Views of the Neighborhood – Old Town Festival

~ John W. Howell

Each year Port Aransas celebrates its roots with an Old Town Festival. This year due to the rain the popular parade had to be canceled. Also, the sand pumpkin carving contest was postponed  Other events went on as scheduled. Here is a photo review of the goings-on.

The sign points the way.

The first stop is The eighth annual Expression Session Surfing Contest. Here you seem some boards waiting for surfers.

The Texas Gulf Surfing Association is here.

A big tent with hot dogs and T-shirts and loud music.

A surfer coming in from the cold under the Horace Caldwell Pier. The Gulf  temperature is in the low 70’s

More contestants going out.

A shot of the surfers using the iPhone zoom.

Wading into the cold water.

Have to have a VW camper which doubles as a kissing booth.

Here is the kisser. A little too stiff for my taste. (a manikin)

Type A surfers.

Some young folks getting ready to surf.

An old folk pretty much done for the day.

There is also The Pawesome Doggie Surfing Contest but it had not begun yet. Here are a trio of spectators.

The next stop is the Port Aransas Hurricane Tree Recovery Campaign.

Native Texas tree plantings are free.

Some of the varieties.

More.

All you do is sign in and pick out which trees you would like.

Here is a shot of the Museum where a special surfing exhibit is on display. The sign points to the community center where storytellers are relating Wild Sea Stories which are tales of Port Aransas’ past.

Here is a shot of the community center where the stories are being told and a lunch is being served.

Farley Boat Works

Here is a photo of the Farley Boat Works which was the location for the Barn Dance Saturday night. In addition to a band, there was red or white clams linguine served.

All in all the rain did not put a damper of the Festival.

 

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53 thoughts on “Views of the Neighborhood – Old Town Festival”

  2. I used to surf when I was young and i don’t see any large waves, did they improve during the day? It’s a shame the parade was cancelled, I’ll bet some people plan for that most of the year!!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Great views of the neighborhood, John. I especially love the photo of The Kisser; it’s a classic. The 1972 license brings it all home — oh yes, I remember those days. Thank you for sharing. Hopefully, today is sunny. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  5. It seems like the Gulf temperature is down quite a bit from its summer high. No pictures of food. Shall I assume you skipped lunch and hot dogs? I love how there’s always something going on.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. It’s been so cold here, I can’t even imagine surfing… then I remembered you were way further south than I 😉 Still temps below the 70’s ain’t that bad…

    Love that they give out trees! What a great thing!

    Thanks for the tour.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. The tree giveaway reminded me of the replanting that took place in Galveston after Ike. This time, they got smart and opted for trees more suited to a barrier island than live oak. I loved that skeleton. There’s a jeep running around town here that has a skeleton wrapped around the spare tire on the back. Every time I see it, I laugh. Good to see the water temps down, too. The surfers don’t care, but it sure does mean an end to hurricane season — thank goodness!

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  14. Boss,

    Your town has a lot of festivals . . very cool.

    And I’m not gonna lie, I thought the kissing booth bandit was a real person! Buahahaha! And I was thinking she looked a lot like Darryl Hannah.

    Love the doggie surfing and that tree giveaway is awesome. Wish they would’ve been able to host the sand pumpkin carving . . .

    Thank you Mr. Tour Guide!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. There’s always something interesting to see and do in your neighborhood, John. Love the idea of free trees — should help immensely if folks will care for them properly. And I got a kick out of that skeleton! Water in the 70s might be considered “warm,” but no way would I want to be in the Gulf on a surfboard at this time of year!

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Love the idea of a kissing booth, John. maybe I should set something up along the lines of ‘hug booth?’ Great to see people being encouraged to plant trees which are free. If only we all planted at least one tree every year. Just imagine how many trees we’d replace.

    Liked by 1 person

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