San Jacinto Day Festival
“The San Jacinto Monument and Museum is one of Houston’s jewels—it is the foundation of our identity as Texans and a place thousands visit each year to learn about this decisive battle in Lone Star history."
Houston, TX (PRWEB) January 28, 2014
Booming cannons, cracking musket fire, thundering hooves and battle cries will resound across the San Jacinto Battleground on Saturday, April 26, 2014, as hundreds of history reenactors recreate the Battle of San Jacinto where the Texian soldiers were victorious over the Mexican Army in 1836.
This dramatic battle reenactment is the centerpiece of the admission-free San Jacinto Day Festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 26 on the 1,200-acre San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site that surrounds the world-famous San Jacinto Monument.
The festival is a full day of entertainment, vendors, food, family activities, cultural exhibitors, games and fun set amidst living history: music and dancing on three stages featuring country-western bands, flamenco dancers, Indian Pow-Wow, square dancers and much more; 15+ food vendors; make-and-take activities and crafts for children; children’s train; petting zoo; medicine wagon show; birds of prey; weavers, spinners, blacksmiths and other demonstrators; and dozens of unique hand-crafted items for sale.
Through Presenting Sponsor H-E-B and Major Sponsor Dow Chemical, the San Jacinto Museum Association is able to maintain this as an admission-free event, with free parking, for the festival’s 20,000+ visitors. The event is coordinated by the San Jacinto Museum of History Association with the assistance of Texas Parks & Wildlife and the San Jacinto Volunteers reenactors.
San Jacinto Day Festival and Battle Reenactment:
Hundreds of historical reenactors arrive from across the state on the Friday before the festival to set up their camps, just as the Texians and Mexicans did back in 1836. During the festival, visitors can wander freely among the Mexican and Texian camps of the reenactors to learn what the soldiers and their families were doing prior to the battle in 1836. At 3 p.m., the historically accurate reenactment of the Battle of San Jacinto begins; it is the largest reenactment in the southwest United States.
“The San Jacinto Monument and Museum is one of Houston’s jewels—it is the foundation of our identity as Texans and a place thousands visit each year to learn about this decisive battle in Lone Star history,” says Greg Ortale, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The San Jacinto Day Festival is a great time to visit. The battle reenactment offers all of us some sense of what it must have been like in that battlefield more than 175 years ago. The museum and the story of Texas presentation should be a must-see for every Texan and visitor."
“The victory at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836 led to Texas’ annexation into the United States,” says Robert B. Hixon, Chairman of the Board, San Jacinto Museum of History Association. “In the end, the U.S. would gain not only Texas but also the lands which now make up the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and Utah, as well as parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. Nearly one million square miles of territory changed sovereignty and the United States became a bicoastal nation. Few battles in world history have been more decisive or had a greater influence on subsequent history.”
In the San Jacinto Monument, festival goers can ride the elevator to the top for a panoramic view of the festivities; watch a Texas history movie; and view the hundreds of museum pieces on display.
DISCOUNTED LODGING: Discounted room rates are available during the festival for the nights of April 25 and/or 26, at Hampton Inn Deer Park. For reservations, call 281.930.9091 and mention San Jacinto Day. Breakfast buffet and internet are included.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department operates and maintains the 1,200-acre San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, which consists of the San Jacinto Battleground, Monument and Battleship TEXAS. The San Jacinto Battlefield and the Battleship Texas are both National Historic Landmarks; the monument is a National Civic Engineering Landmark.
New at the Museum: The San Jacinto Museum Association is working to acquire more than 13 acres adjacent to the property for a visitor’s center to further promote the study and appreciation of the role Texas has played in the U.S. and world history.
In 2013, the Museum Association created and released an in-depth “Curriculum Guide for Teaching Texas History” and its online Image Gallery of photos, documents, newspaper articles, artifacts and document transcriptions to the public. It recently launched a completely new website at http://www.SanJacinto-Museum.org that features more than 3,000 images of the Museum’s artifact collections; maps of the battlefields; the amazing construction of the San Jacinto Monument; searchable databases; and videos of the reenactments of the Battle of San Jacinto and other attractions.
For more information on the festival or any of the museum’s amenities, the public should visit http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org or Facebook or call 281-479-2421. The San Jacinto Monument is located at One Monument Circle, La Porte (Houston), TX.
