Texas Ranching Heritage exhibit opens (grandly) at Fair Park’s Hall of State

... with a family picnic in the park.

by John P. Meyer

Out in front of the Hall of State in Dallas' Fair Park on Sat., June 7, there will be a free-admission Picnic in the Park event celebrating the opening of a new exhibit at the Hall: "The Land That Shaped The People: Texas Ranching Heritage." The event is being organized by the Dallas Historical Society.

Folks are welcome to start arriving at 11 a.m., but the picnic foodstuff and chuck wagon demonstration won't be fired up and ready 'til 11:30. The chuck wagon cook will be "on duty" until 2:30, whipping up all those chuck wagon faves (beans - bean stew - bean chili - navy beans - beanie weenies...).

The exhibit itself will be open for viewing while all this picnicking is going on, so if the midday Texas sun gets to be too much for you citified pansies - I mean, tenderfeet - slink on into the cool interior and give it a tour.

At 2 p.m., the John Ford/John Wayne classic "Stagecoach" will be screened (for free!). There'll also be a raffle held for a copy of Evelyn Barker's book: A Texas Journey: The Centennial Photographs of Polly Smith.

Admission is free to all; Dallas Historical Society members will also get free lunch and raffle entries, while other attendees will have to pay for their beans and lotto. ('Course, everyone pays for beans in the end.)