Athens EggFest 2014 Set for April 12 at Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center

The fourth annual Athens Eggfest is scheduled for Saturday, April 12, at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC).

The event will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cooking will end at 3 p.m. Tasting will continue until all the food is gone.

Regular admission to TFFC will be charged. Those who preregister will be allowed to taste for a $5 donation to the Friends of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

Persons who do not preregister can still taste by making a $10 donation to the Friends of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center at the event entrance.

Both cooks and tasters may preregister at http://athenseggfest.wordpress.com/. There is no fee to cook.

This year’s Eggfest will feature guest cook Tyron Smith, known to Dallas Cowboys fans as Number 77. The TFFC Eggfest can be thought of as an ultimate tailgate cookout. Dozens of Eggheads will fire up Big Green Eggs and bake, smoke, grill and serve everything from breakfast casseroles to pork bellies to wild game to blueberry muffins to pig candy. It will all be cooked on the iconic ceramic cookers, and samples will be available for tasting.

The theme for this year’s Athens Eggfest is “Grillin’ and Chillin’.” An Eggfest is not a cooking competition, it’s a tasting frenzy accompanied by cooking instruction. Food will be coming off the Eggs all day long, starting with breakfast-type items in the morning and progressing to heartier foods as the day goes on. While tasting, you can learn how to cook on a ceramic cooker yourself.

“The basic idea behind the Eggfest is to get people outdoors, and what better way to do that than by offering them delicious food,” said Allen Forshage, TFFC director. “And while they are here, we hope they will take time to fish in our ponds, walk our Wetlands Trail and learn about the role TFFC and TPWD play in keeping fishing great in Texas.”

Demo eggs used at this event will be available for purchase at the end of the day. Click on the link above to reserve a once-used ceramic cooker prior to the event. For more information about Athens Eggfest, please click here.

Outdoor Fools Day Packed with Fun Activities

Learn a variety of outdoor skills and engage in activities such as archery, fishing and kayaking. Improving your outdoor skills is the focus of Outdoor Fools Day. The event showcases outdoor recreation opportunities in East Texas while teaching some of the skills needed to enjoy them, such as fishing, outdoor cooking, birding, and more.

Staff from Purtis Creek State Park will teach camping and kayaking skills. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department aquatic education staff will teach the basics of fishing. Fly-fishing expert Bob Cappallo will help you catch a rainbow trout from TFFC's casting pond, and then a volunteer will help you clean it and cook it on a Big Green Egg. Volunteers from Project Healing Waters will demonstrate fly-tying in the Anglers Pavilion.

Live animal displays will let you get up close to reptiles and raptors. Wildlife on the Move will present a variety of interesting creatures at noon followed by a see-and-touch session at 3 p.m. The Blackland Prairie Raptor Center will present a raptor show at 1 p.m. and also conduct a walk-around displays on the grounds. Staff from Sea Center Texas will be on hand with their popular salt-water touch tank.

Other stations will let you sample tasty foods cooked in a Dutch oven; see fish swimming in a glass-bottomed stream; see skins, tracks and skulls of predator and prey animals and learn how people lived in the Middle Ages.

Sky Ranch will be on hand with their popular rocket-making and shooting station and the Big Woods Archery Club will be handling the archery range.

Regularly scheduled dive shows in which a diver hand-feeds fish will take place at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Guided bird walks will take place on the hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Outdoor Fools Day takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 29 and is free with regular paid admission to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. Click here for more information.