Johnson City, Texas' Free Holiday Events

Johnson City, a town of just 1,200 people in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, may be small in population. But during the holidays, Johnson City is big on yuletide cheer and even bigger on holiday light displays.

From Austin, Johnson City is a pleasant 48-mile drive on Highway 290 West. From San Antonio, it's a 60-mile drive north on Highway 281. It might take you an hour or so to arrive in Johnson City this holiday season, but once you get there and see the spectacular holiday lights, you'll know it was worth your time.

In fact, after you visit Johnson City, you might even want to continue on the Hill Country Regional Christmas Lighting Trail, of which Johnson City is just one stop. But while you're in Johnson City during the holidays, you'll find plenty to see and do.

Stop by the Blanco County Courthouse

A nighttime visit to the Blanco County Courthouse should top your list of things to do in Johnson City. Each holiday season, thousands upon thousands of lights adorn the exterior of the beautiful stone courthouse, built in 1916 in classical revival style.

Inside, the ladies from the local garden club sell homemade crafts, including many unique Christmas ornaments. I once bought a cute Rudolph the Reindeer ornament fashioned from a light bulb there.

During the holiday season, from Thanksgiving through New Year's, you can see the lights of the Blanco County Courthouse from dusk until midnight. However, the courthouse is open to visitors at night only on Saturdays and Sundays from 6 to 9 p.m. during the holidays. Admission is free. (Horse-drawn carriage rides are available from the courthouse for a fee.)

Be Amazed by the Pedernales Electric Cooperative Light Display

Just a few blocks from the Blanco County Courthouse on Avenue F in Johnson City is another dazzling, and free, holiday light display. The Pedernales Electric Cooperative, which supplies area homes and businesses with electricity, uses a bit of the juice itself to put on a fantastic light show. Millions of sparkling white lights cover the many lovely old trees that surround the Cooperative's headquarters. The effect is a winter wonderland you won't soon forget.

On some holiday nights, Santa Claus himself is at the Cooperative, greeting visitors and posing for photographs with them.

Drive Through One Young Man's Winter Wonderland

Johnson City resident Dexter Haynes has been featured on the Travel Channel for Winter Wonderland, the incredible light display he creates annually to "remind everyone that the reason for Christmas is Jesus Christ."

Haynes' Winter Wonderland has grown from 20 sets of lights in 2000 to more than 155,000 in 2006. He plans the display all year, begins putting up the lights in October (it takes eight weeks), and displays them for all to enjoy from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day.

Winter Wonderland is located at Hayne's home, just a few miles north of Johnson City. To get there from Johnson City, take Highway 281 North toward Marble Falls. Cross the bridge over the Pedernales River, and you'll see Winter Wonderland's lighted gates on your left. Enter through the second gate, as the first gate is the exit.

Winter Wonderland is a free, drive-through holiday light display. For more information, visit www.winterwonderlanddisplay.com.

Experience the Holidays LBJ-Style

Johnson City was named after the family who settled it-the same family that later produced U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

The late Johnson's ranch, now a national historical park, is located about 15 miles from Johnson City. However, the park's visitor center and Johnson's boyhood home are just a few blocks from the Pedernales Electric Cooperative in Johnson City, and they are the site of some wonderful, and free, holiday events.

From 6 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 2, 9 and 16, 2006, you can tour the LBJ Boyhood Home in Johnson City. In 1913, Johnson and his parents moved to this home from the ranch, where he was born. The home still contains the 1920s-style furnishings and décor, so a tour of this home will be a step back in time-a time before electricity.

On Dec. 9, you can step further back in time to the 1860s and experience a cowboy Christmas by taking a bus from the visitor's center to the nearby Johnson settlement, the home of Pres. Johnson's grandparents. You'll get a taste of the Texas frontier for sure.

On Dec. 17, there will be evening tours of LBJ Ranch, which is one mile east of Stonewall, Texas, on Highway 290. A member of the Johnson family will light the ranch's Christmas tree, and guests can enjoy the ranch's other holiday decorations and lights, including those on Johnson's "Texas White House." Park staff recommends that guests who would like to participate in the tree-lighting and tours arrive at the visitor center at the ranch before 5 p.m., when the free tickets for those events will be handed out. For more information on the ranch, visit www.nps.gov/lyjo.

For more information on any of the LBJ Christmas events, call (830) 868-7128, ext. 244.

Don't miss your chance to experience the holidays in small-town Texas style. Make a weekend visit to Johnson City this holiday season.