Wildflower Trails a success, despite stormy weather

Wildflower Trails is an annual event/festival that celebrates the start of the wildflower blooming season for three area communities. The Wildflower Trail consists of Highways 49, 155, and 11 between Avinger, Linden, and Hughes Springs.

There are literally thousands of different varieties of Wildflowers naturally occurring in the area. Although the blooming of wildflowers is unpredictable, the last full week in April has proven to be one of the most beautiful.

Avinger

The event Avinger event started on Thursday with an Art and Photography show which ran through Friday. On Saturday it started with the Wine Garden opening up at 11:00 a.m. Wine tasting was offered all day.

At noon was a Hot Dog Eating Contest Sponsored by Sonic of Linden. “How do I feel,” Michael Shute said. “FULL!” Shute won the hot dog eating contest by being the first to finish ten hotdogs. His prize was a Hot Dog trophy and a cash prize of $500.

At 4:00 p.m. they kicked off their community Parade, with 79-year-old Spike Salmon who “is Still Organizing Parades ... and Chasing Horses. When you visit Avinger resident Spike Salmon, youd best wear your running shoes. At the end of his seventh decade, Mr. Salmon is marking his 20th year of overseeing the Avinger Wildflower Trails parade.”

At 5:00 p.m. the festivities began to end in Avinger with Bingo at the VFD Building. Family and area communities enjoyed all-day shopping, food trucks, East Texas Spyder Ryders, Jeep Show, raffle, dunking booth, wildflower seed bombs, an art and photography show, and so much more. Kids’ activities included Fishin Hole, mural, animal edu- cation, face painting, and more.

Linden

Linden festivities began Friday at 4:00 p.m. and ran until 8 p.m. that night with shopping and fun.

Linden’s Saturday event ran from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. It began with the pancake breakfast, followed by the pie bake-off, beard-growing contest, arts and crafts vendors, and food trucks!

Also on Saturday were bounce houses, obstacle courses, and gel blasters for the kids! The local talent shined with an art show, flower show, car Show, and quilt Show. There were live performances throughout the day by: Jesse Jenkins, Colt and Allen Williams, and Stevie Ray and the Deacons.There was also a parade at 2:00 p.m.

Hughes Springs

Another Wildflower Trails weekend has come and gone, and despite Mother Nature’s best efforts, the weekend seemed to go off without a hitch in Hughes Springs.

The 53rd Annual festival kicked off in Hughes Springs with the carnival and Chamber of Commerce Plant Sale on Wednesday, although rainy weather cut those festivities off early. Thursday and Friday allowed for periods of enjoyment at the festival, and the forecast looked bleak for Saturday. However, Mother Nature gave festivalgoers a pass on the rain for Saturday but kept mild temperatures for most of the day.

Saturday’s events kicked off with the annual parade at 10 a.m. From Wildflower Trails royalty to the Mighty Mustang Marching Band, the parade showed the best of “Backroads and Wildflowers.” One highlight of the parade was a large oak tree that made its appearance during the parade. The tree, dubbed the “Big Daddy Oak,” was a product of the Hughes Springs Wildflower Trails 5K from the previous week. Organizers of the 5K used the event’s date of Earth Day to raise funds to replace trees damaged in Spring Creek Park during the November 2022 tornado. The “Big Daddy” will be a focal point of the park’s regrowth and feature a sign that read, in part, “We were knocked down, not out!”

Also featured in the parade were gymnasts from Steel Belt Gymnastics Academy. Following the parade, current and former students gathered near the gym to celebrate 50 years of Mrs. Greta Wright offering gymnastics and cheer classes to the community.

Following the parade, festivalgoers had a variety of booths to visit in Spring Park as local musicians played on the Spring Park stage throughout the day. Festival goers also had a variety of food offerings to partake of, from typical festival food of funnel cakes, corndogs, and lemonade to a fish fry and more. The evening ended with the annual street dance, which feature the band, “Del Rio.”