better access for park officials to work with their Mexican counterparts on natural resource management projects, Elkowitz says.

Before the crossing closed, the tiny town of Boquillas del Carmen drew visitors into Mexico with a couple of bar and restaurant establishments and tourist activities like horseback rides.

If the crossing is re-opened, Park Service personnel would man the crossing to provide information for tourists, Elkowitz says. The Department of Homeland Security would handle security checks via a kiosk operated by the Big Bend Border Patrol Sector.

The park concessionaire, Forever Resorts, would operate the johnboat to row crossers back and forth, at least for the first year, Elkowitz says.

The future of the Boquillas crossing may be up in the air, but tourism activities in the Big Bend region abound. Check out the Texas Highways Big Bend issue this February for inspiration.

It’s shaping up to be another busy weekend in Texas for Santa with dozens of events to get people jingling all the way to Christmas. If you’re looking for a place to get in the holiday spirit, check out the list below for tips on what’s happening this Friday and Saturday, or browse all the December listings here.

Do you have a favorite event that you’re planning to visit soon? Let us know in the comments, or better yet, share your holiday photos with us on Instagram. We’d love to see Christmas light displays, little ones meeting Santa (whether happy to or not), live nativity scenes, Texas-sized menorahs, luminarias, ice skating in short sleeves–anything that says “holidays in Texas” to you. Just be sure to post your photos with the tag #TxHwysHolidays, and they’ll be added to our slideshow. We’ve posted a few already (above) just to get started. For more details on how it all works, check out the previous blog post.

Holiday happenings this weekend include:

• Baytown: Christmas on Texas Avenue Street Festival, Dec. 8
• Belton: Old-Fashioned Christmas, Dec. 8
• Burnet: Christmas on the Square and Christmas at Fort Croghan, Dec. 8
• Caldwell: Old-Fashioned Christmas on the Square, Dec. 7-8
• Chappell Hill: Holiday Home Tour and Teddy Bear Parade, Dec. 8
• Conroe: Annual Christmas Celebration, Dec. 8
• Fredericksburg: Lighted Community Christmas Parade, Dec. 7; and St. Nikolausmarkt, Dec. 7-8
• Kemah/Clear Lake Area: Annual Christmas Boat Lane Parade, Dec. 8
• Kilgore: Snow Hill Festival, Dec. 7-8; and Holiday Happenings in Historic Homes, Dec. 8
• Lubbock: Candlelight at the Ranch, Dec. 7-8
• McAllen: Candlelight Posada, Dec. 8
• Mesquite: Christmas in the Park, Dec. 6-8
• Round Top: Christmas in Winedale, Dec. 8
• Tomball: Christmas on Commerce, Dec. 8; and the German Christmas Market and Festival, Dec. 7-9

And don’t forget these ongoing events:

• Burnet: Christmas Trail of Lights, Dec. 1-31
• Grapevine: North Pole Express and Christmas on Main, weekends through December
• Johnson City: Lights Spectacular, Hill Country Style, through Jan. 1
• Marble Falls: Walkway of Lights, through Jan. 1
• Midland: Christmas at the Mansion, Dec. 1-29
• Nacogdoches: Nine Flags Festival, through Dec. 8
• Spring: Home for the Holidays, weekends through Dec. 23
• Wichita Falls: ElectriCritters (weekends until Dec. 22) and Fantasy of Lights (through Jan. 1)
• The Woodlands: Winter Wonderland and Woodlands Ice Rink, through Jan. 21