Spring rushes into Lockhart

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

Spring in Central Texas is the perfect time to enjoy life outdoors. Across Lockhart this weekend, celebrations are planned to embrace that idea and ring in spring with a bang.

Festivities kick off on Friday evening as the Caldwell County Courthouse Square transforms into a home and garden marketplace, with local and st

atewide vendors and entertainers gather for the seventh annual Rites of Spring celebration.

Friday evening will be mostly for shopping, as vendors trot out wares ranging from plants to purses, afghans to yard art for any and all spring gardening and home décor needs.

All day Saturday, vendors will return, and be joined by a variety of entertainers and experts, including gardening expert Skip Richter, who will offer a number of talks throughout the day.

In addition, the free Rites of Spring event offers children’s activities and entertainment, a Nifty Fifty’s Car Show, dance and karate performances, a cake walk and one of the day’s highlights, a fruit-pie eating contest.

Local shop proprietors who choose not to participate in the outdoor sales have chosen another way to participate. Throughout the day, across Lockhart, shops will host a door-to-door wine tasting, featuring some of the best vintages Texas wineries have to offer.

The Dr. Eugene Clark Library will also jump in on the action, hosting an 11 a.m. Easter Egg Hunt for area children on the historic grounds of the state’s oldest continuously operating library.

Rites of Spring information, including a schedule of events, can be obtained at the Lockhart Chamber of Commerce office, in the log cabin at 631 S. Commerce St. (Highway 183) in Lockhart.

A new addition to the seventh annual Rites of Spring celebration is the Kiwanis 5K Stampede, the Lockhart Kiwanis Club’s main fundraiser toward providing scholarships to local graduates, as well as funding a variety of other service projects.

Registration for the 5K Stampede is currently available online, and will also be available onsite the morning of the race, which is slated to begin at Lockhart High School at 8 a.m.

The route will wind runners and walkers through one of the Lockhart’s most established neighborhoods before returning to the finish line on Lion Country Drive.

For information on the 5K Stampede, contact Nicole Burnett at (512) 398-2421, or visit the website at www.active.com.

Lockhart Little League will also take a turn through the Rites of Spring, as the Opening Day Parade winds through the Square beginning at 8:45 a.m.

Last weekend’s inclement weather caused another addition the busy weekend’s events: the rescheduling of the annual KidFish at the Lockhart City Park Pond.

Parents are invited to bring their children to the freshly-stocked pond on Saturday morning, beginning at 9 a.m. to cast a line and compete in KidFish, a free event that seeks to introduce children to the joys of fishing.

Everything the children need, from bait to fishing reels, will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis to children who need equipment to participate in this free event. While every participant will receive goodies, prizes will be awarded to youth who are able to catch the longest fish in their age bracket.

All children under the age of 17 are invited to participate in the event.
For information on the KidFish, contact Lockhart City Hall at (512) 398-3461.