A Great Start to the Summer

Even though it's not officially summer yet, our summer starts when the grandkids get to spend 6 weeks with their Dad. We drove up to Marble Falls to pick them up and, on our way back to San Antonio, we stopped in Blanco Texas for the Lavender Festival.

Blanco is located in Blanco County, Texas on Hwy 281. It's a small town with a population of 1739. Founded way back in the mid 1800's, it was once listed by the New York Times as the worst place to live citing the "crime wave of 1868". Today it is a nice safe little town populated with ranchers and farmers with lots of visitors drawn to the Texas hill country. There are rolling hills of rocky limestone and rivers through the area. The limestone creates a slightly alkaline PH in the soil which makes it a natural agricultural joy. Lavender loves rocky, dry, slightly alkaline soil as so many other plants. Rob Kendrick, a national geographic photographer who lives in the area was shooting a story in Provence, France when he notices that the landscape was similar to his home in the Texas Hill Country. He and his wife Jeannie planted 2000 lavender plants upon their return home. Other lavender farms followed and the first ever lavender festival was held. This year is the 10th Lavender Festival.

There are all kinds of booths located around the county courthouse. The festival is so popular that they have a bus to transport visitors from a distant parking lot because the parking around the courthouse isn't nearly sufficient.

Interesting booth where they make huge crepes that have either sandwich or dessert type fixings in them.

There are lots of items for sale utilizing lavender like soap, essenses, and seeds. And then there are other crafts as well.

You could even find all kinds of cowhides.

Maybe you would like to try some lavender wine or cookies or ice cream?

Just off the squar, a zodeco band was playing cajun music and people were dancing in the shade.

It made for a very interesting break in the drive home. You can also visit the lavender farms in the area so we'll be back to try that another day.