Totally Texas -- Fall festivals in the air

No matter what the calendar says, every Texan knows the Labor Day weekend is the real end of summer. So for all of you who’ve searched for the State Fair, the Heard Museum’s robot dinosaurs and more, here are highlights of North Texas’ fall festivals.

Aug. 30-Sept. 2 -- Canton’s First Monday Trades Days isn’t just in the fall, but now there are only four more trades days till Christmas! Repeats the weekend before first Monday of each month. Free admission, parking fees vary. See www.visitcantontx.com/.

Sept. 7-9 -- Grand Prairie’s Traders Village hosts the 50^th annual National Championship Indian Pow Wow. Dance contests Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, with arts and crafts, Native food, and music. A $3 parking fee per car. See http://tradersvillage.com/grand-prairie/events/.

Sept. 13-16 -- GrapeFest in historic downtown Grapevine, a wine festival, but with family activities that make it kid-friendly. Free admission on Thursday and Friday until 5 p.m. and for kids under age six. See www.grapevinetexasusa.com/ .

Sept. 20-23 -- Addison’s Oktoberfest at Addison Circle Park. German food, polka music, dachshund racing, yodeling, carnival and more. Free admission Friday. See www.addisontexas.net/.

Sept. 22-Nov. 20 -- Autumn at the Arboretum, Dallas. Hay bale maze, storybook-themed pumpkin village, and special events. (But the Chihuly glass exhibits are only on display through Nov. 5). See www.dallasarboretum.org/.

Sept. 28-30 -- Greek Food Festival, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Dallas. Food, entertainment, vendors and children’s activities. Admission free for kids age 12 and younger. See www.greekfestivalofdallas.com/.

Sept. 28-Oct. 21 -- The State Fair of Texas, at Dallas Fair Park. The big one: parades, music, rides, football, a huge new car show, and more. And Big Tex, of course. For more information, including prices and discounts, see
www.bigtex.com/.

Sept. 30 -- 45^th anniversary celebration at McKinney’s Heard Natural Science Museum includes raptor presentations, butterfly garden tour, and yes -- a preview of the animatronic dinosaur exhibit, which officially opens Oct. 1. See www.heardmuseum.org/.

Oct. 6-7 -- Cottonwood Art Festival, Richardson. Art, music, children’s activities. See www.cottonwoodartfestival.com/.

Oct. 18-20 -- Tyler’s Texas Rose Festival, this year with an “Indochine” theme in honor of the year of the dragon. See www.tylertexasonline.com/texas-rose-festival.htm/.

Oct. 20-21 -- Edom Festival of the Arts, in Edom, in the East Texas piney woods. New artists and returning favorites. Admission’s free, minor parking fees may apply. See
www.edomfestivalofthearts.com/.

Oct. 27-28 -- Fall Festival in the Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s Japanese Garden. Traditional dance, music, martial arts, papermaking and tea ceremonies. Admission free for kids under age four. See http://fwbg.org/events/66/fall-festival-in-the-japanese-garden/.

Nov. 10 -- Heritage Syrup Festival, in Henderson. Old-fashioned preparation of ribbon cane syrup using mule-drawn equipment. Folk music and folk-life exhibits, petting zoo, and more. For everybody who’s tried unsuccessfully to find ribbon cane syrup in Dallas, this is your chance to stock up. See www.hendersontx.us/.

Totally Texas -- A bouquet of Tyler roses

Tyler Rose Garden

420 Rose Park Dr., Tyler

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The night before we planned to drive to the Tyler Rose Garden, I woke to the sound of emergency sirens in my neighborhood, high winds, rain and hail.  The TV meteorologist the next morning assured us cheerily that the strong weather front had moved off through East Texas.  My daughter, her five-year-old twin sons, and I set out, fearing the roses would be ruined.  They couldn’t have looked more glorious.

Not that the boys would have cared.  They chased each other through the maze of grassy paths between rose plantings; tottered on the edge of the ponds and fountains searching for tadpoles; and watched, with some trepidation, bumblebees as big as a little guy’s thumb buzzing over the big pink poppies in the IDEA demonstration garden.

Texas roses, even the ones called ever blooming, are at their best before summer’s heat sets in, and this April’s cool temperatures have prolonged their beauty.  Although many of the roses rebloom in the fall, they are pruned after Labor Day to promote new flowers for the Rose Festival in October, so the garden’s website advises September visitors to call (903) 531-1212 to check the status of blooms.

The garden’s fourteen acres make it the nation’s largest rose garden, but there’s more here than roses.  The IDEA garden in the southeast corner, a project of the Smith County Master Gardeners, was planned to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, and is an official an official way station for migrating monarch butterflies.  The boys can attest that it also attracts bees hungry for nectar and pollen after a long winter.

The little guys love the reflection pools of the Meditation Garden, which they remembered from all the frogs it hatched on their visit last summer.  And my daughter strolled the Camellia Garden looking for plants to use in her shady back yard.  The garden is free and open from dawn until dusk daily.  The adjoining Rose Garden Center houses the Tyler Rose Museum, which charges a fee to view the jeweled costumes of Rose Festival queens and their courts dating back to 1935, as well as interactive exhibits.