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36 Articles

Growing up in San Antonio, writer Cat Cardenas heard conjunto music everywhere. “Even when I wasn’t necessarily seeking it out, it’s a genre that was always around me,” she says. Cardenas wrote “Stomp Your Feet, Clap, and Have a Good Time” (Page 62) about the Mexican American musical style. Though she’d heard it her whole life, she found the genre difficult to define for almost everyone she spoke with. “For some people, it was just as simple as ‘a group of musicians,’” Cardenas says. “For others, it came down to the specific instruments used, and others said, ‘You know it when you hear it.’” FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS SPENCER CAMPBELL The Dallas-area native visited Brownsville’s annual Charro Days festival with his wife, a Valley native, and their son. “From the food to the history to…

Roadside Oddity: Bobz World Travelers on their way to South Padre Island via State Highway 100 encounter larger-than-life sculptures of a coral reef, dinosaurs, conch shells, and a volcano, with a King Kong-esque gorilla looming in the background. This is Bobz World—an amusement park and souvenir shop in Los Fresnos dreamed up by Robert Harris, one of the top seashell purveyors in the world. The Toughest Tortoise in Texas Residents of Mission have rescued Spike many times over the years. But no one was sure if the African spurred tortoise could be saved after he suffered third-degree burns when a fire broke out at his home inside the National Butterfly Center in 2020. This summer, Spike is expected to receive a prosthetic shell that is the first of its kind. Honky-Tonk Heaven For folks looking…

A QUOTE IN THIS ISSUE from Grammy-winning producer and Roma native Edgar Barrera aptly sums up the pull the Rio Grande Valley has on its residents: “There’s glue in the cement here.” Senior editor Danielle Lopez, who grew up in McAllen, can attest to this phenomenon. Though she’s lived in Austin for more than a decade now, she returns to the Valley every couple of months to visit family and friends and get a dose of that RGV magic. “There’s this idea of when you’re Valley, you’re Valley,” she says. “There’s pride to the identity.” That pride and deep sense of community is a through line in this special RGV edition, marking the first time we’ve devoted an entire issue to the region that is often underrepresented in the media. For…

READER FEEDBACK Crosstown Rivals As a Permian graduate and third-generation Odessan, I want to thank you for your well-written article capturing the spirit and excitement of this year’s OHS-Permian football game [“Tonight, It’s Personal,” July/August]. Anytime OHS wins a game against Permian, it is news that deserves to be the centerpiece story of a great magazine like your 50th anniversary edition. JIM CUNNINGHAM, DALLAS The rivalry between Port Neches-Groves and Nederland makes Odessa/Permian look like a middle school game. We are the original “Friday Night Lights.” LEANNE ST. JOHN Small Town Shout-Outs I was pleasantly surprised when I received the 50th anniversary issue of Texas Highways magazine [July/August]. One article that stood out was “Small Talk.” What excited me was my hometown of Longview being chosen. What an honor! JAY SHEPHERD, LONGVIEW My wife and I were delighted to…

NOT SURE WHERE to start your journey through the Rio Grande Valley? Try following the Texas Tropical Trail, part of the Texas Historical Commission’s heritage program. The trail offers a list of museums, historical sites, and attractions that capture the region’s history and culture. In San Juan, the Gelman Stained Glass Museum stuns with striking displays of nearly 200 stained-glass windows from the 19th and 20th centuries. Just a block away is the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle. Designated a national shrine in 1998, it holds services for up to 1,800 people and rents on-site lodging. In Brownsville, visit the famous Gladys Porter Zoo or the Palmito Ranch Battlefield State Historic Site, where the final land battle of the Civil War was fought. Follow the trail…

THE RGV The Rio Grande Valley goes by many names. But you’ll most often hear it called the RGV, the Valley, or even El Valle. PURO 956 You’ll see this slogan of Valley pride plastered on bumper stickers, T-shirts, and artwork across the RGV. The numbers are the region’s area code, and the phrase means something is so Valley. MONTE The region’s native habitat is made up of wild and thick thorn brush and tropical plants. “Monte” refers to an area that’s been untouched and left to grow freely. AHHH After someone tells a joke, they might click their tongue, stick it out, and go “Ahhh!” It’s a way of saying “just kidding.” LA FRONTERA This literally translates to “the border” or “the frontier.” Sometimes residents refer to themselves as “fronterizos.” OJO If someone says they like something you’re wearing, they…

EL DISCO SUPER CENTER 2012 S. International Blvd., Progreso Lakes BEHIND THE GRAND doors of El Disco Super Center in Progreso Lakes, south of Weslaco, is an explosion of color. The walls of the 20,000-square-foot shop are covered in Mexican Talavera ceramics and paintings for sale. Other handmade goods include painted straw hats, garden pots, embroidered clothing, and Mexican ranch-style furniture. El Disco first opened in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, in 1979. Owner Francisco Pulido opened the shop when he was just a teenager to sell records and cassettes. Over time, El Disco evolved into a massive market, selling everything from liquor to jewelry. As border issues caused a decrease in traffic from American customers, Pulido opened the U.S. location in 2013. The store sells a variety of home décor from artists and businesses based…

ON THE FIRST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH, local vendors, artists, and musicians set up shop around Brownsville’s historic Market Square, engaging in a centuries-long tradition. Built in 1850, just two years after the border city was founded, the recently renovated Spanish Colonial Revival building once served as an open-air market for Brownsville’s earliest residents. The surrounding downtown buildings—built in a style that marries New Orleans flourishes and Mexican architecture held together by Rio Grande mud—were once the city’s hub. But in the late 20th century, downtown began to fade. Today, a crop of Brownsville natives is revitalizing the area. For nearly a decade, the city has been working to restore the town’s buildings, open new businesses, and bring awareness to an area that had long been forgotten. “We really have something…

ALPACA YOUR BAGS

CHAIN HOTELS ARE as ubiquitous in the Rio Grande Valley as palm trees. Whether looking for a historic stay or a birder’s paradise, travelers seeking lodging with unique character may have to search a bit, but it’s well worth the effort. At Alpaquita Ranch, one of the RGV’s more recent novelties, guests are greeted by friendly, free-roaming alpacas adorned with bows and bandannas. Located in Monte Alto, Alpaquita offers two cabins: the Casa Suri and Casa Huacaya. Both provide a modern, alpa cathemed resting spot complete with outdoor porch swings and plenty of space to feed the animals. The furry creatures come to say hi as soon as they hear the rattle of food containers from the front porch. Open since 2019, the 10-acre working ranch is the first alpaca farm in…

ALPACA YOUR BAGS

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

JUST SOUTH OF Abram sits a Mon tezuma bald cypress that’s more than 900 years old. The tree lives between the border wall—constructed on Texas soil—and the Rio Grande, which acts as a natural boundary between the United States and Mexico. In 2017, artist and musician Andres Sanchez took friend and business partner C. Díaz to see the famed arboreal specimen to scout a film project. Literally rooted in a place between worlds, that cypress is an apt symbol for what the visual artists would eventually create—the Harlingen-based ENTRE Film Center. Founded in 2021, the cooperative provides education around cinema and is building a film archive that documents the culture of regional border communities. Taking a historical view of the Rio Grande, before the river became a dividing line, Díaz explains, “It…

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

VINYL COLLECTORS accustomed to dusty, sweaty crate digging are in for a surprise at Pharr Out Records. A cheery interior mural featuring citrus trees, monarch butterflies, and a music-loving giant named Melódico greets visitors and hints at a different experience. Opened last year in Pharr’s historic downtown, in the Rio Grande Valley, Pharr Out is already a destination for a variety of genres and eras. The owners—married couples Isaac and Jade Herrera and Zach and Rebecca Myers—provide an interactive record store experience. They’re as happy to engage aficionados in esoteric conversations about underrated musicians and regional labels as they are introducing neophytes to the influential regional Mexican American music they specialize in. “Folks who are just starting out—or if you’re a collector who’s not extremely savvy in Tejano music—they really benefit from…

ON MY FIRST visit to South Padre Island in 1967—several years before the Queen Isabella Causeway was constructed, back when the only way onto the island was by boat—dining options were the Palmetto Inn and the Jetty Café. The only amusement for a teenager like me was renting a motorcycle at Andy’s Sand Box to drive on the beach. Then, I had a hard time believing my father’s prophecy: “Someday, this will be Miami Beach.” It seems he was right: SPI has grown into a world-class beach resort with the wide strip of fine white sand fronting the Gulf of Mexico its main draw. Modern additions include a Ferris wheel, bungee jumping, zip lines, horseback and helicopter rides, minigolf, and go-karts. Still, sand and shore are why crowds continue to pack…

A CHORUS OF GRITOS

YAYA, A 5-FOOT, 73-year-old ball of energy, darts around us, flitting in and out of the room, each time entering with a pile of photographs. There’s Yaya as a 7-year-old—decades before her daughter and my wife, Ana, came along—beaming from the top of a float festooned with posies. Another photo captures her aboard a wagon honoring Costa Rica, finger firmly inserted in her nose. “Ofelia de la Garza, my godmother, put me on a float for Charro Days every year,” Yaya says. Ana and I lie in bed, having driven to Yaya’s house on South Padre Island late the night before with our 2-year-old son, Tommy, who’s watching Thomas the Train at the foot of the bed. Yaya shows us another photo: my wife at 3 in a China poblana dress,…

A CHORUS OF GRITOS

THE MAN IN THE LINER NOTES

AS A CHILD, Edgar Barrera stumbled A onto his future career in the liner notes of his father’s favorite records and CDs. Thumbing through an extensive collection of Tejano, norteño, and cumbia classics, he realized someone was responsible for bringing these songs to life. “I still have a very vivid image of looking at the track lists and realizing all of the songs had been written by somebody,” he says. “I’d look at people’s names in the credits and think, ‘Hopefully someday that’ll be me.’” Today, the 34-year-old Roma native is one of Latin music’s most sought-after songwriters and producers. He’s won 21 Latin Grammy Awards, and he earned a Grammy in 2024 for Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical. He’s collaborated with global superstars including Madonna, Ariana Grande, and Shakira, while…

THE MAN IN THE LINER NOTES

2015 The producer earned his first Grammy Award for his work on Más + Corazón Profundo, the 14th studio album from Colombian singer-songwriter Carlos Vives. 2018 Barrera teamed with songwriters Andrés Castro, Jesús Herrera, and Oscar Hernández to co-write and produce “El Anillo” for Jennifer Lopez. The track rose to the top of Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart. 2019 While working with Ariana Grande’s producer, Tommy Brown, Barrera got the chance to play a sample for the singer. She listened to the thumping R&B beat he had made, and in less than an hour she came away with the lyrics for her song “Boyfriend.” 2022 Barrera reworked a version of the song “Bebé Dame” by Fuerza Regida and recorded it as a collaboration between them and Grupo Frontera. The track peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. Hot…

THE MIGHTY MONTEZUMA

EUGENE FERNANDEZ STEPS out of his along La Posada Drive in Brownsville. A local historian and expert on the Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum), Fernandez points toward the tree line as he explains how this place—the Montezuma Cypress Preserve, adjacent to La Posada Park—is the last remaining stand of old-growth Montezuma cypress in the United States. “The Spaniards calculated there were 10,000 of these trees,” Fernandez says, referring to the population as it once stood across the Rio Grande Valley. “The reason they’re no longer here is they’re the only viable lumber tree. That’s what happens with being too beautiful. They’ll hack away at you.” We step through a curtain of foliage, and suddenly the preserve expands in all directions, an oasis of 41 hulking Montezumas up and down the dry resaca…

THE MIGHTY MONTEZUMA

MONTEZUMA CYPRESS PRESERVE The half-mile park is open to the public, and a restored 1898 brick bridge allows further exploration. 1325 La Posada Drive, Brownsville. MONTY This 900-year-old tree across the border wall from Abram may be the oldest Montezuma cypress in the region. Prepare to travel the unpaved Border Fence Service Road and cross through one of the open gates; ask a Border Patrol agent where it’s located. A wooden plaque stands next to the tree. FALCON LOOP A Montezuma cypress is located off Falcon Loop near the Valley Land Fund’s Salineño Bird Preserve. The area is managed by a wildlife sanctuary, and the tree can be seen by looking upriver. Call ahead as access to the site is restricted. 956-686-6429…

WESLACO MAKE IT RAIN

TIM SMITH is as much a fixture in the Rio Growing up in the bitter winters of Indiana, Smith never imagined he would become the most trusted weatherman in South Texas. After graduating from Indiana University with a degree in broad cast journalism, he heard from a college buddy working at KRGV in Weslaco. He urged Smith to apply for a spot on the weathercast. “It was snowing in Indiana and the pictures of the Rio Grande Valley showed beaches and palm trees,” Smith says. “I took a chance.” That was 1981. Now in his 43rd year at KRGV, Smith feels right at home. “I’ve been fortunate that I feel like I’ve become friends with the whole audience,” he says. Most of the time, Smith forecasts warm and breezy or just plain…

WESLACO MAKE IT RAIN

EVERYTHING WE HOLD DEAR

WE DRIVE ALONG Cesar Chavez Road W in the small city of Alamo, past the once beautiful farmhouse with the front porch where my tío, tía, and three primos lived. I open my window. Instead of smoke from my tío’s barbecue pit greeting my senses, I get a whiff of the unmistakable smell of boiling corn. Elote! But the aroma is not emanating from the house. It’s coming from across the street. “This used to be my tío and tía’s house,” I tell my three kids. “Before this was César Chávez, it was called I Road.” It’s 2019. My uncle and his family have moved away, and the house is abandoned, overtaken by grass and time. My children are not interested. They are preoccupied with where we are going and not what’s…

EVERYTHING WE HOLD DEAR

IN THE BEGINNING FOR MY RIO GRANDE VALLEY

in the beginning there were orange blossomsin the beginning there were towering palm treesin the beginning there was the heavy morning dewand the screams and songs of urracas and cenzontlesgolondrinas and ruiseñores chachalacas and palomas everything here is loved by a sun bright like a burning candleby the wind convinced ferocity is the only way to show passionby the blue sky stretching everywhere so immense so immensethe horizons hardly seem able to contain it and the volcanic sunsetsthreaten to spill over and then the nights so sweet so dark all stars this is the earth i think of when i think of what earth smells likei say tierra mojada and mean only one place in the worldif i am made of earth this is the earth i am made ofrio grande rio…

IN THE BEGINNING FOR MY RIO GRANDE VALLEY

THE Magic VALLEY

Home is where the palm trees greet me like old friends. Their towering silhouettes in the distance come into focus as I make my way south on US 281, signaling my arrival in a land unlike anywhere else in Texas: the Rio Grande Valley. Everything’s a little different here. Though the days are hotter, an evening breeze atones for the sun’s brutality. With no mountains, hills, or skyscrapers in sight, the land seems to go on forever. Proximity to the coast turns everything a little sticky, but in a way that makes me nostalgic for bike rides along the canal behind the duplex where I grew up. It’s as if the Valley exists in an endless state of summer. Even when it’s supposed to be cold, it never really is. Such is…

THE Magic VALLEY

STOMP YOUR FEET, CLAP, AND HAVE A GOOD Time

Remember, this music tells a story. Patricia Avila can still hear her late father, Reynaldo Avila Sr., reciting this refrain to her and her siblings. Their family road trips in the 1970s and ’80s from San Benito to Mexico were scored by songs of the conjunto greats—masters of the accordion and bajo sexto. Along the way, all seven family members piled into the crimson station wagon they called “The Big Red,” Reynaldo would press play on the tape deck and pepper them with fun facts and questions: This was the first song to use electric bass, but do you recognize the accordion player? “He would ask us about the meaning of the song, what the singer was trying to say, or just tell us trivia about the artist and what they accomplished,”…

STOMP YOUR FEET, CLAP, AND HAVE A GOOD Time

Regional Mexican Music

CORRIDO This narrative ballad touches on a variety of subjects, from corruption and crime to working class struggles and heartbreak. RANCHERA Originating in rural areas, this Mexican version of country music touches on love, life, and national pride. It’s known for its use of the “grito”—a Mexican war cry. BOLERO Originally from Cuba, the Mexican bolero added trumpets, violins, and requinto guitar to sweeping emotional ballads, creating a style that became a staple in the 1940s and ’50s. NORTEÑO Defined by its geography, norteño utilizes accordion and bajo sexto like conjunto but places emphasis on vocal performances. It blends Mexican corridos and rancheras with German, Polish, and Czech polkas. TEJANO Once a reference for music created by Texas-Mexican artists, modern Tejano took shape in the 1970s and ’80s when the accordion-based sounds of conjunto and norteño fused with the…

Regional Mexican Music

Conjunto Legends

LYDIA MENDOZA Known as the “Meadowlark of the Border,” Lydia Mendoza’s powerful voice and skill on the 12-string guitar catapulted the Houston native to fame in the 1930s and ’40s. Her recordings with Narciso Martínez, Tony de la Rosa, and Gilberto López played a crucial role in popularizing conjunto in the 1950s. Start with “Mal Hombre.” RUBEN VELA An upbeat accordion player, Ruben Vela of San Antonio incorporated electric bass, guitar, and synthesizers into his ensemble during the 1970s and ’80s. This made conjunto a staple on the radio and in dance halls. Start with “El Coco Rayado.” EL CONJUNTO BERNAL Founded by brothers Paulino and Eloy Bernal of Raymondville, El Conjunto Bernal set themselves apart with complex two- and three-part harmonies. Paulino experiments with the accordion, creating a sound that became the new standard…

Conjunto Legends

SAVOR THE MOMENT

JUST A SHORT WALK FROM THE RIO GRANDE, THE AFTERNOON SUN WARMS THE CRACKED PASTEL PINK-AND-WHITE FACADE ON THE 1884 MANUEL GUERRA BUILDING IN ROMA. Inside, the thick brick walls cool the interior, but the retired Canadian and Midwestern snowbirds around me are alight with the warmth of smoky, mezcal-like spirits. Attired in safari outfits and dangling cameras, these Winter Texans have arrived fresh from a March birding excursion to sip the hard-earned results of the state’s premier agave distillery. Opened in 2021 by Leonardo Sanchez and his business partner, Eduardo Ocampo, Ancestral Craft Spirits was initially met with reactions ranging from surprise to outrage from friends in Mexico. An agave distillery in Texas? The very notion was considered sacrilege to their southern neighbors. Sanchez’s critics in the industry were quick to…

SAVOR THE MOMENT

Subtropical jungles filled with the calls of migratory birds and brilliant flashes of butterfly wings. Thornscrub patrolled by indigo snakes and ocelots. Gulf Coast marshes where seabirds wheel and alligators scull beneath the boardwalks. In a state that prizes its slices of wilderness, the Rio Grande Valley stands supreme. The region sits at the crossroads of continent-spanning flyways and North American and Latin American faunas providing a patchwork of ecosystems and the winding border river that binds them all. It is also an ecosystem under threat from the vast forces of agricultural and real estate development. “When I began working here in 2016, we had 5% left of our native thornscrub,” says Stephanie Lopez, interim executive director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission. “These areas have been destroyed, cleared for…

An Appetizing Epic

AUG. 28, 1821 Agustín de Iturbide tastes the first chile en nogada in Puebla after signing the Treaty of Córdoba. Some say it came from the Clarisas, a group of nuns in the Order of Saint Clare of Assisi. 1832-1896 The lifespan of Azcárate Pérez de Traslosheros, one of the first in Puebla to document a recipe for the dish. 1980 Mexican diplomat Artemio de Valle-Arizpe publishes Sala de Tapices. According to his reporting, the dish was created by three women who prepared it for their boyfriends in the Ejército Trigarante army. 1989 Laura Esquivel’s recipe-based novel, Like Water for Chocolate, concludes with a chapter on chiles in walnut sauce. 2011 Ricardo Muñoz Zurita opens Azul Condesa. The restaurant is now considered one of the most famous place to eat chiles en nogada in Mexico City. 2013 A version of the…

DESPITE ITS PROXIMITY to Mexico, the Rio Grande Valley isn’t known for chiles en nogada. The fabled and emblematic red, white, and green dish is a seasonal delicacy, mostly eaten in restaurants in Mexico during September to celebrate the country’s 1810 independence from Spain. So, when Alfredo and Roxanna Treviño first offered it in 2021 at their Weslaco restaurant, Nana’s Taqueria, few customers or staff members had even heard of chiles in walnut sauce. “Some of the ingredients I’d never come across before,” says Aneth Salaya, one of the cooks first tasked with making the chile relleno-like dish that originated in Puebla, Mexico, over 200 years ago. “But once you start tasting the plate and seeing the bigger picture, it’s an overwhelming feeling.” Besides the breadth of novel new ingredients, it was…

WHEN I WAS 10 years old—after living in Indiana my whole life—my parents moved us back to their home state of Texas. To celebrate, our extended family took us to The Round-Up Restaurant in Pharr, widely considered the fanciest Mexican eatery in the Rio Grande Valley at the time. I joined everyone around a cramped table, but menus never arrived and our order wasn’t taken. My uncle simply held up three fingers, and a besuited waiter soon appeared with a triple-sized platter of sizzling fajitas stacked high on a bed of chips, beans, and cheese. “Welcome home!” my family shouted in unison, before lancing fajita meat with forks and shoveling handfuls of cheesecovered tortilla chips onto plates. This was my introduction to a niche RGV specialty: the botana. Though the word—which can…

To Serve and Connect

ANITA’S CAFÉ Edinburg This Valley fixture is a callback to the family-style restaurant where owners and patrons knew each other by name. Though they have a great buffet, their botana platters are among the best anywhere. facebook.com/anitascafetx LA CASA DEL TACO Mission A visit from Bill Clinton in 2000 inspired the claim that this Valley favorite is “The president’s choice for Mexican food.” Dine in The Presidential Room, where Mikhail Gorbachev also sat and enjoyed a meal. casadeltacorgv.com CASA DE MARISCOS Weslaco Don’t let the name fool you. Though ostensibly a seafood spot, this mid-Valley destination serves delicious botana platters heaping with fajitas and fixings. Along with large portions, you’ll be treated to serenading musicians playing vihuelas. facebook.com/casademarisco LAS VEGAS CAFE Harlingen If you’re on the other side of the Valley in Cameron County, good botanas are still available. This casual…

GROWING UP IN Durango, Mexico, Nadia Casaperalta recalls feasting on the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, known as tuna, until she was bloated from the seeds. Despite any digestive distress caused by her enthusiastic overconsumption, the culinary educator at South Texas College in McAllen says, “It’s honestly one of my favorite memories, even though I’d get scolded every time.” Now based in Elsa, Casaperalta’s career has been influenced by those childhood trips to her relatives’ farm in Los Lirios, and the wild edible treasures to be found there. She would harvest nopales and mulberries, and drink aguamiel—the sap of the Mexican maguey plant. But come summer it was all about the tuna, which her family would both pick themselves and purchase from local roadside vendors. “Prickly pears grow everywhere along the…

Texas products taking advantage of the bright flavor of cactus

SYRUP Brushfire Farms’ prickly pear simple syrup is made with South Texas fruit. Use it to perk up cocktails or seltzer water, in vinaigrettes, or drizzled atop waffles, pancakes, and pound cake. brushfirefarms.com JERKY Non-GMO soybeans get a hit of sweet heat and smoke in All Y’alls Foods’ vegan jerky, in flavors like prickly pear-teriyaki. allyallsfoods.com JELLY Pinche Cactus Ranch in Rocksprings produces a rosy-hued jelly perfect for slathering on English muffins, biscuits, or toast. pcrjellies.com SPIRITS Cheers to a lovely blush-toned prickly pear vodka from Western Son Distillery in Pilot Point. Lightly floral, with notes of strawberry and melon, it’s the perfect sip for the dog days of summer. westernsondistillery.com…

Texas products taking advantage of the bright flavor of cactus

1/Always obtain permission before foraging on private property. Note that foraging is prohibited in city, state, and national parks, but it is legal to harvest above-ground plant parts from roadsides. 2/If you’re foraging, bring tongs, a pocketknife, and gloves. If you’d prefer to purchase the fruit, it can be found at H-E-B, Latino markets, and flea markets like Pulga de Alamo in the RGV. 3/Don’t overharvest from a single plant, as it can affect its ability to reproduce, depleting an essential food source for wildlife. 4/All tuna are covered in tiny spines called glochids. Remove by charring the fruit or cutting the top and bottom off each oblong sphere. Holding it between gloved thumb and forefinger, make a shallow vertical cut with a paring knife, and roll the skin off. 5/Tuna will keep up…

TRAVEL RESOURCE GUIDE

1 Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau 2 Addison, Texas 3 Andrews Chamber of Commerce & Convention & Visitors Bureau 4 Art Museum of South Texas 5 Austin Zoo 6 Bandera County Convention & Visitors Bureau 7 Bastrop County Tourism 8 Blanco Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau 9 Brady/McCulloch County Visitors Center 10 Briscoe Western Art Museum 11 Cameron Park Zoo 12 City of Alvin 13 City of Buda Department of Tourism 14 City of Denison 15 City of Grand Prairie 16 City of Harlingen Convention & Visitors Bureau 17 City of Huntsville 18 City of Kyle 19 City of Port Isabel 20 City of Portland 21 Cleburne Chamber of Commerce 22 Clifton Chamber of Commerce 23 Clute Convention & Visitors Bureau 24 Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce 25 Corsicana Convention & Visitors Center 26 Cuero Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture & Visitors Bureau 27 Destination Bryan 28 Discover San Angelo 29 Dobie Dichos 30 Dripping Springs Visitors Bureau 31 Dumas…

TRAVEL RESOURCE GUIDE

BIG BEND COUNTRY ALPINE Trappings of Texas Sept. 12-14 More than 50 artists display their work at the nation’s longest-running annual exhibit and sale of premier Western art and custom cowboy gear. Museum of the Big Bend, 400 N. Harrison St. 432-837-8143; museumofthebigbend.com EL PASO Tom Lea and Contemporaries Sept. 4-Jan. 26 The story of El Paso’s creative community is told through works by one of the most prolific Southwestern artists of the 20th century, along with several of his peers. El Paso Museum of Art, 1 Arts Festival Plaza. 915-533-0048; epma.art FORT STOCKTON Barrio Fest Sept. 13-15 Celebrate Hispanic culture with kids activities, educational exhibits, historical tours, food and craft vendors, and live music. Fort Stockton Community Theatre, 102 S. Nelson St. 432-299-1220; fscommunitytheatre.org MIDLAND Tall City Blues Fest Sept. 21 Six concerts featuring musicians from six states offer a range of blues styles. The…

FOLLOW THE FRUIT to the southern tip of Texas. This is the state’s produce aisle, where 86,000 acres of sandy, arable soil are dedicated to producing fruits and vegetables. Rio Grande Valley farmers specialize in growing citrus, most notably the Texas red grapefruit, which was named the official state fruit in 1993. The Valley has long been a hub for agritourism; this scene from 1979, captured by Texas Highways photographer Jack Lewis, shows a miniature locomotive chugging through the narrow passages between fruit trees at the Live Steam Museum in Alamo. Carfuls of riders live their zest life as they pass bumper crops of grapefruit, oranges, and tangerines. The now-defunct museum once boasted the “largest juice bar in Texas” and catered to Winter Texans who returned to the Valley each…

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