84th Annual Athens Old Fiddlers Reunion Set for May 30

The 84th annual Old Fiddlers Contest and Reunion is known nationwide, and as far as we know it, is the oldest such contest that has run continuously year after year.

The big attraction is the Fiddlers Contest, which is broken down into 5 divisions, senior ages 66 and over, adult ages 30-65, young adult ages 19-29, youth ages 18 and under and the Open Division which is for all ages. There will be a playoff between the 1st place winners of each of the five divisions. This will be the Grand Champion and this person will get a Grand Prize of $600, in addition to the $200 which he or she has already won by being the 1st place winner of his/her division.

At 6 p.m., there will be an Acoustic Guitar Picking Competition for all ages. The Fiddlers Contest will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, May 30 and will run throughout the day. Beginning at 8 p.m., there will be a country western band with professional musicians playing until Midnight for the famous Street Dance.

On Friday night, before the Fiddlers Contest, a Jam Session will take place on the Courthouse lawn at 7 p.m. There will be concession stands along the sidewalks, and a carnival will be set up just off the Courthouse Square.

Schedule: Saturday, May 30
9 a.m. Invocation, Welcome Address, Western Swing Band
10 a.m. Seniors 66 and Over Contest
11 a.m. Adult Ages 30-65 Contest
12 noon Western Swing Band
1:30 p.m. Adult Ages 30-65 Contest Continued
2 p.m. Young Adult Ages 19-29 Contest
3 p.m. Youth Ages 18 & Under Contest
4 p.m. Open Division, All Ages Contest
5 p.m. Grand Champion Playoff
6 p.m. Acoustic Guitar Picking Contest
8 p.m.-12 Midnight Street Dance

For more information about this year's event, please click here.

Henderson County Go Texan Rodeo April 24 & 25

Hosted by the Athens Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Elder Chrysler-RAM-Jeep, the Henderson County Go Texan Rodeo promises to be one of the most exciting yet!

Contestants compete in events including team roping, barrel racing, calf roping, the popular 21 and older women's calf scramble and bull riding.

In addition to the rodeo, the Go Texan BBQ Cook-Off will take place on Saturday.

Following the rodeo on Friday night, there will be live entertainment provided by the Wesley Pruitt Band and on Saturday night entertainment will be provided by Randy Brown. Both concerts are free with purchase of a rodeo ticket.

Pre-sale tickets are $10 and are available at Elder Dodge, Cavendar's, Citizens National Bank, First State Bank or the Athens Chamber of Commerce. Tickets at the gate are $12.

Gates open each night at 5 p.m. and the rodeo begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Henderson County Regional Fair Park Complex.

For more information about the 30th annual rodeo, please click here.

Athens Farmer's Market Season to Kick Off in April

The Athens Farmer's Market will kick-off the season in April with extended hours. The Market takes place every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., beginning in April through the market season. In addition to Saturday's, the Market will be open from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Tuesday May through July.

You'll find everything from baked goods, tamales, jams and jellies, picked vegetables and salsas, just to name a few. Don't forget about organic free-range eggs and fresh grown herbs. The market also features local artisans handcrafted items such as wood cutting boards, handcrafted natural gemstone jewelry and more.

The Athens Farmer's Market is located in the city parking lot, one block northeast of historic downtown Athens at the corner of N. Palestine and Larkin streets. For more information about the Athens Farmer's Market, please click here.

Athens EggFest Set for April 11 at Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center

The fifth annual Athens EggFest is scheduled for Saturday, April 11 at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

The event will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cooking will end at 3 p.m.

Regular admission to TFFC will be charged; an additional $5 donation to the Friends of TFFC is required for tasting. Tasting will continue until all the food is gone.

Cooks should preregister at http://athenseggfest.wordpress.com/. There is no fee to cook.

Dozens of Eggheads will fire up Big Green Eggs and bake, smoke, grill and serve everything from breakfast casseroles to fancy desserts. While tasting, you can learn how to cook on a ceramic cooker yourself.

The theme for this year's Athens Eggfest is "Green Eggs and Ham..burgers" in recognition of Athens' status as the home of the original hamburger.

"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 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department play in keeping fishing great in Texas."

Demo eggs used at the 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.

Keep Athens Beautiful Home and Garden Event Coming March 7

The Lone Star Mower Racing Association is bringing its lawn mower races to the Henderson County Regional Fair Park Complex.

This family fun event will be part of the Keep Athens Beautiful Home and Garden Event Saturday, March 7 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This year, Keep Athens Beautiful is excited to present a fun event that is sure to be entertaining, lawn mower races!

The Lone Star Mower Racing Association will produce a show that is fast, fun, and family friendly. Tickets for this event are $5 each and races will begin at 11 a.m. Ticket holders will have a photo op with the racers and their mowers after the races.

Come on out and visit local vendors that will help provide guidance as you get ready to plant your flowers and vegetables for the summer. Some of the vendors that will be a part of the show are Redline Power Equipment, Mingus Roses, Oncor, TVEC, First State Bank, Henderson County Master Gardeners, Lowe's, Athens Tractor & Equipment, Ag Power, East Texas Arboretum, and McDade's Nursery.

The Master Gardeners Club will hold mini programs every hour starting at 9:30 a.m., such as growing worms for your garden and growing your garden from seeds.

There will be special events for families, including an activity area just for children.

For more information about the Home and Garden event, please click here.

Outdoor Opportunities Abound in Athens at Spring Break

With spring just around the corner, the City of Athens Department of Tourism is preparing to welcome nature lovers to its outdoor activities and diverse venues.

Known for its natural beauty, Athens provides an array of activities for visitors to enjoy the outdoors including bird watching, fishing, boating, nature walks and golfing, just to name a few.

Athens offers several activities to families at spring break. On March 7, Keep Athens Beautiful will transform the Henderson County Regional Fair Park grounds and Senior Citizens Building into a marketplace for the annual Home and Garden Show. The lawn mower races, hosted by the Lone Star Mower Racing Association, is a new addition to this year's annual event.

On March 14, the Cain Center will host its first St. Patrick's Day fun run Come Jig & Jog With Us. Participants can choose to participate in the 5K or 1 mile run/walk and participants may register their dog to join them in the fun. The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center will have its monthly Bird and Nature Walk and they will host the annual Fly Fish Texas on March 14. Fly Fish Texas is aimed at the novice fly fisher and will teach you how to tie a fly, cast it and catch a fish with it, all in the same day. Food vendors will be on site every day from March 10-14 at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center so families can spend the day enjoying the outdoors this spring break.

Visit the Henderson County Regional Fair Park Complex for several free events coming up on March 14-15 for Fire It Up Productions, a two-day team roping event; the following Saturday on March 21, the complex will host the World Series Team Roping; and March 27-29 will be the Texas High School Rodeo Association.

Participants come from across the country to showcase their personal recipes, meet with fellow Eggheads and share some great food with the crowd at the 5th Annual Athens EggFest on April 11 at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

The Henderson County Go Texan Rodeo, hosted by the Athens Chamber of Commerce, will take place April 24-25 at the Henderson County Regional Fair Park Complex. Contestants will compete in events including team roping, barrel racing, calf roping, the popular 21 and Older Women's Calf Scramble, and Bull Riding.

For more information about Athens, please click here.

Eggheads to Thrill Tastebuds at Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center April 11

Local lore has it that the hamburger as we know it was invented by an Athens resident, Fletcher "Old Dave" Davis, at his Athens cafe in the 1880s and introduced to the world at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. A reporter for the New York Tribune wrote from the fair of a new sandwich called a hamburger, "the innovation of a food vendor on the pike." While the food vendor was never named, enough evidence existed that the person was none other than Fletcher Davis of Athens, Texas, that the 80th Texas Legislature adopted a resolution naming Athens as "the Original Home of the Hamburger."

Fast-forward a century and you find people cooking hamburgers and almost everything else on Big Green Eggs, ceramic cookers with devotees from coast to coast.

Put the two together and you get Green Eggs and Ham...burgers, a friendly gastric get-together known to most as an Eggfest, which will take place April 11 at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) in Athens.

Participants will come from across the country to showcase their personal recipes, meet with fellow Eggheads, and share some great food with the crowd. In addition to regular admission to TFFC, there is a $5 fee for tasting if you pre-register online before the event, $10 if you don't. Proceeds from tasting fees benefit TFFC education programs.

Visitors can also go fishing, see a diver hand-feed fish, and walk our Wetlands Trail. A variety of vendors will be on hand with kitchen and grill-related products.

Individuals interested in owning a Big Green Egg may purchase once-used eggs at substantially discounted prices following the event.

For more information about the event, please click here.