Texas Campgrounds, RV Parks and Discount Camping

CROWLEY, Texas, Oct. 15, 2009 – Summer is just a memory now, but private campground and RV park operators in Texas are hoping to bring families back for another round of camping this fall.
“Many parks now have their own festivals and special events, which make the campgrounds and RV parks a destination in themselves,” said Brian Schaeffer, executive director and CEO of the Texas Association of Campground Owners (TACO). “Other parks are also located next to venues that have frequent festivals and other special events.”
Here’s a sampling of the special events Texas parks are promoting this fall:

• Fun N Sun RV Resort in San Benito: This park has several activities planned this fall, including a Nov. 14th harvest festival and street dance.
  
• Hill Country Jellystone in Canyon Lake: This park’s fall activities include a harvest festival weekend Oct. 16 to 18th, which will include pumpkin seed planting and harvesting, crafts, a hay ride, face painting, an ice cream social, a mini-carnival and a petting zoo with chickens, goats and a cow. Additional special events are planned for the long-Thanksgiving weekend, during which guests are invited to share in the cooking for a potluck meal. The park provides piecrusts and ovens for pie making Wednesday night as well as turkeys for smoked, baked, barbecued and deep-fried turkeys on Thursday.
  
• Rayford Crossing in The Woodlands: This park has planned several Halloween themed activities, including a costume contest and games for children and a campsite decorating contest, all of which are scheduled for Oct. 31st. The park is also planning to host its 4th annual chili cookoff the same weekend, in which guests can compete for cash prizes.
• Traders Village Grand Prairie RV Park: This park, which adjoins the Traders Village open air marketplace in Grand Prairie, provides a convenient location for those wishing to participate in a variety of upcoming events at the marketplace, including a “haunted hallway” Oct. 31st; “Gracias Dallas / Fort Worth,” a musical event sponsored by KFZO 99.1 and KDXX 107.1; and the 12th Annual Mountain Man Weekend Gathering, Nov. 14th and 15th, which provides a window into the past through songs, storytelling and historical reenactments. Mountain Man demonstrations will include: beading, tomahawk and knife throwing, firestarting, blacksmithing, and soapmaking.
  
• Traders Village Houston RV Park: This park, which adjoins the Traders Village open air marketplace in Houston, is ideally located for families wishing to participate in the upcoming events at the marketplace, including its 11th annual Halloween Boo Bash for Kids on Oct. 24th in which children 12 and under can Trick-or-Treat for thousands of pieces of candy at participating shops throughout the market, while supplies last. The activities also include a Haunted Hallway, which consists of seven creepy-rooms of scares and goodies for children. Every child attending will receive a Halloween gift and Trick-or-Treat bag while supplies last. The first 250 kids to arrive in costume will receive a special gift from Traders Village. Other fall events include Traders Village’s 3rd annual Day of the Dead celebration on Sunday, Oct. 25th, which features live music, folkloric ballet, altars and art by Houston-based Latino artists, as well as dancing and ethnic foods and Hispanic merchandise vendors. Also scheduled for Nov. 14th and 15th is the 20th annual Texas Championship Pow-Wow,
• Whispering Pines RV & Cabin Resort in Tyler: This park has several special events planned for this fall, including a pumpkin patch weekend Oct. 17th, which will include a best carved pumpkin contest, greased pumpkin races, a pumpkin pie eating contest, a pumpkin seed spitting contest, and a pumpkin weight guessing contest; an “Almost Halloween” weekend celebration Oct. 24th, which will include contests for best decorated campsite, best carved pumpkin and best costume as well as opportunities to make tie dye Halloween T-shirts and candied applies; A Halloween weekend Oct. 31st, with a “Halloween Monster Mash Dance,” a “no rules” chili cookoff competition on Nov. 7th, with judging opportunities for children and adults; and a “Red, Red, Red Weekend” on Nov. 14th, in which guests are encouraged to wear red, participate in red crafts and a pot luck dinner, in which all of the food must be red. The park will also host its annual Thanksgiving potluck on Thanksgiving Day.

Many Texas parks, in fact, are hosting Thanksgiving dinners for their guests, including the KOA parks in San Antonio, Mathis and San Angelo, as well as Top of the Hill RV Resort in Boerne, which will be hosting its fifth annual “Turkey in a Trash Can” Thanksgiving on Nov. 26th.
“Our annual Thanksgiving event is a real crowd pleaser,” said John Bollinger of Top of the Hill RV Resort. “Last year, we cooked three 21 to 23 pound turkeys in trash cans, plus we deep fried a couple more turkeys and we had no meat left over. So this year we are cooking four turkeys in trash counts – about 90 pounds.”
Based in Crowley, the Texas Association of Campground Owners represents more than 400 private campgrounds and RV resorts. For help locating industry sources, statistics and other information about camping trends in Texas, please contact Brian Schaeffer at (817) 307-0129 or visit TexasCampgrounds.com. Contact information for the parks referenced in this release is provided below:

• Fun N Sun RV Resort, San Benito, (956) 399-5800 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Hill Country Jellystone in Canyon Lake, Larry Jones, (830) 537-3666 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Rayford Crossing RV Resort at The Woodlands, Gwen Craig, (281) 298-8008 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Rustic Creek Ranch, Burleson, Steve Stafford, (817) 426-3479 or (817) 648-1174 (cell) or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Top of the Hill RV Resort. Bourne, John Bollinger, (830) 537-3666 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Traders Village Grand Prairie and Traders Village Houston RV Park, Amy Moore, (972) 647-2331 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Whispering Pines RV & Cabin Resort in Tyler, Sheri Smith, (903) 858-2405 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it