Athens Mayor Jerry Don Vaught Signs Proclamation Declaring Tourism Week

Athens Mayor Jerry Don Vaught signed the proclamation declaring Tourism Week May 3-11, 2014. The travel industry is one of Texas' largest industries with visitor spending generating $65 billion and directly supporting 568,000 jobs with earnings of $18.9 billion. Henderson County generated $125.5 million in visitor spending and supported 500 jobs with earnings of $19.5 million. National Tourism Week is annually recognized the first full week in May, a tradition first celebrated in 1984. Pictured from left to right are Pam Burton, City Administrator; Sherri Skeeters, Tourism Coordinator, showing the two-page ad promoting Athens that is in this month's issue of Texas Monthly; Mayor Jerry Don Vaught; and Lisa Fields, General Manager at Best Western Plus Royal Mountain Inn & Suites.

East Texas Arboretum's Annual Spring Gala May 3

The East Texas Arboretum & Botanical Society presents its annual Spring Gala and this year's theme is Beer, Brats and Boot Scootin'!

Get Gussied Up and join the Arboretum at 6:30 p.m. on May 3 for food, drinks, dancing, a silent auction and a roaming garden party. Visit Oma's Haus for Brats, Beans & Beer, Yellow Rose Saloon for Boot Scootin' and Aunt Tessa's Boarding House will be the location for the silent auction and dessert station.

Tickets are $50 and are all-inclusive. Tickets may be purchased online atwww.easttexasarboretum.org or at the East Texas Arboretum. Tickets are also available at the Athens Chamber of Commerce 903-675-5181 or at Redline Power Equipment 903-677-2100.

It's the most fun you can have with your boots on! For more information, please click here.

Athens Farmer's Market Opening Weekend May 3

This Saturday, May 3 marks opening weekend at the Athens Farmer's Market. The Market takes places
every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. May-October in the city parking lot located in downtown Athens, one block north of the courthouse. This year, in addition to Saturday's the Market will be open from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday's during Market season.

You'll find everything from baked good (breads, fried pies, sweetbreads and pies), tamales, jams and jellies including strawberry pineapple, peach, blackberry, blueberry, wild plum, picked vegetables, salsas, relishes and soups to locally handcrafted wines from Athens own Tara Winery.

Don't forget about organic free-range eggs, fresh grown herbs, local raw honey, granolas and sugar scrubs. The market also features local artisans handcrafted items such as wood cutting boards, screen printed t-shirts, handcrafted natural gemstone jewelry, girls tutu and hair bows.

For more information about the Athens Farmer's Market, please click here.

Cinco de Mayo Celebration May 3 at Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center

The Athens community will celebrate the joint heritage of Texas and Mexico with a day of dance, food and fishing at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center on Saturday, May 3.

The event will feature performances of traditional Mexican dances in the Hart-Morris Conservation Center beginning at 11:30 a.m. The Blackland Prairie Raptor Center will present a hawks and owls show at 1 p.m. Athens area restaurants will compete in a salsa contest, which will be judged at 2:30 p.m.

All Cinco de Mayo activities are included with regular admission to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

Highlights are the dance performances by Tyler Ballet Folklorico, Athens area elementary students and Las Tapatias, Athens' own folkloric dance group.

The Blackland Prairie Raptor Center will do walk-around displays of birds including owls and hawks throughout the day. Visitors will be able to see the birds at close range and learn about their abilities and habits.

El San Luis Restaurant will serve food in the Hart-Morris Conservation Center.

Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the joint heritage and history of Texas and Mexico. It honors an important victory of the Mexican army, led by Texas native Ignacio Zaragoza, over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The victory helped preserve Mexican independence.

Schedule of Events:

11:30 a.m. Tyler Ballet Folklorico adult dance performance

12 p.m. Dance performances by Athens ISD students and Las Tapatias

12:30 p.m. Tyler Ballet Folklorico children's dance performance

1 p.m. Blackland Raptor Center Hawks and Owls presentation

1:30 p.m. Athens ISD students dance performance

2 p.m. Tyler Ballet Folklorico regional dances performance

2:30 p.m. Salsa contest judging and Las Tapatias dance performance

For more information, please click here.

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.

Fly Fish Texas March 8 at Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center

Learn to tie a fly, cast a fly and catch a fish all in one day during the annual Fly Fish Texas event on March 8 at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

Throughout the day, experienced fly-tiers will be demonstrating and teaching fly-tying in the Anglers Pavilion on a one-on-one basis. In addition, group instruction in beginning fly-tying will be offered in the Hart-Morris Conservation Center beginning at noon. Both are offered on a walk-up basis.

Beginning casting instruction will take place all day in the Conservation Center parking lot, again on a walk-up basis. Scheduled sessions will teach single- and double-hand Spey rod casting.

For a complete schedule of activities and seminars, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/tffc and click on the Fly Fish Texas link.

Vendors will be displaying and selling fly-fishing gear, and seminars will brief visitors on where and how to fly-fish in fresh and salt waters for a variety of species. The program will include presentations on fly-fishing the Llano River and Colorado’s backcountry canyons and high-meadow streams.

Other sessions will focus on caring for fly-fishing equipment, choosing a fly rod, fly-fishing for carp, tying flies for spring bass fishing, tying trout flies, tying flies to take advantage of fish senses and rigging for trout.

Kayaks and instruction on how to use them for fly-fishing will be available on the casting pond. Do-it-yourself fly-fishing for rainbow trout, sunfish and catfish will be available all day in TFFC’s ponds and streams. Bass and rainbow trout fishing will be available in the fly-fishing pond at the end of the Wetlands Trail.

Food service will be available onsite, or attendees may bring a picnic. TFFC’s regularly scheduled dive shows will take place in the dive theater at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and will be followed by tram tours of the hatchery.

Show hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. All Fly Fish Texas activities are free with regular paid admission to the center. For more information, please click here.