This year marks a new location with a larger stage for Summerfest, San Marcos' Independence Day celebration on Friday, July 4, a free event. This year the event will be held at the City of San Marcos' San Marcos Plaza Park.

The Parade: The annual Children's Parade is scheduled for 5 p.m. Line-up will begin at 4:45 p.m. Costumed kids will be judged in "most patriotic" and "cutest divisions" with prizes awarded in each category and a "best overall" named.

Music: This year's musical lineup will feature the high-engery Austin band JUMPSTART with all types of music. Opening the musical entertainment at 4 p.m., Alton Rex and the Crabby Grass Boys will be making their fourth Summerfest appearance. Immediately after the Patriotic Program and the Children's Parade, San Marcos native David Ybarra and his LA Blues Band will take the Summerfest stage at 6:15 p.m. JUMPSTART will play its popular music mix from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., leading up to Summerfest's expanded fireworks exhibition. Closing the day for Summerfest with a performance immediately after the fireworks is the local band Trio-Faze, who plays a mix of original rock, soul and blues.

Fireworks: The fireworks show will be staged from the parking lot on the west side of Bobcat Stadium on the Texas State University-San Marcos campus.

Food & Fun: Food and activity booths will open at 4 p.m. A variety of food and other items will be available from on-site vendors. No glass containers or alcohol are allowed at San Marcos Plaza Park.

Parking: Parking for Summerfest will be available at Texas State's Bobcat Stadium and Coliseum parking lots.

For more information:
• visit www.summerfestsanmarcos.com

It's almost time for the 31st annual Harvest Celebration at Messina Hof in Bryan. Get ready to stomp some grapes!

This year's harvest events are:

Moonlit Harvest
Friday, July 18, 2008
Here's your chance to pick and stomp grapes, get a souvenir t-shirt to imprint with your purple feet, and enjoy a Vineyard Cuisine dinner at The Vintage House. Price: $69.95 plus tax and gratuity.

Harvest Daytime
Saturday, July 19, 2008 – Sunday, August 17, 2008 (Saturday and Sunday only)
You'll have your choice of four options at different prices:

Option 1: All day activities: including picking, stomping, t-shirt, lunch, food and wine pairing seminar
8 a.m.
Price - $69.95 plus tax and gratuity on Saturdays
$59.95 plus tax and gratuity on Sundays

Option 2: Picking, stomping plus t-shirt
8 a.m.
Price - $39.95 plus tax and gratuity

Option 3: Picking, stomping and lunch
8 a.m.
Price - $39.95 plus tax and gratuity

Option 4: Food and wine pairing seminar
1:30pm
Price - $19.95 plus tax and gratuity

Murder Mystery Dinners
Saturday, July 19, 2008 – Saturday, August 15, 2008
All Murder Mystery Dinners begin at 6:30 PM and cost $69.95 plus tax and gratuity.

Mystery Dinner themes:

July 19 - “Pirate Murder Mystery”
July 26 – “Celebrity Celebrations”
August 2 – “Storm Survivors”
August 9 – “Case of the Missing Matchmaker”
August 15 – “Murder on the Mound”

Harvest Vintner’s Dinners
Friday, July 25, 2008 – Saturday, August 16, 2008
All Vintners’ Dinners begin at 6:30 PM. Cost of the dinners range from $69.95 to $125 plus tax and gratuity.

Harvest Vintner’s Dinners:

July 25 – French Chateau Wines
August 1 – Beringer Wines
August 8 – Terlato Wines
August 16 – Grand Finale – Italian Wines

For more information or to register:
• call (800) 736-9463 ext. 34.

To reserve a Harvest Festival package:
• visit http://www.messinahof.com/docs/MH_%20Harvest_Reg_Form_08.pdf

For information or reservations for the Villa Bed & Breakfast at Messina Hof:
• call (800) 736-9463 ext. 22

There's a new Texas guidebook coming out this month: Amazing Texas (Jefferson Press). Recently TexasTripper caught up with the author to ask her more about this unique guide to a unique state; check out our interview just posted on TexasTripper.

Author T. Jensen Lacey will be signing books at the The Great Texas Mosquito Festival in Clute on July 24.

The long-awaited opening of Willie's Place (as in Willie Nelson) will take place later this week in the town of Carl's Corner near Hillsboro. You might be familiar with this facility; it operated for many years as a truck stop named Carl's Corner on the southbound side of I-35. After an extensive renovation and expansion, it is now reopening as Willie's Place at Carl's Corner. It's appropriate that the reopening take place on the July 4 weekend because in its Carl's Corner days, this was the setting for several of Willie Nelson's famous picnics.

The events kicked off on June 30 with a sold out private benefit but the coming days bring several public events. On July 1 and 2, the facility's Whiskey River Saloon will be host to David Allan Coe & Ray Wylie Hubbard from 8pm to midnight.

On July 3 in the Willie's Place Theater, the day will be filled with free music. Here's the schedule at present:

10am Mike Siler
1pm Heather Myles
6pm Merle Haggard
8pm Ray Price
10pm Willie Nelson

Along with three stages, Willie's Place has a restaurant, gift shop and general store, facilities for truckers, and Willie's biodiesel fuel.

For More Information:
• visit http://www.biowillieusa.com

If you love Texas books, here's an upcoming event for you: a book signing by two legendary Texas writers. Elmer Kelton and Mike Cox will be signing books on Saturday, July 5 at Fredericksburg's Books Books Books from 1-4pm.

Kelton is a seven-time Spur Award winner and Cox is a Texas Institute of Letters elected member. The two have a long list of Texas-related titles including Cox's newest book, The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900 (Forge, 2008).

For More Information:
Books Books Books
155 East Main
Fredericksburg, Texas
phone 830-997-5259