A Song of Texas

by Helen Vollmer, CEO Vollmer Public Relations

See the YouTube video with Stephen F. Austin and Helen Vollmer!

I am proud to be a fourth generation Texan. My brother Ferdie (as in Ferdinand) would tell you we come from good German pioneer stock and from my love of bread and carbohydrates alone I know this to be true.

While I grew up as a city girl in San Antonio, some  of my earliest memories are of rural Texas:  watching Aunt Sally in a flour sack apron wring a chicken’s neck on the farm outside of Luling, playing bingo surrounded by  German matrons with their stockings rolled down below their pudgy thighs in the sweltering heat of summer at the Catholic church in Castroville, or sitting in the shade of a lonely oak tree in a field with my mama  to pluck the feathers off of doves that were brought in from the hunt outside of McAllen.

My parents gave me the confidence to believe in myself. But this self-esteem is rooted in knowing I belong to a place that is unique and belongs to me and those I love.  Texas is home.  Its smells, like the humid salty air of Galveston; its colors, like those found at el mercado in San Antonio; and its textures, like the patina of worn cowboy boots made by hand in Fort Worth are anchors that allow me to know myself and find comfort in big hair, Robert Earle Keene and the Art Car Parade. 

Luckily, through our Texas Tourism work (www.traveltex.com) I’m able to share how special this state is with the rest of the world.  Did you know that 194 million domestic visitors traveled to and within Texas in 2008?  Or that total direct travel spending in the state that same year had an economic impact of more than 60 billion dollars?  That’s right, pardner, traveling to Texas is big business. 

But forget about the facts.  Come to Texas to soak up the majestic canyons of Big Bend as they meet the Rio Grande or to dance the night away in Gruene next to cowboys in the starchiest white shirts you’ll ever see.  Go to an East Texas hole-in-the-wall to hear the best Zydeco around or sink your feet in the white sands in west Texas.  Ride a road bike over cattle guards and under railroad trestles to look up and find yourself in a sweet blackberry patch right before a Spring hail storm. 

There is no one Texas.  The Piney Woods are a world apart from the Gulf Coast.  The Hill Country is as culturally and geographically unique as are the wide open spaces of the Texas Panhandle.  And as Lyle Lovett sings, “Fort Worth and Dallas/ A million miles away,” even though it’s called the Metroplex.

Like life, Texas is what you make of it.  And the experiences you can have are as wide as the big blue skies here.  But before you visit, call me and I’ll give you some tips that will make you seem like a native.  After all, we can’t all be born under the Lone Star, but we’re happy to share.