Passport to Texas

Bison Fest 2018

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This is Passport to Texas

Experience living history at Caprock Canyon State Park. That’s where you’ll find the state’s official bison herd.

This bison herd was started by Charles Goodnight in 1878. It’s one of the only remnants of Southern plains bison that are left; it’s one of the five foundation herds that all bison today are related to. They’re important culturally and historically.

Donald Beard is Caprock Canyon State park superintendent. On September 22, the Texas State Bison Music Festival takes place in downtown Quitaque, Texas.

The festival is to raise awareness and to raise funds for the Texas State Bison herd and their restoration inside of Caprock Canyon State Park.

Bison Fest offers a full day and night of activities, music and dancing for the entire family; children 10 and under admitted free. Proceeds fund important work.

We’re trying to restore the park back to its original appearance prior to European settlement. Which means we’re trying to remove a lot of the invasive mesquite and junipers, and restore a lot of the rolling plains. We’re doing some scientific research on the bison; we’re looking at all that. We’re [also] trying to do some citizen science projects, where we’re trying to get park visitors involved in helping us to do some of the restoration work—or at least monitoring part of the work. We’ve got a lot of neat stuff that we’re working on.

Find ticket information and a full list of performers for the Saturday, September 22 Bison Fest at bisonfest.com.

Support for our show is provided in part by Ram Trucks. Built to Serve.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Bison Music Fest 2018–tickets on sale now.

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This is Passport to Texas

Tickets went on sale in last month for this year’s Texas State Bison Music Fest.

This year’s Bison Fest will be held September 22—that’s a Saturday. And it will be held in Quitaque, Texas, which is the gateway to Caprock Canyon State Park.

Donald Beard, Caprock Canyon State park superintendent, says the event—which he calls a street dance—helps to raise awareness of the Texas state bison herd.

This bison herd was started by Charles Goodnight in 1878. It’s one of the only remnants of Southern plains bison that are left, and it’s one of the five foundation herds that all bison today are related to. They’re important culturally and historically.

The Texas State Bison Music Fest in downtown Quitaque offers a full day and night of activities and music for the entire family.

Starting at about nine o’clock in the morning, we’ll have vendors lined up all up and down main street with all kinds of neat arts and crafts and food and other things to do. But it will be a lot of fun all day long. Music kicks off about three o’clock and will go to about eleven or twelve at night.

Find the full music lineup and ticket information for the September 22 Texas State Bison Music Fest at bisonfest.com.

Support for our show is provided in part by Ram Trucks. Built to Serve.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Music, food and fun — to support bison restoration.

Small Town, Big Fun -- Texas Bison Fest Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

On Saturday September 23 part of downtown Quitaque, Texas will be shut down…for the love of bison.

This is [for] the seventh annual Texas State Bison Music Festival.

Donald Beard is superintendent of Caprock Canyons State Park, home to the official state bison herd. The festival raises awareness and funds for continued restoration of the animals and their habitat.

This year’s event will be held in downtown Quitaque; the food and arts and crafts vendors will start at around nine o’clock. So, you can come do some shopping, buy some local goods, get some great food. We’ll have some historical reenactors so you can see what life was like in this area a couple of hundred years ago. Then, the music starts about three o’clock.

With five bands on the bill attendees will have plenty of opportunity for boot scooting. While the fun seems limitless, the tickets are not.

It’s actually a small festival by festival standards. We don’t want it to get real big. The max number of tickets we’re selling is 12-hundred. And, last year we had a thousand or so people. So, we’re getting to the point where we’re almost getting ready to start selling out.

Find complete details and ticket prices for the September 23rd Texas State Bison Music Festival at bisonfest.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Bison Music Festival

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This is Passport to Texas

The official State Bison Herd has more than doubled in size since 1997—that’s when Texas Parks and Wildlife took possession of the animals at Caprock Canyons SP.

I believe there were around 50 or so when SP became the caretaker. There’s about 130 or so that are in the herd right now.

They’re descended from the original southern bison herd that thundered across the plains before European settlers reduced their numbers to near extinction. Donald Beard is superintendent at Caprock Canyons State Park, and says more bison are on the way.

We’re getting more cows into the breeding age. So, we’re going to see a population explosion before too much longer.

Plus: the Texas Legislature named the bison the state mammal. With all this good news, we need to celebrate. So, on Saturday, September 17, the 6th Annual Texas State Bison Music Festival takes place south of the park in Quitaque, Texas.

The festival this year will be headlined by Texas icon, Robert Earl Keen. Tickets are $30 for general admission. And, the concert starts at about 3 p.m. and the vendors start at about 9 a.m. Come all day and bring your lawn chairs.

Campsites are available and there’s a$10 cooler fee. Find complete details and music line-up, plus tickets for the Texas State Bison Music Festival at bisonfest.com.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Texas State Bison Music Festival

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This is Passport to Texas

Clear your calendar the weekend of September 17 and make plans to attend the annual Texas State Bison Music Festival.

This year’s festival is in the town of Quitaque; it’s a street dance where we close off part of the street. We have arts and craft vendors, lots of food, and some fantastic entertainment this year.

Quitaque is south of Caprock Canyons State Park, home to the state’s bison herd. Donald Beard is superintendent. The festival is a fundraiser for the Texas State Bison Herd Restoration Project.

It’s a good way to have a fundraiser and have a lot of fun. This year we’re also celebrating because the bison has recently been named as our national mammal. So, we’ve got lots of reasons to celebrate this year.

Tickets are available now; festival details and ticket prices at bisonfest.com.

The festival this year will be headlined by Robert Earl Keen. We have several other entertainers: Mark Powell, Zac Wilkerson, and Kevin Deal. You can call the park for more information, or you can check us out at our website or Facebook…Texas State Bison Music Festival. The concert starts at about 3 p.m.; vendors start at 9 a.m. Come all day and bring your lawn chairs.

The Texas State Bison Music Festival, benefiting the Texas State Bison Herd Restoration Project is Saturday September 17 in Quitaque. Plenty of food and drink–including adult beverages–available from vendors.

Be safe and have a designated driver.

You can bring a cooler when you pay a $10 cooler fee.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I…m Cecilia Nasti.