Photo courtesy of Best Maid

 

What goes great with a green shirt and green beer on St. Patrick’s Day? If you’re in Mansfield, the answer is simple—pickles.

This city on the southern edge of the DFW Metroplex, birthplace of the Best Maid brand of pickles, thought their local product was a natural when it came to the wearin’ o’ the green. Thus, the World’s Only Best Maid St. Paddy’s Pickle Parade & Palooza was born last year.

“We hope to make it an annual tradition in Mansfield,” says Isabel Lamb, the brand manager for Best Maid. “Last year we had about 7,000 people, and this year we hope to have about 10,000 to 13,000.”

Lamb said the idea for this event took root when Amanda Rogers, the editor of the Mansfield News-Mirror, approached Best Maid to write a historical piece. Rogers presented the idea of tying the pickle purveyor into a family-oriented event, and the company became the main sponsor.

This weekend’s festival on March 16 starts with a parade at 2 p.m. It also includes some unique touches, like pickle-eating and pickle juice-drinking contests, “Wheelie-ing Elvi” (the plural of Elvis, I think) and the Pickle Queens–a group of women in red wigs and green gowns who appear in the parade and represent the event at special occasions year-round.  (There may even be a giant papier-mache pickle this year, at the suggestion of some amusing commentary  about last year’s event.) The street party begins afterward.

Other St. Patrick’s Day events across the state include:

Dublin: St Patrick’s Day Festival

Shamrock: St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

Wichita Falls: St. Patrick’s Day Downtown Festival

Surfside Beach: St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Here’s another example of the enduring appeal of “retro.” There’s a new drive-in movie theater scheduled to open adjacent to downtown Fort Worth this spring.

The Coyote Drive-In is building a 20-acre complex in the Trinity Uptown neighborhood, across the river from downtown. Two of the three screens will be six stories tall (that’s relatively big), and the complex will accommodate up to 1,300 cars. Audio will be broadcast on an FM radio signal.

“We want to bring people back to a simpler time,” Coyote CEO Brady Wood says. “Life is crazy these days. The world is kind of crazy, and drive-ins bring people back to a simpler time.”

Drive-ins were routine entertainment in the 1950s and early 1960s, when there were nearly 400 such theaters in Texas. Their numbers dwindled over the years—succumbing to daylight saving time, real estate development, VCRs, etc. These days, about 15 drive-ins operate in the state.

Along with first-run movies, the Coyote will also have a pavilion restaurant/beer garden area with a playground for children. The restaurant will serve food like hamburgers and pizza, and the bar will serve a wide variety of craft beers and wine.

Wood says ticket prices will vary, but will typically be $8 for adults and $5 for kids.

Patrons will be able to visit the restaurant and beer garden without a movie ticket. Diners will be able to see the screens, but not hear them. Dinner service will also be available to movie-goers.

“This is the first of what we hope will be many (Coyote Drive-Ins),” Wood says. “We would love to bring the drive-in experience to other cities in Texas. … People love drive-ins, they love their memories of the drive-in, and we’re bringing it back.”

Growing up in Texas and learning about how this state became a nation for a time, I always wondered why people didn’t make a bigger deal out of Texas Independence Day. It seems like a great time to celebrate what’s great about Texas, doesn’t it?

This year is an excellent chance to do just that, since the March 2 anniversary of the adoption of a declaration of independence falls on Saturday. Celebrations in Granbury, Gruene and Washington-on-the-Brazos offer a fun way to mark this historic occasion and show your Texas pride.

This sculpture of William B. Travis is part of the cenotaph in front of the Alamo in San Antonio.

This year also marks the return of William B. Travis’ famous “victory or death” letter to the Alamo, where he and about 180 others made their historic last stand against Mexican Gen. Santa Anna’s army. The 177-year-old letter is normally kept in the Texas State Library and Archives in Austin to protect it from fading and damage, but it’s making a rare appearance from Feb. 23-March 7 at the place where it was written to coincide with the dates of the siege.

Other independence day celebrations and observances include:

Huntsville: Gen. Sam Houston’s Birthday Celebration, March 2

Seguin: Toast to Texas at Sebastopol State Historic Site, 1:30 p.m. March 2

Woodville: Toast to Texas Independence at Heritage Village, 2 p.m. March 2

Luckenbach: Texas Independence Day Celebration, March 2 noon-5 p.m.

In an era of social media crushes and online dating, preservation groups are seizing on the romantic month of February to spread the love for a completely different kind of treasure: historic county courthouses.

It may sound like a stretch, but the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Texas Historical Commission, and Preservation Texas want Texans to hold their courthouses close to their hearts and help protect them from the detrimental effects of disrepair and apathy.

The restored Potter County Courthouse in Amarillo, originally built in 1932, was rededicated last August.

I can appreciate the sentiment. I’ve had memorable experiences at county courthouse squares in Texas and beyond—lounging on the grass of the Denton County Courthouse while a band played live music at Denton 35; attempting to chase my daughter around the Caldwell County Courthouse after gorging on barbecue across the street at Smitty’s Market; marching up the grand staircase of the McLennan County Courthouse to report on trials and commissioners’ court meetings. In each case, it’s the historic location and grandeur of the setting that define my memories, more so than the fleeting events of daily life and work.

The National Trust launched the “I Love Texas Courthouses” campaign in late January to generate support for historic courthouses and push for continued state funding for the Texas Historical Commission’s Historic Courthouse Preservation Program. In both 1998 and 2012, the National Trust included Texas courthouses on its annual list of the country’s 11 most endangered historic places.

“This campaign is designed to call attention to what has been accomplished and what remains to be done to help save these great historic landmarks,” says Jim Lindberg, field director for the National Trust. The courthouses “represent an amazing diversity of architectural styles. Some are quite grand, some quite modest, some are from as far back as the 1860s. … They really are representative of our nation’s history, Texas history, and local history as well.”

Texas is home to 235 courthouses in active government use, 139 of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since 1999, the Texas Legislature has allocated $247 million to support the Historical Commission’s preservation program, contributing to restoration and repairs at 83 courthouses. Those counties contributed an additional $174 million in matching funds. According to the Historical Commission, another 75 courthouses need funding for repair and restoration work. The commission is seeking $20 million in state funding to continue its preservation program for the coming biennium, spokeswoman Debbi Head says.

The Hood County Courthouse in Granbury originally opened in 1891. A restoration project led to its rededication last October.

From a travel and tourism perspective, cities and towns value courthouses as the anchors of downtown squares. Many travelers are attracted to the types of unique local businesses that tend to populate downtown squares. The Texas Historical Commission reports that the Dewitt County Courthouse in Cuero, an 1896 building that was fully restored and rededicated in 2007, drew visitors from 29 states and seven countries during a three-year period. There’s also the movie business factor, with movies such as Bernie, True Grit, Lone Star, and The Tree of Life shooting scenes at Texas courthouses.

“These are exactly the kinds of places that more and more travelers are seeking out as they look for places of real authenticity to visit that tell the story of a place,” Lindberg says.

Are you smitten yet? Visit the campaign’s website to learn more and sign a love letter, if you feel so moved.

Exploring new territory by canoe or kayak is different than other modes of travel. There’s a serenity to gliding quietly through the water, less likely to startle wildlife. And the perspective is unique, lower than hiking trails or roads.

I’ve paddled around several Texas lakes and rivers over the years, but I’ve never launched a boat in the murky waters of Caddo Lake, the state’s only naturally occurring lake. A circuit of new paddling trails may be just the motivation I need to head northeast and paddle the Caddo.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department opened 10 new paddling trails on Caddo Lake and a stretch of Big Cypress Bayou over the weekend. The trails encompass more than 50 miles within scenic bottomland forest and bald cypress swamps. The new trails—which are marked by small arrow signs—bring the Texas Paddling Trails program around the state to 48 different trails, covering more than 430 miles.

The department started the program in 1998 to encourage more recreational paddling on Texas waterways. The trails have dedicated put-in and take-out points, and the department provides maps and other information.

“We wanted to take a little bit of the mystery out of Texas waterways,” says Shelly Plante, the department’s nature tourism manager. “People want to get on the water, but don’t necessarily know how do it conveniently or legally.”

The 10 new trails range in distance from 2.4 miles to 8.8 miles. They’re all loops, a route made possible by the lack of current in the Caddo and Big Cypress Bayou waters, Plante says. Some of the trails leave from Backwater Jack’s R.V. Park near Jefferson, while the others are on Caddo Lake in the Uncertain area.

The Caddo Lake area is home to 216 different kinds of birds, 47 mammals, and 90 reptile and amphibian species, according to TPWD. You might see wood ducks, painted buntings, woodpeckers, barred owls, and white-tailed deer. There are also some rare species around, including the alligator snapping turtle, peregrine falcons, and Rafinesque’s big-eared bats.

The Caddo Lake paddling trails are relatively easy to navigate because paddlers don’t have to deal with a current, Plante says. Directions, trail descriptions, maps, and other information are available on the Texas Paddling Trails website.

—

Photos © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Fat Tuesday isn’t until Feb. 12, but why wait until then to let the good times roll? Mardi Gras events are popping up across Texas this weekend, complete with parades, costumes, and Cajun-style food and music. Festivities include:

Krewe members interact with the crowd at Mardi Gras in Port Arthur.

Galveston: Mardi Gras Galveston, Feb. 1-12

Bandera: Cowboy Mardi Gras, Feb. 1-3

Port Arthur: Mardi Gras Southeast Texas, Feb. 7-10

Jefferson: Mardi Gras Upriver, Feb. 8-10

Lamar: Lamardi Gras, Feb. 8-9

Crystal Beach: Bolivar Peninsula Lighthouse Krewe Mardi Gras Parade, Feb. 9

Kemah: Yachty Gras Boat Parade, Feb. 9

Nocona: Mardi Gras Nocona Style, Feb. 9

Waxahachie: Mardi Gras on the Square, Feb. 9

McKinney: Krewe of Barkus Costumed Dog Parade, Feb. 10

Kerrville: Mardi Gras on Main and Fat Tuesday with Jo-El Sonnier, Feb. 12

Since Texas is a melting pot of so many cultures, there are some other flavors of this pre-Lenten celebration to try. In Austin, there’s Carnaval Brasiliero on Feb. 2, which is one of the largest such celebrations outside of Brazil. You can also experience the German take on the festivities at Fasching Week, Feb. 2-12 in Fredericksburg.

Now, who can help me translate “let the good times roll” into Portuguese and German? I try to be prepared for anything.

With the recent reopening of the Hotel Settles in Big Spring, I couldn’t help but wonder about the viability of such a hotel in the remote West Texas town.

Last week, I wrote about the renovation of the 82-year-old Art Deco hotel, which had been sitting vacant for 30 years until the completion of a six-year restoration project in December.

It’s a remarkable resurrection tale—from the hotel’s storied past, to its decay into dilapidation, to Brint Ryan’s $30 million redevelopment project, carefully focused on historical detail.

I’m definitely looking forward to a visit, but will interested travelers like me sustain the venture?

Big Spring—on Interstate 20 between Midland and Abilene—has a population of about 22,500. Tourism attractions include the city’s 400-acre Comanche Trail Park, the Heritage Museum, the Hangar 25 Air Museum, and Big Spring State Park.

Ryan says the hotel is counting on tourism traffic, but not exclusively.

“We hope first and foremost that we pick up a lot of the destination business—people who want to come and see something unique,” he says.

In addition, the hotel expects to draw business related to local institutions such as the Veterans Administration Hospital, the Alone USA petroleum refinery, and the local prison industry (the Federal Correctional Institution and the GEO Group’s four private prisons house about 5,500 inmates).

Ryan also notes the regional market—folks from places like Midland and Odessa who want to visit the hotel’s amenities, such as the Settles Grill.

“We think there are multiple different revenue streams, and the hotel will cater to different clientele,” he says.

Another likely contributor to business activity at the Hotel Settles is the natural resource that enabled Howard County rancher W.R. Settles to build the hotel in the first place, back in the 1920s: Oil.

Big Spring sits on the western side of the Cline Shale, a geologic formation that by some estimates contains as much as 30 billion barrels of recoverable oil—more than the prolific Bakken Formation of North Dakota or the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas.

The Cline play is in its infancy, but energy development activity is gaining steam in Big Spring. Big Spring sales tax revenue was a record high last year, and this year is running 25 percent ahead of that, Mayor Tommy Duncan says.

When it comes to hotels, the city’s lodging tax revenue more than doubled from $495,000 in fiscal year 2010 to $1.145 million in fiscal 2012, says Debbie Wegman, coordinator of the Big Spring Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Duncan says the oil boom will be important to the Hotel Settles’ success.

“There’s a lot of activity and a lot of growth that will support it,” he says. “I’m not an economist, and it would be hard for me to predict what would happen without the oil boom. I believe at this point that it will support it, and I’m hopeful that in addition to the oil industry, we’ll be able to attract … some conventions and those types of things” to the Settles.

Wegman says the Hotel Settles is important to the revitalization of Big Spring’s downtown, which has seen new retailers setting up shop in recent months. The city is also investing more than $1 million to spruce up its Big Spring Municipal Auditorium, a 1930s historic theater downtown.

“It’s a three-year phased project,” she says. “And it’s going to be awesome.”

The Hotel Settles provides Big Spring with a comprehensive meeting facility with lodging, a restaurant, and meeting rooms, she says.

“It’s going to be just a real boom for people to come and visit,” Wegman says. “It’s not only going to be great for tourism, it’ll be a great place for meetings and conventions, and it’s real excitement for people in our community also. It’s a nice restaurant to go to.”

Mayor Duncan seconds that notion. He was impressed by a recent dinner at the Settles Grill.

“They asked for comments and recommendations,” Duncan recalls. “My wife and I and our two guests really enjoyed our meal and had no recommendations other than, ‘More of the same.’”

It all sounds promising to me, and I plan to be among the destination travelers checking into the Settles for a stay that’s rich in West Texas history and ambience.

Hopefully the resurrection of the Hotel Settles will be one of those serendipitous occasions where the right people, the right project, and the right economic climate coincide to create a lasting success story.

—

Photos by Mark Knight/Courtesy of Hotel Settles.

If you’ve driven through Big Spring in the past few weeks, you probably noticed the red neon Hotel Settles sign, shining like a beacon over the city and the surrounding West Texas plains.

Developers flipped the switch on the sign—and on a new era for the Settles—on December 28 with the opening of the meticulously renovated hotel. The six-year, $30 million renovation resurrects an historic but long-neglected structure that sat vacant and deteriorating for 30 years.

“When we fired the sign up for the first time in 30 years, we could hear cars all over town honking,” says Brint Ryan, chairman of the Settles Hotel Development Company. “You can’t miss it.”

The 15-story hotel is the tallest building in Big Spring and served as a center of community activity for decades after it first opened in 1930. A Howard County rancher, W.R. Settles, built the hotel during the oil boom of the 1920s for $500,000, Ryan said. Abilene architect David Castle designed the building, which was one of several Art Deco hotels built in West Texas during the time period.

But with the onset of the Great Depression and the concurrent drop in oil prices, Settles couldn’t make the payments for the project, and he ended up losing both the hotel and his ranch, which he had put forth as collateral.

“So it was a financial disaster for them, but it was a magnificent hotel,” Ryan said.

In the following decades, the Settles changed ownership numerous times, and hosted many a local wedding reception, professional conference, service club meeting, and the like.

“But after 50 years of deferred maintenance, ownership changes, and failure to really keep the building up, it began to fall into decline,” Ryan said. “When I was growing up, by the ‘70s, it had deteriorated to the point to where it had become for all intents a flophouse, a house of ill repute.”

In 1980, the hotel closed, and the conventional wisdom was that it was likely gone for good. Various developers considered plans to rehabilitate the building—which at some point became city property over unpaid taxes—but they arrived at the same conclusion: The hotel was beyond repair.

It wasn’t until 2006 that Brint Ryan became involved. Ryan, a Big Spring native who graduated from Big Spring High School in 1982, is founder, chairman, and CEO of Ryan LLC, a big-time tax services firm based in Dallas.

Ryan says he got a call about a potential downtown Big Spring renovation project, which led to his interest in the Settles.

“I actually just fell in love with the property,” he said. “It’s a phenomenal building, but it was just about as close to total destruction as you can imagine.”

The decay was remarkable. Part of the roof had caved in. On one floor, the dead pigeons were piled waist-high, Ryan said. But he decided to buy the building from the city for $75,000, despite an appraised value of negative $250,000.

As plans began to take shape, the city ponied up a $3 million economic development incentive to get started, Ryan said. A year-long abatement project to remove lead paint and asbestos began in 2006, resulting in the removal of about 700 tons of debris.

“We just about filled up the city landfill with that stuff,” Ryan said.

The ensuing redevelopment project took five years, culminating in last month’s re-opening. Along with 65 guest rooms, the hotel has event and meeting spaces, a pool, a Jacuzzi, a fitness studio, the Settles Grill, and the Pharmacy Bar & Parlor.

Ryan said he was motivated to undertake the project because of the building’s qualities—“an architectural gem,” he marvels—and the opportunity to participate in an important community project in his hometown.

“And three, everybody I talked to, they said ‘Oh no, that can’t be done,’” Ryan said. “And anytime I’m told I can’t do it, my personality is to go do it, just to prove you wrong.”

Ryan is thrilled with the results. The renovations took into account the building’s original blueprints, and the National Park Service has accepted the hotel for its national register of historic places, he said.

“We restored it as close as possible to the original as you can imagine,” Ryan said. “W.R. Settles, if he walked in the lobby today, he’d recognize the place.”

—

Photos are by Mark Knight/Courtesy of Hotel Settles.

The renovation of the Briscoe-Garner Museum in Uvalde hit a rough patch recently when a fire broke out in the historic home.

But repairs from the December 11 fire are taking place in tandem with the renovation work, and museum officials hope the hiccup won’t delay the planned re-opening of the museum this spring.

Nobody was injured in the fire, and because the exhibits are stored for renovation, no items or historical artifacts were damaged, said Ben Wright, spokesman for the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at UT Austin, which owns the museum.

The fire started when a heat gun was used near flammable materials. The fire department contained the fire quickly.

“We’re very hopeful that construction will be finished in March, and we will then install the exhibits and plan for a grand opening soon after,” Wright said. “In the near future there’s going to be a very fine museum here, a very effective public resource that tells the story of these two local figures.”

The $1.1 million renovation of the old Garner Museum began in January 2009. Much of the project has been related to improving the old structure, including foundation and asbestos-abatement work, Wright said. The museum is posting updates on its Facebook page.

Vice President John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner lived in the home on North Park Street for more than 30 years. The museum first opened to the public in 1973 with exhibits focused on Garner’s life and career.

As part of the renovation, the second floor will be opened to the public for the first time, featuring exhibits related to Governor Dolph Briscoe.

“Governor Briscoe connects us with the narrative of the rest of our state, and Vice President Garner connects us with the national narrative,” Wright said. “It connects the local community in very special and meaningful ways with the state and national history.”

Be sure to check out the April issue of Texas Highways for a feature about visiting Uvalde.

One of the oldest tourism destinations in West Texas is up for sale.

Rock hounds have been making pilgrimages to the Woodward Ranch since the 1930s—and still do—to hunt for agates and gemstones on the 2,200-acre patch of prairies, mesas, and mountains, about 16 miles south of Alpine.

But after the 2011 death of Trey Woodward—the third generation Woodward to own the ranch—his widow Jan Woodward and other family members decided it was time to sell.

“It’s just too much for one woman to take care of,” Jan told me during a recent phone call. “This is what’s happening to farms and ranches all over. As people grow older and can’t continue to do the work, the children have moved away. The small family-owned farms and ranches are becoming a thing of the past. It’s like having dial-up Internet.”

Jan is ambivalent about the sale. She would be just as happy to stay. To complement the ranch’s tourism business, Jan leases the land to cattle ranchers and mule-deer hunters. Visitors can also hike around to view the wildlife or go horseback riding (on their own horses).

“I don’t want to move,” she says. “I love it here.”

Texas Ranger J.C. Bird homesteaded the ranch in 1884. His adopted sons, including Frank Woodward Sr., each inherited parcels of the original homestead.

It was Frank Sr. who realized the local geology was of interest to rock hunters—especially the red plume agate found only there. He opened the ranch to tourists in the mid- to late-1930s. (Big Bend National Park opened a few years later, in 1944).

In the late 1940s, National Geographic featured the Woodward Ranch in a rock-hunting article, Jan says.

“It’s a rock hound’s paradise,” she says. “It’s all igneous, formed by a small volcano. The remnants of it are still here. It’s known today as Eagle Peak.”

Despite the potential for a sale, Jan recently hired a foreman and has made improvements to the ranch to accommodate visitors, including improvements to the ranch’s RV and tent camping areas.

There’s a new meet-and-greet area for campers, a new restroom and shower, a new telescope for stargazing, and improvements to the two cabins. Also, as of January 1, the ranch is now open six days a week, up from three days.

“We want our guests to have a good time and be comfortable here,” Jan says. “In today’s economic uncertainties, who knows if (the ranch) is ever going to sell?”

Jan says she’d like to see a buyer keep the ranch open to rock hounds, but there’s no guarantee.

“If you want to come see it, now’s the time,” she says.