At 6pm on Thursday, March 29, the 34th Windfest festival begins with Carnival Night and admission is free! Friday the celebration begins at 6pm and includes arts and crafts, food booths, activities for children, art show, fireworks and live music.

Saturday morning begins at 10 am with a parade. Over 30 floats, dancers, jugglers and marching bands will thrill spectators as they make their way down Wildcat Drive. The festival grounds open after the parade. This day will be jam packed with live music, arts and craft vendors, food booths and an art show. The fun goes on until Midnight with clown shows, Wild West shoot out performances and magic shows for the kids and cook-off and horseshoe and washers tournament for the adults.

The children will truly enjoy the kid fair all day with special appearances by their favorite cartoon characters and a variety of hands-on activities. A petting zoo, face painting and a carnival full of adventure will also provide entertainment for all ages throughout the weekend.

Sunday, April 1, festivities will begin at 12 noon and Dachshund owners will gather from around the region to register their pet in the annual Windfest Dachshund Dash for cash and prizes. Families will seek excitement by watching the United Style Stunt Group perform throughout the evening with their bikes as they thrill the crowd with jumps, loops and high-ramp tricks.

While in Portland, you may want to stay at SeaBreeze RV Park, a nice Good Sam and TACO RV park on the water. Portland is just across the bay from Corpus Christi. For more information on the RV park and the surrounding area, please see this series of posts.

Tags: portland, windfest, family fun

Sand Sculpture from 2006 SandFest
(click to enlarge picture)

With 27 Master Sculptors competing this year, SandFest has become the largest Master Sand Sculpting Competition in the USA.

This year, journey to Port A and see the contest in person. March 30–April 1 is the actual contest and celebration, but if you want to go on down to the coast now, you can see 25+ Master Sculptors put the finishing touches on the SandFest sculpture, which contains 250+ tons of sand!
You will want to go to Mustang Island, between Ave G and Access Rd 1A, near Beach Markers 9 and 10. If you are staying in a hotel, ask about the B bus. You may park at Sharkey’s at 2600 Hwy 361 and take the free shuttle to the SandFest courtesy of The Texas Treasure.

Check out all the activities here. There will be a pet parade, youth activities and music all weekend. So bring the kids and bring the dogs! Do not forget the camera and the suntan lotion!

The World’s Toughest Boat Race, the Texas Water Safari (TWS), will start at 9 am on June 9, 2007 in San Marcos, Texas. The TWS is a grueling world-class race of up to 100 hours, and is the grand finale to several marathon canoe races held in Central and South Texas each year.

Texas River Marathon Canoe Race Map

The first marathon race this year will be the Texas River Marathon Canoe Race, the 45-mile preliminary to the Texas Water Safari, which will be held on May 5, 2007. This race is from Cuero to Victoria. Finish positions in this preliminary race will determine the starting positions for the Texas Water Safari.

Dupont Swinging Bridge to Seadrift Canoe Race Map

The 34-mile canoe race from Dupont boat ramp to Seadrift Bayfront Park on May 19, 2007 covers the final leg of the Texas Water Safari route.

To see the calendar of all marathon events, see the official site of the Texas Water Safari.