February means Mardi Gras parades, Valentine’s getaways, and hints of spring
Easter Island Heads in Victoria (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
Head scratcher. Since the late 1990s, three Easter Island Heads have mysteriously watched over the Zac Lentz Parkway (Loop 463) in the northeastern corner of Victoria. It turns out the replicas of the moai, the islanders’ word for the heads, were built and put there by Alvin T. Dincans, a local rancher and plumber who passed away last year at the age of 87. Basically, he did it for the fun of it and to see if he could. He ultimately made 15 of his 7-ton, 13-foot “concreations.” One was donated to Riverside Park in Victoria and placed at the intersection of Memorial Drive and McCright Drive. The other concrete statues are on property he owned in Seadrift and on his ranch outside of Victoria. Alvin did his homework on the Polynesian statues that average twice the size of his statues. He even copied the markings of a ship on their chest from the originals.
These are not Texas’s only Easter Island statues. There are two pseudo moai in Ingram at the Hill Country Arts Foundation. One is wearing a sombrero or maybe it’s a pukao.
Easter Island Heads, Victoria, northbound frontage road of Loop 463, south of Jung Tile & Granite, 5208 NE Zac Lentz Pky., free.
The Burnt Bean Company in Seguin landed on the James Beard Awards list for the second time. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
Bon appétit. Congratulations to the 19 Texas restaurants and chefs (plus another 20 in the Best Chef: Texas category) selected as semifinalists in the 2024 James Beard Awards last month. When you consider the hundreds of thousands of restaurants around the country, just being a semifinalist is quite an honor. Among the list of Outstanding Chefs were David Kirkland and Ernest Servantes of Burnt Bean Company of Seguin. It’s always great to see traditional Texas barbecue get the national credit that it so justly deserves.
This is not the first time Kirkland and Servantes have appeared on the James Beard list since opening in 2020 in a store front across the street from the Guadalupe County Courthouse. In 2021 they were proclaimed fourth best barbecue joint in the entire state by Texas Monthly.
Servantes honed his smoked-meat chops on the barbecue cookoff circuit. In the competitive world of Texas barbecue, pitmaster Kelli Nevarez at the award-winning LaVaca BBQ has credited him with being a mentor. The company’s name comes from when a friend, sarcastically joked, “you’re probably going to burn the beans.”
The James Beard Awards have recognized the best in American food culture since 1990. Winners will be announced on June 10 in Chicago. For daytrippers, the list of semifinalists is a culinary road map to places to check out around the state and country.
Burnt Bean Barbecue Co., 108 S. Austin, Seguin, Thur.-Sat. 11am-3pm, Sun. 8am-2pm, www.burntbeanco.com.
Travel Notes:
If you can’t make it to Valentine, Texas, to put a love lock on the fence, have your Valentine’s Day card postmarked from there. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
From Valentine, TX, with love. Each Valentine’s Day the postmaster receives hundreds of requests to have their valentine postmarked from Valentine, Texas. To have your valentine sent from Valentine, place your card in an envelope pre-stamped and addressed to your special someone. Place this in another envelope and mail it to: Valentine’s Day Postmark, Postmaster, 311 W California Ave, Valentine, TX 79854-9998. The postmaster will mark your envelope with a special postmark from Valentine, TX. In order to make sure greeting cards receive the special postmark and are delivered in time for Valentine’s Day, requests should be sent to the address above by Feb. 5. There is no added charge for requesting up to 50 Valentine, TX, pictorial postmark cancellations.
Underground art. A new site-specific media and sound installation by artist Rachel Rossin comes to the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern on Feb. 2 and stays until Nov. 2. In a journey around the Cistern, characters, and symbols will appear on LED hologram screens, while kinetic features and lighting augment the architecture of the space and play upon the water’s reflective surface. Taking key inspiration from sources including the classic children’s story, The Velveteen Rabbit, the work will take viewers on a journey that questions both the real and the imagined.
No show. The University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) has discontinued public tours at the Amos Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) in Port Aransas. The abrupt halt to the tours was due to a change in permit policies implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for captive species enclosures for birds. The ARK facilities have rehabilitated sick and injured birds and sea turtles since 1999. Tours of the facility, which began in 2021, gave the public a behind-the-scenes look at the animal rescues that often began with notification from beachgoers. The ARK will continue its crucial mission of rescuing and rehabilitating birds, sea turtles, terrestrial turtles, and tortoises from Mustang and San Jose islands, according to a press release. At least 270 cold-stunned sea turtles were brought to the ARK during the January cold snap. The turtles were released as they recuperated and the water temperature rose above 50 degrees. UTMSI offers other public education programs at the Patton Center for Marine Science Education and Wetland Education Center in Port Aransas and the Bay Education Center in Rockport.
On the move. Several studies have shown that African Americans make up a small percentage of visitors to national and state parks. That’s why it was news in 2021, when Outbound Collective, an outdoors group, claimed that Slim Pickens Outfitters in Stephenville was the only Black-owned outdoor recreation retailer in the country. Jahmicah and Heather Dawes opened the shop in a former Rexall Drug Store on the town square in 2017. Last month they announced they are moving the operation to Mingus in mid-February. The new shop will be next to the historic Smokestack Restaurant on I-20. It will also be just up the road from the new Palo Pinto Mountains State Park outside of Strawn which is scheduled to open later this year. Mingus is across the highway from the ghost town of Thurber, the site of the W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas. Until 1931, Thurber was famous for making bricks that were used around the state, including paving Congress Avenue in Austin.
Eat More BBQ in 2024. Discount tickets are on sale for 11th Annual Houston Barbecue Festival on April 14 in the Humble Civic Center Arena. I mention this three months in advance of the event because, if I wait until April, the tickets may be sold out. With more than 30 pitmasters in attendance, this festival outgrew the beer hall at Saint Arnold Brewery. The cooks will be handing out a mixture of tried-and-true smoked meats and experimental recipes.
Other February Events:
Jump to a region: Big Bend | Gulf Coast | Hill Country | Panhandle | Piney Woods | Prairies & Lakes | South Texas | Out of State
BIG BEND
Watch the rock climbers at Hueco Tanks State Park. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Feb. 15, Alpine, www.lonestarcowboypoetry.com
Hueco Rock Rodeo
Feb. 16-18, El Paso, americanalpineclub.org/huecorockrodeo
Valentine’s in Valentine
Feb. 17, Valentine, www.valentineinvalentinetx.com
GULF COAST
Galveston welcomes everyone to the annual Mardi Gras celebration. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
Radiant Nature: See the Garden Glow
Through Feb. 25, Houston, www.hbg.org
Mardi Gras! Galveston
Feb. 2-13, Galveston, www.mardigrasgalveston.com
Mardi Gras SETX
Feb. 8-11, Beaumont, www.mardigrastx.com
Pardi Gras
Feb. 10, Aransas Pass, www.aransaspass.org
Barefoot Mardi Gras
Feb. 10, Corpus Christi, www.barefootmardigras.com
Rice University Walking Tour
Feb. 10, Houston, aiahouston.org/v/event-detail/Rice-University-Walking-Tour/29q
Clay Expo and Bountiful Bowl
Feb. 10-11, Rockport, www.rockportartcenter.com
Crowning the North: Silver Treasures from Bergen, Norway
Feb. 11-May 5, Houston, www.mfah.org
Bird Banding
Feb. 17, Lake Jackson, www.gcbo.org
All kinds of shore birds will be on display at the Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
Whooping Crane Festival
Feb. 22-25, Port Aransas, www.portaransas.org/whooping-crane-festival
Dive Into the Gulf Exposition
Feb. 23-25, Galveston, www.moodygardens.com/dive-expo
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Feb. 27–March 17, Houston, www.rodeohouston.com
Charro Days
Feb. 29-March 2, Brownsville, www.charrodaysfiesta.com
HILL COUNTRY
Carnaval Brasileiro
Feb. 3, Austin, www.sambaparty.com
Old Gillespie Jail Tour
Feb. 3, Fredericksburg, www.pioneermuseum.org
Kerrville Renaissance Festival
Feb. 3-4, Kerrville, www.kerrvillerenfest.com
Hill Country Wine Symposium
Feb. 5-7, Horseshoe Bay, texashillcountrywineries.org
Living History
Feb. 10, New Braunfels, texashandmadefurniture.com/livinghistory
Valentine’s Farm to Table Balloon Experience
Feb. 10, Fredericksburg, thebestoftexas.org
Come and Taste It
Feb. 15, Gruene, www.grapevineingruene.com
Suzanna’s Kitchen Coffeehouse Concerts
Feb. 15, Wimberley, www.wimberleyumc.com
Try a bowl of red at the Castell Store Chili Cook-off. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
Castell Store Chili Cook-off
Feb. 17, Castell, www.facebook.com/groups/142869584063
U.T. Trombone Choir in Concert
Feb. 18, Fredericksburg, www.fredericksburgmusicclub.com
Texas Testicle Festival
Feb. 24, Fredericksburg, thebestoftexas.org
PYO Tulips
Late Feb. (depending on weather), Marble Falls, sweetberryfarm.com/index.html
PANHANDLE
Remember Lubbock’s native son on the Day the Music Died. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
N.C. Wyeth and the Golden Age of American Illustration
Through March 31, San Angelo, www.samfa.org
The Day the Music Died
Feb. 3, Lubbock, ci.lubbock.tx.us/departments/buddy-holly-center/events
Buffalo Soldier Heritage Day
Feb. 25, San Angelo, www.fortconcho.com
PINEY WOODS
Winter Fantasy Faire at Faire of Champions
Through Feb.11, Palestine, www.faireofchampions.com
Helen Lee’s Daffodil Garden
Mid-Feb.-March, Tyler, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083016203161
Prison City Film Festival
Feb. 23-March 2, Huntsville, www.prisoncityfilmfestival.com
PRAIRIES & LAKES
Dinosaurs Live!
Through Feb. 19, McKinney, www.heardmuseum.org
Central Track: Crossroads of Deep Ellum
Through May 31, Dallas, aamdallas.org
Lunar New Year
Feb. 2-4, 10-11, Grand Prairie, www.asiatimessquare.com
Pearl Texas Bluegrass Jam
Feb. 3, Gatesville, www.pearlbluegrassjam.org
First Saturday Service Day
Feb. 4, Bastrop, pplt.org/events
Black History Month Special Events
Feb. 4-23, Dallas, www.aamdallas.org
Czech Festival
Feb. 17, Ennis, www.ennisczechmusicfestival.com
Gemboree
Feb. 17-18, Georgetown, www.wcgms.org/gemboree.html
National Margarita Day
Feb. 22, Dallas, www.visitdallas.com/food-drink/margarita-mile
Texas Fly Fishing and Brew Festival
Feb. 24-25, Mesquite, www.txflyfishingfestival.org
Dallas Blooms
Feb. 24-April 8, Dallas, www.dallasarboretum.org/events-activities/dallas-blooms
SOUTH TEXAS
The San Antonio River Walk hosts Mardi Gras river parades. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
Washington’s Birthday Celebration
Through March 2, Laredo, www.wbcalaredo.org
Birding Festival
Feb. 7-10, Laredo, www.laredobirdingfestival.org
San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo
Feb. 8-25, San Antonio, www.sarodeo.com
Mardi Gras Celebration and River Parades
Feb. 10, San Antonio, www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com
Jalapeno Festival
Feb. 17, Laredo, www.jalapenofestival.org
OUT OF STATE
Chocolate Fantasia, XOCLATL: Mayan Chocolate
Feb. 10, Silver City, NM, www.chocolatefantasia.org
2024 Kentucky Bourbon Classic
Feb. 21-24, Louisville, www.bourbonclassic.com
Gerald McLeod has been traveling around Texas and beyond for his “Day Trips” column for more than 25 years. Keep up to date with his journeys on his archive page and follow him on Facebook.
