Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival:
This Yuletide celebration, which originated in 14th century England, brings together traditions of the English Renaissance with a celebration of Epiphany. A dramatic procession of dance and music is performed by 150 local players in period costume at the First Christian Church, 3401 Santa Fe.

Nueces County Junior Livestock Show:
The annual event, held in Robstown for 60 years, features a variety of market exhibits, homemaking exhibits, a parade and a horse show. Display and judging of exhibits takes place during the week, with events held at the Robstown Showbarn.

Refugio County Jamboree:
Country, western and gospel music are featured at the Refugio County Community Center in Refugio. Monthly every fourth Thursday. All-gospel Jamboree occurs every time a month has a fifth Thursday.

Corpus Christi Young Artist Competition:
Del Mar College's annual competition. Young people from the United States and several foreign countries compete for the Young Artist Award, which includes a guest performance with the Corpus Christi Symphony.

Czech Heritage Festival:
Held annually in Corpus Christi, this year at Memorial Coliseum, the festival features authentic Czech bands, polka dancing and lots of Czech favorite foods such as sausage, various kinds of kolaches and assorted pastries. Imported Czech arts and crafts are featured, and Czech descendants wear colorful costumes distinctive to certain districts of the Czech Republic.

South Texas Ranching Heritage Festival:
Watch blacksmiths and old-time artisans making horsehair braids, saddles and chaps at this community-sponsored festival. Other events and entertainment include a ranch rodeo and cook-off, cowboy poets and storytellers, food, dance and live music. Held at Texas A&M University-Kingsville campus and J.K. Northway Exhibition Center.

Violet Germanfest:
Organized by German settlers' descendants in the rural community of Violet, four miles west of Corpus Christi International Airport on State Highway 44, the Germanfest keeps alive traditional music, food, song and dance. There's also a country store, and vintage car and antique tractor displays. Proceeds benefit the Violet Museum.

Fulton Oysterfest:
Raw and fried and by the dozen, oysters are king for a weekend. There's an oyster-shucking contest, live entertainment, nightly dances and arts and crafts booths. Sponsored by the Fulton Volunteer Fire Department; held in Fulton, 30 miles north of Corpus Christi, at Fulton Navigation Park.

Old San Patricio Rattlesnake Races:
In celebration of the 25th anniversary, special entertainment will be added to the snake racing, snake eating (deep-fried), snake handling and snake souvenirs to raise funds for the Old San Patricio Restoration Society. From Five Points in Corpus Christi's Calallen area, take Farm Road 624 to Farm Road 666, go north four miles to the Community Hall and the Snake Grounds.

Folklife Celebration:
The two-day folk festival features traditional folk artists demonstrating their work, and includes folk music, dance and food booths at Heritage Park. Sponsored by Corpus Christi Park and Recreation Dept.

Freer Rattlesnake Roundup:
This event includes live music, a carnival, a daredevil snake show and snake contests with prizes for the longest rattlesnake, the most snakes and the snake with the most rattles. You can partake of rattlesnake delicacies, attend a dance or browse the many arts and crafts booths. Held in Freer, west of Corpus Christi out Highway 44.

Buccaneer Days:
Corpus Christi's 11-day festival offers a smorgasbord of entertainment -- including an illuminated night parade, tournaments and competitions, a sailboat regatta, a carnival, military and school bands, fireworks, live entertainment, the Buccaneer Days Coronation Pageant. A four-day PRCA Pro Rodeo is held the week prior. The carnival is held along Shoreline Boulevard next to Memorial Coliseum.

Portland's Windfest:
Chili and bean cook-offs are featured along with a parade, kite flying, a street dance, carnival, arts and crafts, and entertainment all weekend at the Community Center. Proceeds benefit Portland's nonprofit organizations.

Bishop Olde Tyme Faire:
The Chamber of Commerce presents this spring festival at Bishop City Park, corner of Business Highway 77 and Joyce Street in Bishop. Activities include games and entertainment.

U.S. Open Windsurfing Regatta:
An international field of competitors takes to Corpus Christi Bay at Oleander Point during Memorial Day weekend for this windsurfing event with pro and amateur divisions. The bluff at Cole Park offers perfect viewing of the boardsailors.

Ingleside Navy Days:
Events include a beauty pageant, a classic car show and tours of mine sweepers and helicopters at Naval Station Ingleside.

Corpus Christi Maritime Festival:
The Port of Corpus Christi sponsors this one-day event, which includes exhibits by maritime and related industries, live music, a shrimp boil, rescue demonstration, silent and live auction, and the Mayor's Cup Regatta. Proceeds support the Seamen's Center.

Juneteenth:
This festival commemorates the arrival of the news of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas. The celebration at South Bluff Park, sponsored by local churches and organizations, features fashion shows, dramatic plays, gospel music, jazz bands, rap groups, food, and arts and crafts booths.

Texas Jazz Festival:
Designated in 1989 as the official jazz festival for Texas, this event attracts more than 100,000 people. The festival is free to the public and is held in the Memorial Coliseum area. It features more than 30 national and Texas jazz bands and spotlights local artists. Also included are jazz instrument improvisation clinics, food, dances and a special jazz Mass held at Memorial Coliseum.

Rockport Art Festival:
High-quality arts and crafts line the waterfront. This show attracts top artists from across the state. Jazz music and plenty of food complement this festival.

Pan de Campo:
Translated bread of the camp or fields, Pan de Campo draws about 30,000 visitors annually to San Diego's Plaza de Alcala on State Highway 44. Activities include a softball and volleyball tournament, parade, live Tejano music, and pan de campo cook-off. The event is sponsored by the San Diego Chamber of Commerce.

La Feria de las Flores:
A presentation of LULAC Council No. 1 to raise funds for college scholarships. Young women, each representing a republic of Mexico, compete to sell advertisements and obtain sponsors to pay their entry fees in the contest. The winner is crowned queen and receives a scholarship.

Port Aransas Days:
Sponsored by the Port Aransas Rotary Club as a fund-raiser for public park facilities and college scholarship funds, Port Aransas Days features the "Weiner Nationals," a Dachshund dog race. Other activities include a carnival, live entertainment, arts and crafts, gumbo judging, beauty contest and champagne cruise. Held at Robert's Point Park.

Fiesta En La Playa:
Rockport's festive seaside activities include live music and folklorico dancers, carnival, arts and crafts, along with fajitas, tacos, tamales and other fine Mexican foods. Held at Rockport Festival grounds.

Aransas Pass' Annual Shrimporee:
Located on 12 acres of Community Park on Highway 361 and Johnson Avenue, this event is sponsored by the Aransas Pass Chamber of Commerce to benefit nonprofit organizations in Aransas Pass. This festival features continuous live entertainment, arts and crafts, a children's area, carnival and, of course, shrimp cooked in a multitude of ways: fried, boiled, Cajun boiled, skewered and in gumbo. Visitors will enjoy a parade and outhouse racers vying for The Captain of the Head Award. Included are a run and a walk, a shrimp-eating contest, a men's sexy legs contest and a coloring contest for kids. A beauty pageant held the week before names Miss Shrimporee.

Diez y Seis:
A celebration of Mexico's independence from Spain that includes el grito, the re-enactment of the shout that signaled the beginning of Mexico's revolt, at Memorial Coliseum. Mariachi festivals and several parades are held in Corpus Christi and surrounding areas.

Bayfest:
A Corpus Christi weekend festival celebrating its 20th anniversary in 1996 with fireworks, a sailboat regatta, tugboat race, Team Rollerblade, regional cheerleading competitions, a Scooby Doo show, a multicultural area and a children's area with demonstrations. There's also top-name entertainment during this event, which covers nine blocks and draws about 160,000 visitors to the bayfront. Bayfest is a tastefest, too, with dozens of food booths offering everything from smoked turkey legs to corn-on-the-cob to gorditas. Folksy to far-out creations of more than 100 exhibitors are for sale.

Rockport Seafair:
A championship gumbo-cooking competition, a crab beauty contest of glitter-encrusted crustaceans and an international crab race are just part of this fall fair, held on the festival grounds next to the ski basin. The festival starts with a parade and continues through the weekend with entertainment, a sailing regatta, an anything-that-floats-but-a-boat-race, a water ski show, a bike show and a carnival.

Czechfest:
Billed as the "biggest block party in Northwest Corpus Christi," Czechfest is at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, four miles west of Five Points on Highway 624. The two-day event celebrates the culture of Czech pioneers who settled in the area now occupied by Robstown and Calallen. Activities include a teen dance, an adult dance, a carnival and games, a turkey shoot, Czech music, a Czech meal and barbecue, kolaches and a large auction.

Grayfest:
Organized by senior citizens, Grayfest features something for everyone, including a variety of entertainment, arts, crafts, information and health screenings. A favorite is the silent auction, sponsored by the Senior Link, Southwestern Bell and Gray Gazette, offering antiques, pottery, glassware and many other items. One person is chosen annually as Outstanding Senior of the Coastal Bend. The weekend event is held at the Memorial Coliseum.

Fiesta del Campo:
Falfurrias celebrates with arts and crafts, carnival rides, games, trail ride, and softball, horseshoe and volleyball tournaments at Ed and Mary Lasater Park. There's also pan de campo, cowboy stew cook-offs, and country and conjunto music.

Greek Festival:
Held at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 502 S. Chaparral St., the festival highlights a large selection of Greek foods and pastries, from simmering souvlaki (shish kebab) to melomakarona, koulouria and, of course, baklava. Hellenic Greek dancers perform, and other festivities are accompanied by Greek music.

Fiesta de Colores:
Kingsville Playhouse of Design, an artists group, hosts a handcrafted arts and crafts show featuring artists from across the state at J.K. Northway Exhibition Center. In the show's 26th year, proceeds fund four scholarships for A&M-Kingsville students.

Taste of Corpus Christi:
Staged each year by the Coastal Bend Restaurant Association, the "Taste" invites all to come out and sample the many different types of cuisine to be found in Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend. Tasters can sample taste-size offerings from more than 50 restaurants at the Bayfront Plaza Convention Center. Proceeds go to Food For Thought scholarship fund.

La Posada de Kingsville:
A multi-weekend festival begins with the King Ranch's annual Ranch Hand Breakfast. Other events include musical dramas, street dances and live music. The Parade of Lights wraps up the celebration on Dec. 7.

Vattman Thanksgiving Feast:
What started out as a social gathering more than 80 years ago has evolved into a gigantic Thanksgiving feast staged by the Vattman community, south of Kingsville. The celebration serves as a fund-raiser for members of Our Lady of Consolation Church. Parish members feed an estimated 2,000 people each year.

Harbor Lights:
Thousands of multicolored lights are turned on simultaneously along the bayfront at the beginning of Corpus Christi's annual Harbor Lights Festival; they remain on through the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The festival starts with a children's parade on Shoreline Boulevard, followed by fireworks and a boat parade. Local choirs, mariachis, and others entertain on several stages in the festival area on Shoreline.

Christmas Tree Forest:
More than 50 trees are decorated by various Corpus Christi organizations, artists and schools each year at the Art Museum of South Texas, 1902 N. Shoreline Blvd. Trees are decorated according to a theme, such as 1996's "Heavenly Harmony Christmas."

Winter Texan Fish Fry:
Held annually the first week in December at the Paws and Taws Building on Fulton Beach Road in Fulton. Sponsored by the City of Fulton and the Fulton Fire Department, which cook up a fish feast to show appreciation of winter Texans. Entertainment and door prizes.

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All original material © 1996 Caller-Times Publishing Co.