Project Pride, the
organization in Cross Plains that runs the annual Robert E. Howard Days
Festival, has mailed out the official schedule for REH-Days 2002. Here
is that schedule, along with some additional information added by myself.
The annual Robert E. Howard Days will be held this year on
Friday and Saturday, June 7th and 8th, 2002.
Pre-registration is necessary for
the Friday Lunch, the Friday trip to Howard's Gravesite, the Friday Dinner
Banquet, and the Saturday Panel, so first read all of the information below
carefully, then mail in your registration
information by May 31st.
2002 HOWARD DAYS SCHEDULE
The Howard
House is located at 625 W. 4th Street (AKA Highway 36 where it meets
Coffman street), Cross Plains, TX 76443). It will be open all day on
both Friday and Saturday from 10am-4pm. There will be tours of the
Howard House conducted by Project Pride (it is now a museum and official
historic landmark), various souvenirs and mementos will be available to
purchase, and a nice new pavilion has been built outside where you can talk,
eat lunch, and mingle with other guests and with Cross Plains residents.
When you first arrive it is recommended that you register at
the front porch, where you will receive a nametag and other useful materials.
There will also be a guestbook for you to sign your name and city of origin
in, and they will use this information to introduce you at the banquet on
Friday night. There are bathrooms and a full kitchen in the Pavilion for
those who need them.
Several restaurants are located close by:
Jean's Feed Barn: (349 West Highway 36) Most
people come here for breakfast each morning, usually around 9am.
Jack's Place: (416 West Highway 36, Cross Plains
TX 76443). Another possibility for breakfast.
Dairy Queen: (Highway 279 & 36) Great
place to stop for lunch or a cold drink after the walking tour.
Subway Sandwiches: (416 South Main Street, Cross
Plains TX 76443)
Friday Schedule:
10 AM - 4 PM: Howard House open for tours, starting at the
front door. There are also many interesting souvenirs being sold in the
back room, including a wide variety of posters, books, t-shirts, hats, etc.
10 AM - 12:30 PM: Walking tour of Howard's Cross Plains,
lead by Jack Baum. Jack Baum is the current owner of Robert E. Howard
Properties, and grew up in Cross Plains. Together the group will walk
through town while Jack shows you many places where Howard lived, worked, and
wrote about. The icehouse where he used to box, the homes of his
friends, the businesses he worked at...all will be shown and described in
detail. This is always a fun and informative tour. You do NOT need
a reservation to take this tour, just meet Jack in the Pavilion outside the
Howard House at 10 AM..
1130 AM - 1 PM: There will be a special Friday Lunch
served in the pavilion next to the Howard House. Last year it was
various sandwiches, potato chips, and soda, and it was quite good. You
do need to register for this lunch, see below for
details.
NOON - 3 PM: Caravan trip to Howard's Gravesite in
Brownwood. People are asked to make a reservation for this event, and to
meet outside the Howard House Pavilion at noon. Howard is buried in
Greenleaf Cemetery (located on Brady Highway, right off Highway 377 in
Brownwood TX, 76801). This is about a 1/2hr drive south of Cross Plains,
so many people go to Brownwood, eat lunch there, then visit the grave in the
same trip. Usually they take the Cross Plains Walking Tour on one
afternoon, then visit the grave on the other afternoon. Some people also
use Thursday or Sunday to do this. The cemetery is right off Highway
377, it is hard to miss. There is a historical marker by the grave, and
anyone going to REH-Days is encouraged to make time to go there and pay their
respects. There is a website on the Internet called FIND-A-GRAVE
which has information and directions to Howard's gravesite.
1 PM-3 PM: The Cross
Plains Public Library (149 N. Main Street, Cross Plains TX 76443) will be
open for the purpose of viewing their Howard collection. The Library has
an extensive collection of original Howard typescripts, rare Howard books, and
old Weird Tales magazines all available to peruse. Many Howard fans make
it a point to bring any extra Howard books they have to Cross Plains and
donate them to the library. Cross Plains is such a small town that it is
really lucky to have a library at all. The library is well-kept and very
nice, but it is small and they can always use all the help they can get.
So if you have some extra Howard books, please consider donating them to the
library. There will also be Howard books for sale here, including the
excellent memoir by Novalyne Price Ellis, One Who Walked Alone.
1 PM - 4 PM: Postal cancellation at the Post Office.
Bring postcards or mail to the post office, where upon request it will be
stamped with an official Robert E. Howard design and artwork before being
mailed. This is a great way to create a souvenir of the weekend for
yourself, or to mail one to a friend.
7PM: There is a Friday Night Banquet which is held at
the Cross
Plains Community Center (located at 701 E. 8th street). To attend
this event you must have pre-registered through the mail (see below
for information on pre-registering). NO TICKETS will be sold at the
door, so don't procrastinate, pre-register ASAP.
The food was great last year, it was roast beef with some
great trimmings. After dinner longtime Howard essayist Fred Blosser
(whose writings on Howard have been published in a variety of magazines and
publications over the years) will be the Guest Speaker, speaking about
"The Influence of Texas in Howard's Works".
After the banquet, the night is far from over. Many
people generally go back to the Howard House to sit with other Howard fans and
talk into the wee hours of the morning. Generally they meet in front of
the 36
West Motel (501 West 4th Street aka West Highway 36, Cross Plains TX
76443), which is right down the street from the Howard House. It has a
nice garden area out front with numerous park benches to sit and talk, and
many people bring soda or snacks to share. Numerous Howard fans stay at
the Motel, which means restrooms are generally available to all for as long as
everyone is out there talking.
One more thing: Cross Plains is still as "dry"
beverage-wise as it was in Howard's time, if you get my drift (or draft,
so to speak). Anyone who has an idea to bring little fiesta-beverages to
the late-night discussions would be wise to keep that fact discreet while
amongst the Cross Plains locals (and they would be wise to do their shopping
long before they enter Callahan County).
Saturday Schedule:
9 AM: Postal cancellation at the Post Office. Bring
postcards or mail to the post office, where upon request it will be stamped
with an official Robert E. Howard design and artwork before being
mailed. This is a great way to create a souvenir of the weekend for
yourself, or to mail one to a friend. This was graciously arranged by
Amanda Waggoner, postmistress of the Cross Plains Post Office.
10 AM - NOON: Howard House open for tours, starting at
the front door. There are also many interesting souvenirs being sold in
the back room, including a wide variety of posters, books, t-shirts, hats,
etc. Even though the official tours are only given in the morning, the
Howard House will still remain open for informal self-tours from noon until
4pm.
10 AM - 12:30 PM: Walking tour of Howard's Cross Plains,
lead by Jack Baum. Jack Baum is the current owner of Robert E. Howard
Properties, and grew up in Cross Plains. Together the group will walk
through town while Jack shows you many places where Howard lived, worked, and
wrote about. The icehouse where he used to box, the homes of his
friends, the businesses he worked at...all will be shown and described in
detail. This is always a fun and informative tour. You do NOT need
a reservation to take this tour, just meet Jack in the Pavilion outside the
Howard House at 10 AM..
10:30 AM: There will be an interesting morning panel
discussion on Howard (the place is to be announced). The subject will be
"Howard's Use of Texas In His Stories" and the speaking panelists
will be Howard scholar and essayist Fred Blosser and professional writer and
ex-REHupan James Reasoner. Project Pride is asking that all those
planning on attending the panel please register
ahead of time, so they can ensure there are seats for all.
NOON: There will be a special free lunch served in the
pavilion next to the Howard House. you do NOT need reservations for this
lunch. There will sandwich makings laid out for you to make your own
meal. Although it is free, any donations to Project Pride will be
cheerfully and gratefully accepted.
1 PM-3 PM: The Cross
Plains Public Library (149 N. Main Street, Cross Plains TX 76443) will be
open for the purpose of viewing their Howard collection. The Library has
an extensive collection of original Howard typescripts, rare Howard books, and
old Weird Tales magazines all available to peruse. Many Howard fans make
it a point to bring any extra Howard books they have to Cross Plains and
donate them to the library. Cross Plains is such a small town that it is
really lucky to have a library at all. The library is well-kept and very
nice, but it is small and they can always use all the help they can get.
So if you have some extra Howard books, please consider donating them to the
library. There will also be Howard books for sale here, including the
excellent memoir by Novalyne Price Ellis, One Who Walked Alone.
5 PM: It is a REH-Days tradition on Saturday night to
head over to West Caddo Peak in a caravan and watch the sun set. West
and East Caddo peaks are popular landmarks in Cross Plains, and Howard
mentioned them in his letters fondly. It's very beautiful and serene, and
Howard likely watched the sun set on occasion there himself. People
planning on going to the peak generally meet outside the Howard House between
4:30pm-5pm, and most people carpool together from there. Soon after sunset
when it gets dark people head back to Cross Plains. This event is hosted
by the Middleton family from Abilene, who own the ranch and surrounding
property and are always gracious enough to let all of us Howard Fans onto the
peak.
Technically this is the official end of REH-Days, but again,
many people stay out in front of the West 36 Motel on Saturday night and talk
into the wee hours of the morning.
As stated above, you need to mail in a reservation (by MAY 31)
for the following events:
Friday Lunch ($5 per person)
Friday Trip to Howard's Grave in Brownwood (free, but they
want to know how many people are planning to go)
Friday Banquet ($10 per person)
Saturday Morning Discussion Panel (free, but they want to know
how many people are planning to attend)
To register, simply send Project Pride a letter telling them
how many people are coming to each event, and enclose a check or money order
for the appropriate amount made out to PROJECT PRIDE. It is helpful to
include the names of the people in your party and the city you are from, so
they can properly introduce you at the banquet (they introduce all of the
out-of-towners at the banquet). Mail your registration information and
check to:
Project Pride
PO Box 534
Cross Plains, TX,
76443
ATTN: REH-Days 2002
Registration
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Some further helpful tidbits....
FLYING IN: Most people fly in to either Dallas or
Austin, rent a car, and drive to Cross Plains from there. Dallas is
slightly closer (about a two-hour drive), but the Austin drive is more scenic
and pleasant.
DRIVING TIP: When driving in Texas and not being sure
where to go, you may be tempted to head down one of the many side streets that
branch off the highways, streets that are usually just labeled by a number.
This is a bad idea, as these are generally ranch roads that lead out aimlessly
into the middle of nowhere. Nothing Howard-related (Howard House,
Lakeview Inn, etc.) are hidden on side-streets. Everything is located
on main highways and roads, so stick to them. This advice goes
especially for the Lakeview Inn. When driving towards the Inn from Brownwood, you will see several roads with "Resort" or
"Lake Brownwood" signs branching off from the main highway. Do
NOT take these. The Lakeview Inn is all by itself right on the highway, so
just keep driving north on the main highway and don't give up and turn around,
you'll see it.
LODGING: The two most popular places to stay are the 36 West
Motel in Cross Plains and the Lakeview Inn (formerly the Flagship
Resort) on Lake Brownwood (halfway between Cross Plains and Brownwood right
on the highway). As of April 2002 the 36 West Motel is already fully
booked for REH-Days, but the Lakeview Inn likely still has rooms (they generally
have a family reunion going on there at the same time as REH-Days, so the
sooner you reserve your room, the better). The Lakeview Inn is a short 20
minute drive from the Howard House, they have a nice pool, and it is also 20
minutes closer to Brownwood, which is really convenient if you want to take
advantage of the many restaurants that Brownwood has to offer instead of
settling for the few places in Cross Plains. In general the Lakeview Inn
isn't as far away from Cross Plains as it seems, and many REHupans and other
Howard fans usually stay there.
This year Project Pride has provided the following lodging
information for attendees:
| MOTEL |
TOWN |
RATES and INFORMATION |
|
36 West Motel
(254)725-4550 |
Cross Plains
Highway 36 |
$48.95/night
(all booked up, but cancellations are always possible, so give them a
call first) |
|
Lakeview Inn
(formerly the Flagship Resort)
(915)784-5432 |
Lake Brownwood
Highway 279 |
$80.00/night |
|
Best Western
(254)442-3735 |
Cisco
1898 Highway
206 West |
$53.10/night |
|
Best Western
(915)625-4176 |
Coleman
1401 Highway
84 Bypass |
$65.00/night |
|
Best Western
(915)646-3511 |
Brownwood
410 East
Commerce |
$55.00/night |
|
Post Oak Inn
(915)643-5621 |
Brownwood
606 Early
Boulevard |
$48.00 |
|
Gate 1 Inn
(915)643-5463 |
Brownwood
4410 Highway
377 South |
$45.00 |
|
Days Inn
(915)646-2551 |
Brownwood
515 East
Commerce |
$55.00 |
|
Lake Brownwood
State Park
(512)389-8900 |
Campsites
Available (must make reservations by phone) |
$12.00 per
night + $2.00 entrance fee per person per night. |
RESTAURANTS: In addition to the four previously-mentioned
restaurants in Cross Plains, there are many more restaurants in Brownwood,
about a half an hour south of Cross Plains, and many people go there to eat.
In addition to the normal array of fast-food joints, there are several
restaurants in Brownwood that are noteworthy.
HUMPHREY
PETE'S is a good steakhouse. PULIDO'S
is a good Mexican restaurant. There are many other restaurants
throughout Brownwood.
If you have any further questions about REH-Days, including
where to stay, what to do, who is going, sharing a room, etc. you should post
your question to the REH
Inner Circle List, where many REHupans and attendees can assist you.
REHupa Home Page