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The Group Travel Leader Going on Faith Select Traveler

Experience Texas’ True West

San Angelo

The downtown historic district in San Angelo is “becoming more and more vibrant,” said Diann Bayes, vice president of the San Angelo Convention and Visitors Bureau.

On Historic Concho Avenue, groups often visit Miss Hattie’s Bordello Museum, which looks much as it did during its heyday as a late-19th- and early-20th-century brothel until Texas Rangers shut it down in 1952. Next door, Miss Hattie’s Restaurant and Cathouse Lounge welcomes groups, and around the corner, M.L. Leddy’s Boots and Saddlery offers tours and demonstrations.

Also downtown, the Cactus Hotel is “the fourth hotel Conrad Hilton ever built,” Bayes said. The historic building has been transformed from a hotel to an event venue with a ballroom that can hold about 150 guests for seated meals. The lobby and wraparound mezzanine work well for receptions. The Top of the Cactus is the top-floor party room where groups of 150 guests can enjoy scenic city views.

Established in 1867, the Fort Concho National Historic Landmark features 23 original and restored structures. The Commissary is a restored meeting hall with a kitchen that can host seated meals for 150, and the adjoining Quartermaster can also be used for events. The historic Stables Block is the fort’s largest function space and can seat up to 600 people; Barracks Six can seat 125 for dinner. Groups can arrange for guided tours or a chuck-wagon dinner on the grounds. Fiddle Fire Caterers does a chuck-wagon dinner while the owner plays fiddle music.

www.sanangelo.org

Fort Worth

In the late 1800s, Fort Worth was the final refuge for cattle drovers on the Chisholm Trail. The outpost was the last stop on the line, which earned it the nickname Cowtown, a moniker the city still proudly wears.

Visitors can soak up Fort Worth’s cow town culture by boot-scooting down to the Stockyards National Historic District, where they can take historic walking tours, visit the Stockyards Museum and watch twice-daily cattle drives through the streets. At Billy Bob’s Texas, the “world’s largest honky-tonk,” groups can learn to two-step, eat some Texas barbecue and cheer on live bull riding.

Guests can make their way through the 5,400-square-foot Cowtown Cattlepen Maze at Stockyards Station, ride the Grapevine Vintage Railroad and watch a high-noon shootout show. Stockyards Station also offers several event spaces, among them the Stampede Room and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, each of which can seat up to 650 guests; the Stockman’s Club, which can accommodate 250; and the Lone Star Room, for up to 125.

Also in the district, River Ranch Stockyards hosts ranch-style events in a variety of spaces, including the Westfork Room, which can seat 850 for meals or host events for 1,200 with the adjoining lawn.

The 120-acre Will Rogers Memorial Center was established in 1936 and today is home to event and exhibit venues, including the 2,856-seat Will Rogers Auditorium, 94,000 square feet of exhibit space and Round-Up Inn’s 18,000 square feet of ballroom and event space.

www.fortworth.com

Kerrville

Kerrville sits in the heart of Texas Hill Country, where bluebonnets unfurl over the hills every spring. Just as beautiful — and maybe more surprising — are the herds of wild exotic animals that range the same hills around Kerrville, among them axis deer, sika deer, bison, boars, ibexes and kudus. Wild game was introduced to the region in the 1920s and 1930s, and groups can see exotic animals and take horseback trail rides at the Y.O. Ranch Headquarters, just outside of Kerrville.

“It’s exactly a minisafari,” said Kelli Dunbar, director of sales for the Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau. During a two-hour bus tour, groups of 15 or more explore the ranch and get up close to a variety of animals before returning for a chuck-wagon lunch. The Lodge is a 100-year-old building dripping in wood and adorned with antlers where guests find a fireplace and a bar. In November, the ranch opened its new 16-room overnight lodging option called Old West Town.

In Kerrville, the 190-room Y.O. Hotel and Conference Center is “100 percent Western theme,” from the saloon to the lobby to the 11,000-square-foot conference center. The Museum of Western Art offers docent-led tours, and groups can reserve the museum for private events.

Kerrville will welcome a new festival September 28-30, 2018. The Kerrville Cowboy Heritage Festival will feature a wagon train parade, a cowboy poetry contest, a chuck-wagon-cooking contest, a fiddler competition, a rodeo and lots of Western entertainment.

www.kerrvilletexascvb.com