Sirena Fest will be Oct. 2 along Salado Creek. The mermaid parade was canceled but there will be a Pet Parade on the grounds of Barrow Brewing at 11 a.m.
Jennifer Abraham, owner of The Dog Spot in Salado, is organizing the Pet Parade. Awards will be given for Best Costumer, Largest Pet and Smallest Pet. Follow Sirena Fest on social media for details. The Dog Spot has a link to the online pet parade registration form on their Facebook page.
Sirena Fest will run 10:00 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 2 and will include educational booths, merfolk-themed arts extravaganza and live music.
Other highlights include, face painting, interactive arts activities, food and stilt walkers.
The goals of Sirena Fest are to highlight the legacy of Sirena in Salado, educate children on creek habitat and conservation, delight kids of all ages with the magic, whimsy, and artistry that the Village of Salado has to offer, and finally to raise money toward an All Abilities Playground. To date, Sirena Fest and supporters have raised more than $100,000 towards the All Abilities Playground.
This festival is aimed entirely at children and families, hoping to encourage children to think outside the box, dream wild imaginative dreams, and fulfill them.
“Variety of Texas and Peaceable Kingdom are excited to continue supporting the All Abilities Playground in Salado,” stated Stacy Bruce, President & Executive Director of Variety – The Children’s Charity of Texas. “As such, we have created a designated fund through the Communities Foundation of Texas (www.cftexas.org) for supporters to donate to the project.”
“Within the next two weeks, we’ll have a landing page on the CFT website where donor can give directly to the fund,” she added.
Until then, checks can be written to “The Variety Fund for Salado All-Abilities Playground” and mailed to Variety of Texas, 5555 North Lamar, STE C-102, Austin, TX 78751.
Or visit VarietyTexas.org. Please note in the comment box “For The Variety Fund for Salado All-Abilities Playground.”
For more information about Sirena Fest, visit sirenafest.org.
The All-Abilities Playground will be built at Pace Park. According to Village of Salado administrator Don Ferguson, the current playground equipment will be moved to another location.
The Village of Salado is the recipient of a $150,000 small community grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission for the Pace Park All Abilities Playground.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission announced May 27 that it approved more than $21.6 million in competitive local park grants to help fund projects that will create and enhance outdoor recreational opportunities like nature trails, native gardens, playgrounds, splash pads, dog parks and sports fields at 38 community parks state-wide.
The grants, allocated to local government entities, appropriate state and federal funding dedicated for the acquisition and/or development of public recreation areas and facilities in Texas on a 50/50 reimbursement match basis. Once funded, all grant-assisted sites must be dedicated as parkland in perpetuity, properly maintained and open to the public.
The commission, which administers the local park grants program for the state of Texas, awarded projects in various categories based on community population size and scope.
The Small Community Recreation Grants are for park projects in towns of less than 20,000 and were awarded to 12 communities, including the Village of Salado.
The Village of Salado is one of three central Texas communities to receive the matching grant.
The village of Salado is the recipient of a $150,000 small community grant for its Pace Park All Abilities Playground. Proposed development and renovations include the playground with inclusive elements and native landscaping.
The Village of Salado has budgeted $50,000 toward the $150,000 match. Other funds are coming from the Sirena Fest and other donors.
Sirena Fest will be making an announcement about a major donation towards the All Abilities Playground.
Pace Park
The W. A. Pace family arrived in Salado in 1854. They had journeyed from Indiana to Central Texas with a wagon train, traveling 1,200 miles in three months. They first built a home on what is today called College Hill. W. A. and Mary Jane parented 17 children. Twelve of the 17 lived to adulthood.
“One of their daughters, Phebe Ann, married a man who was not good to her,” said the late Elizabeth Mosley in an interview with Jackie Mills to capture the history of Pace Park. “Phebe, was only 16 years old when she carried her feverish infant from a house located on the Brazos River to her parents’ home in Salado. Phebe and the baby lived only a few days after her arrival. She had walked the soles off her shoes but continued walking in the winter storm to reach home. They are buried somewhere on College Hill, but we never could find the location of the graves,” said Mosley who is W.A. and Mary Jane’s great-granddaughter.
The Paces owned hundreds of acres, and later they built a new and bigger home in Prairie Dell. W. A. was the first farmer to raise cotton in the area during 1873. He owned the first horse-powered thresher in the community and bought the Salado Grist Mill from W. A. Davis. The mill was washed away by the 1900 flood and was never rebuilt. The Paces were charter members of the Salado Methodist Church
On Aug. 16, 1946, heirs of W. A. and Mary Jane Pace gave seven-plus acres of their land to be used as a public park in Salado. It is recorded in Volume 569, Page 625 in Bell County records.
The following is an account from Patsy Sanford, her husband the late Paul Sanford, the late Elizabeth Mosley and the late Wilbur Foster of what happened to the park from late in the 50’s until 1992. “In about ’57, seeing that the park had grown up with weeds, bushes, etc., the Pace family told some people in Salado that if the park was not cleaned up, they would reclaim their gift to Salado. All of the creek area had grown up so that the stream could not be seen from any distance,” according to the late Paul Sanford.
Patsy Sanford-Wilson remembers, “At about the age 10, several of my friends and I made tunnels through the blood weeds near the spring, since the weeds grew higher than our heads.”
Mosley remembers, “The girls swam by the spring ‘cause the weeds were so high no one could see them. The boys always went swimming at the blue hole farther on down the creek.”
Paul said, “The Paces also wanted a sign to read ‘Pace Park’ by the entrance on Main Street, which was then Texas Highway 81. So in the late 50s a meeting was held to decide what action to take. Among those present at the meeting were Wilbur Foster, Earl Guest, Charlton Johnson and John Allen Barton.
Paul remembered, “After that first meeting a Park Board was formed. Some members included Chester Critchfield, Dr. Ashe, Wilbur Foster, and Col. Larson. The County Agent and an A&M specialist gave the group a program on parks. Efforts were begun to clear the area. B.E. Wilson brought a dozer to clear away stumps and limbs accumulated through years of flooding.
R. Bishop took up money and got a dragline for additional work. A couple of community workdays were designated and while the men wielded their tools, the community women prepared and served a picnic lunch for the volunteers.”
Paul added, “Wilbur Foster and Charlton Johnson found someone to make a wooden sign that rainbowed above the north entrance to the park. The old well in the park was reactivated with Earl Guest furnishing the pump, and Wilbur turning his garage into a workshop where he built the well canopy.“
“Joe Bentley and I mixed concrete to build the first tables and benches in Pace Park,” Wilbur remembered. “The Salado ISD ag boys built forms for the steps leading up to the tables.”
“In about ’65, when Darrell Street was the Salado Chamber of Commerce President, I was in charge of a barbecue to raise money to build a pavilion in Pace Park” Paul said. “Clem’s furnished the barbeque for the fundraiser. The event included an auction to sell rocks to build the structure. Enough money was raised for the building materials, and Mr. Peck, a then Salado contractor, paid for the labor to construct the pavilion. Louis Griffith and I wired the building,” said Paul.
In 1996, the 50th Anniversary of Pace Park, Roy Hector, Chamber President, had a new “Pace Park” sign erected to honor the Pace family.
In 1998, Tim Fleischer who was then President of the Salado Chamber of Commerce, collected donations from local businesses and individuals for a dozen new limestone picnic tables and benches built by Wayne Phillips that today grace the park.
Denver Mills remembered, “In 2001 another change occurred in the way the park is managed. The Chamber of Commerce approached the Village of Salado Board of Aldermen and requested financial assistance in carrying out their mission. An agreement was reached whereby the Village of Salado would provide funding to the Chamber for the care of the park.”
The Village would become the caretaker of Pace Park and serves as the trustee for its future.
Denver Mills summed up by adding, “The vision that W. A. Pace descendants had in 1946 has endured over the years to the degree that the precious little park is now an idyllic spot in a remarkable community. The efforts of the many, many Salado citizens who have kept the park in repair have resulted in many thousands of visitors who visit Salado and enjoy one of the greatest amenities that the Village has to offer.”