| Two-step under the stars Garner State Park a Texas favorite 06/03/2001 By KATHRYN STRAACH / The Dallas Morning News
CONCAN, Texas – For six decades, South Texas teens have saved, planned,
schemed and sneaked to Garner State Park to two-step under the bright,
twinkly stars.
The open-air pavilion outside the Depression-era stone concession
building is very likely the state's longest-running No.1 teen hangout.
Even more amazing, the jukebox is filled mostly with oldies, and
"oldies" themselves – people over 30 – share the dance floor with the
adolescents.
Chalk it up to the "Garner experience" – Dirty
Dancing, Texas-style.
Garner State Park might not be the Catskills, the setting for the
popular Patrick Swayze/Jennifer Grey movie of more than a dozen years
ago, but many a "Baby" and Johnny have passed through here looking for
the time of their lives.
And generations of families have found just that. To the half-million
people who journey here each year, making Garner the No.1 state park for
reservations in Texas, the park is almost paradise.
Located 31 miles north of Uvalde, Garner isn't the state's most easily
accessible park, but campers and dancers have no problem cruising the
back roads of the Hill Country to reach the rocky cliffs and chilling
crystal-clear water of the Frio River.
Who can resist the Frio – which means "cold" in Spanish – as it swirls
and cascades over smooth, polished limestone bedrock under an awning of
tall bald cypresses? Sheltering the park are bluffs covered with cedar
elms, live oaks and junipers.
During a sizzling summer day, the Frio is the park's centerpiece. Guests
splash in the river or hop onto paddle boats, tubes or floats, squealing
at the refreshingly chilly water.
At cooler times, the energetic hike the east or west loop trails,
totaling about six miles. About seven years ago, Diane and George
Foshee, who hiked the trails as children, re-established the routes and
began offering interpretive hikes during spring break and the summer.
Their efforts have increased safety, particularly on the popular Mount
Baldy.
Other popular draws are fishing, bicycling, bird-watching (there are
more than 200 species here) and the 18-hole miniature golf course. For
some visitors, the white-tailed deer and wild turkeys that roam through
the park are amusement enough.
For additional entertainment, however, a new program called "Cowboy
Sunset Serenade" was introduced a few years ago. The performances, held
nightly through the summer, give an overview of the history of the
American cowboy through songs and poetry. Instrumental in developing the
program is park interpreter and education manager Frank Roberts, a.k.a.
"The Singing Ranger."
No doubt, visitors come for the natural setting, but Garner has another
lure: tradition.
It's a big factor in an area where towns are spread out and small, Mr.
Roberts says.
Generations of families, who have used the park as a social gathering
spot for decades, return year after year, often staying as long as
permitted, which is two weeks at a stretch, Mr. Roberts says.
They set up housekeeping in one of Garner's 17 cabins (13 with
fireplaces), 40 screened shelters or more than 350 campsites.
"Some people stay their two weeks, leave for a day, and then return for
another two weeks," he says.
For many, it's dancing and music that keep calling them back.
Singer B.J. Thomas credits Garner State Park with launching his career
during the park's dancing-frenzied heyday in the 1960s and '70s. Before
the Houston-area native found fame with hits such as "Raindrops Keep
Falling on My Head," Mr. Thomas spent several of his summer evenings
here camping with friends.
In 1963, he made sure that his record "Billy and Sue," performed with
his band, the Triumphs, was included on the jukebox, he says. After
that, the song started getting air time in Houston. A year or two later,
one of his band members, Mark Charron, wrote "Garner State Park," a song
the band performed for a dance show put on at the park by Houston's
Larry Kane.
"He was Houston's version of Dick Clark," Mr. Thomas says.
"Garner State Park" has been on the jukebox ever since and remains one
of the most popular tunes here.
"Garner was instrumental in making our band a success," says Mr. Thomas,
who has fond memories of those days.
"The word that comes to mind when I think of Garner is 'romance,'" Mr.
Thomas says. "It was a wonderful, romantic time."
It still can be, judging from Garner's popularity. The park can handle
up to 30,000 people at one time, but, upon occasion, it has to shut its
gates. Reservations are a must for campers, and they're hard to get in
summer. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, tickets to the hottest play
on Broadway might be easier to snare.
"We close when cars can't get through," Mr. Roberts says. The only time
he has seen that happen has been on the Fourth of July.
In summer, park roads are packed with families looking for campsites,
parking places or the river – and teens just looking.
Garner, on the southern edge of the Edwards Plateau, opened in 1941,
making it one of the state's oldest parks. It was named after John Nance
Garner, former Uvalde resident and one of Franklin Roosevelt's vice
presidents.
The Civilian Conservation Corps began construction on the park in 1935
using native materials such as cypress, limestone and oak to build many
of the facilities. The CCC built the large concession building and
pavilion in the French-Alsatian style with stone walls and exposed
wooden beams, as well as cabins, roads and trails. It's here where the
dances take place.
Although the dances may not be quite the draw they were in the 1960s and
'70s, teenagers and their families are still attracted to the park.
Dances are held nightly during summer and on weekends in fall and
spring. Although the park generally keeps the Top 10 country songs on
the jukebox, some of the songs date to the 1950s.
"It's some of the corniest stuff," Mr. Roberts says. A few of the most
popular songs include "Blackland Farmer," Michael Jackson's "Rockin'
Robin" and Mr. Thomas' "Garner State Park."
"It all has to do with the Garner experience," Mr. Roberts says.
And although Garner doesn't have instructors such as Dirty Dancing
's Johnny Castle, some of the dancing has been competitive and
elaborate. Some people even credit the park with the dance known as The
Whip.
Karen Jordan of Tucson, Ariz., former Travel editor of The Dallas
Morning News, remembers that probably the worst trouble she ever got
into with her parents involved her attempt to visit Garner when she was
in middle school. An adult was scheduled to drive a group there from her
hometown of Freeport, Texas, but plans went awry.
"My mother was mortified to learn our adult driver, who got delayed ...
because of work, had suddenly been replaced by a high school girl," she
says. "And we middle-schoolers now would be riding for hours in the back
of a pickup at that."
Word got back to parents before the teenagers had journeyed very far,
and the trip was aborted.
"I think I'm still grounded," says Ms. Jordan, who grew up humming the
Garner song. She still regrets missing the Garner experience as a teen.
And although B.J. Thomas is hooked on the Garner feeling, he hasn't been
back since the mid '60s.
"I don't know whether camping there on the river would have the same
romance for me now," he says.
If you go
Getting there
Garner State Park is in Uvalde County, 31 miles north of Uvalde. From U.S.
Highway 83, drive east on FM 1050 for one-fifth mile to Park Road 29 and
the new entrance.
Information
For reservations, call 512-389-8900 or see
www.tpwd.state.tx.us.
For state park information, call 1-800-792-1112; the ranger station is
830-232-6132.
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