Welcome to the weekend—and another field trip!
Today we’re headed back to my home state where the east Texas city of Tyler (population 96,900) is known for its roses. It’s said that at one time Tyler grew half of the commercial roses in the U.S. Pretty impressive, huh?
I guess it would come as no surprise, then, that there’s a Texas Rose Festival. It’s been in existence since 1933, and there’s a wonderful museum that showcases festival memorabilia. You’re gonna love it!
The building isn’t particularly impressive, but beyond its doors lie the very impressive Tyler Rose Garden Center (a field trip from the past) as well as the Tyler Rose Museum.
I’d like to give this entrance a facelift, too… but inside’s a different story!
Step inside—and prepare to see sparkles. Even with poor lighting, you’ll see lots of sparkles!
Notice all of the photos on the walls.
One special event in the Texas Rose Festival is the parade… and we all know parades have royalty! Everywhere you look in this museum, there are photographs of Rose Queens—from the very first one in 1933 to the present.
Their gowns are amazing! Some feature the Queen’s monogram.
Others feature a theme. The Queen’s court doesn’t dress too shabby either!
“A Journey Through Imaginary Places”
“Circus of Dreams”
“The Lost City of Atlantis”
If you’d like to attend this year’s Texas Rose Festival, mark your calendar for October 15-18. HERE’s a brochure with all of the details—including this year’s theme.
Are there any festivals in your neck of the woods?
Is the queen’s gown as elaborate as the Rose Festival Queen’s?
Can you imagine how long it takes to sew these gowns—by hand? WOW!
I’ll be joining Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.
Macon has the Cherry Blossom Festival. Macon has over 300,000 trees that bloom in late March. There is a queen and her court. No, the dresses are not as elaborate. There is a parade, nightly concerts for 10 days, free pink ice cream handed out during downtown lunch hour, pink lawn and door decorations, and street markets on the weekends. Cherry blossoms look white on the trees., but when they begin to fall off, the streets look like they are covered with pink snow. The only thing that blooms before cherry trees is the Bradford pear; so cherry blossoms say “welcome Spring” in Macon.
Oh what sweet memories this brings back. I haven’t been to Tyler in way to long!! Thanks for sharing and I hope you enjoyed your stay in TEXAS!!!
Lived in and around East Texas all my life, but never attended this event. I have some roses from there tho. Maybe I can go this year.
Oh wow! What a great experience that was for you! I’d love to see these in person. Thanks so much for sharing!
HaPpY pInK sAtUrDaY!
Blessings,
Sarah
Oh, my! Maybe they made the exterior of that building a little drab so that the impact of those magnificent gowns! They are just stunning and I have to add this to my list of things to see in Texas now that my daughter is living there and we’re trying to see the state properly for the first time in our lives!
In our area we have the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, CA, which boasts garlic flavored everything. We live about 25 miles south of Gilroy but you sure can smell the garlic during the festival. We also have a big begonia festival about 25 miles to the west in Capitola, CA, each year. The flowers are beautiful but it’s a beach side town in CA so there aren’t any impressive gowns like that!
Have a lovely weekend,
Robin
Robin, Texas is an amazing state with so much to see! I hope you are able to take in a few sights each time you visit your daughter.
I know exactly where Gilroy is but have never been to the festival. I think I’d prefer the begonia festival, though!
Beautiful post! I had no idea that the gowns were so incredible! Thanks for sharing
Ha! A very, very, very belated Happy Pink Saturday. And, oh my goodness! This place is unbelievable, and I never even knew it existed. I would have been oohing and aahing all over those breathtaking gowns. Thanks for sharing.♥