Dallas / Fort Worth and Me

In 2009 the Sunnyfest will officially start on the evening of July 2nd, at 6pm.  Rain date is 10 July.

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I’ve mentioned before that you can usually find something cooking at Trader’s Village in Grand Prairie, generally in the venerable Green Expo — and this past weekend was no exception.  On June 21, the day of the wonderful Summer Equinox, the local Filipino-American population celebrated their equivalent of Independence Day:  Philippine Republic Day, which by the calendar is actually June 12. Of course, the 21st was an auspicious day for celebration, and so it was chosen for the observance.

Like many events that occur in and around the Green Expo, the PRDC wasn’t huge, but it was interesting and fun.  There were a lot of people there, too, mostly enjoying the food.

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Bah. Humbug.

I’m going to warn you before I start that this entry contains crankiness. I’m going to try not to let it affect my review of the Festival itself too badly, but I have to tell you, it’s hard not to, considering how I was treated by the people running it. And I’m good at cranky.

First of all, there are very few pictures here for a simple reason: they wouldn’t let me take any. This is why:

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A few weeks back, on April 27, I had the privilege of attending the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival — one of about 200,000 people to do so this year. It was free, after all, even if they wouldn’t let you carry any coolers inside (didn’t want to stifle the beer concessions, y’know). The festival was a wide, sprawling event that took up the Denton Civic Center area and Quakertown Park in downtown Denton. The park itself is kind of a surprise — it’s a big, open space that seems out of place in the middle of a town as densely populated as Denton is.  A historical plaque near the entrance of the park, however, tells the story. Apparently, back at the turn of the 20th century, Quakertown was a thriving African-American community. In 1922, Denton’s city fathers (who were all white, of course), decided they needed Quakertown’s 27-acre site for a park, so they held a bond election to raise the money for development, passed it, and booted the people of Quakertown out of their homes despite their opposition to the idea. Nothing unusual — it only happened a thousand times back in the old days.

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Recently, I had the pleasure of experiencing the incredible Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, which is located on the southeast shore of White Rock Lake. Now that spring’s mostly here, I figured it was a great time to finally visit. I was right. They’re right in the middle of their Dallas Blooms festival, which lasts from March 8-April 13.

All I can say is, “Wow.” I was highly impressed.

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In the so-called Mid-City of Arlington, Texas, nigh unto the Ballpark in Arlington where the Texas Rangers play baseball, lies the Metroplex equivalent of the Magical Kingdom: the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park. While there are other Six Flags parks scattered across the USA, this is the original.

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In the heart of the Fort Worth Stockyards, in a converted warehouse a few yards from the Visitor’s Center, lies the amazing historical repository known as the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Despite the name, it’s not merely a place where individual cowboys (and, yes, cowgirls) are lauded for their achievements; it’s also a storehouse of the items that working cowboys actually used in the heyday of the profession. They’ve also got a powerful large collection of wagons used by everyday people back in the 1800s and very early 1900s. Think of it as a hybrid facility that covers everything from frontier Texas life to modern rodeo, with the wagons acting as continuity, and you’re not too far off.

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A pretty sad topic really.   As I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos.

I’m please to read that finally the Covington Homes public housing complex in Texarkana is going to be cleaned up.  Those people who lived there are going to be watching their health and visiting their doctors with fear for the rest of their lives.  It’s not a pretty picture.

We wish them the best, but if worst comes to worst they should take appropriate legal action.  It’s not just for the money (though medical bills DO need to be paid) but for the principle as well.

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Still need to complete the 2010 calendar, for now please refer to the 2009 calendar.

If you have a 2010 event being planned now then let me know so it can get included in the event calendar for next year.

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If anything, the 2009 social year for the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex looks to be even busier than the 2008 season. As I did for 2008, I’ll track the events for 2009 month by month, and continue to add new events as I find out about them. I’ll attend and write about as many as I can, but of course there are certain times of the year when there’s just so much happening I just can’t make it to everything. That’s where the Skribit voting app on the top right side of the homepage comes into play. You can make suggestions for new events right there, and vote on the ones you’d like me to write about. For those instances in which two events overlap, I’ll pick the one with the most votes to attend.

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