Winnsboro

Winnsboro is one of those little Texas towns that travelers like to keep secret—but as officially right now, the word is out. Hiding away in Northeast Texas, the city embraces its identity as “the artsy type,” having been giving a Cultural Arts District designation from the Texas Commisssion on the Arts. In fact, Winnsboro is the smallest community in the state to ever earn one, which speaks to just how seriously the city takes its live music, festivals, and theater. Not to be outdone, Mother Nature whipped up a beauty herself in Lake Winnsboro, which is just minutes from downtown.

Walk the Bowery, Winnsboro's Most Historic Block

The Bowery opened in 1884 and spent its early years as a saloon district. Local history remembers the area having its fair share of gunfights, including a local legend of Bonnie & Clyde passing through town. These days, The Bowery is a pedestrian-focused district with coffee, wine, boutiques, and—yes—there are still one or two saloons.

The wider Main Street District features buildings that went up more than a century ago out of local brick (before outsourcing everything became standard).  The town's efforts to keep those buildings standing has earned it accreditation in the highly respected Texas Main Street program.

A Festival of Books, Cowboy Poetry, and the Bowery Stage

The centerpiece of the art district is the Winnsboro Center for the Arts. Its Bowery Stage holds an intimate 88 people, which means every seat is a good one. The intimacy of its stage really emphasizes the singer-songwriters, folk singers, jazz musicians, and blues guitarists that regularly fill the calendar. In addition to music, the center has about eight art exhibits on rotation throughout the year and a pottery studio open to the public.

Each year in May, the Winnsboro Center for the Arts throws up the bat signal for bookworms across Texas and beyond with the Festival of Books. The event introduces the reading public to established authors and puts on workshops for authors-to-be. When the festival is over, and your literary heart has been stuck sullen by the sudden lack of public prose, you must not fret. For on the horizon, silhouetted by the orange October sun, is the Winnsboro Cowboy Poetry Gathering. If your heroes weren’t already cowboys, the presentations by award-winning songwriters, live country music, and chuck wagon with fresh cobbler just might change your mind.

Marvel at the Autumn Trails

There aren’t many towns with festivals that go back to the 1950s, but Winnsboro is the kind of town that holds tight to its traditions. The Winnsboro Autumn Trails, a monthlong celebration in October, had its humble beginnings in 1958 when a few friends saddled up one morning to go look at the leaves changing color.

Several dozen Octobers later, Winnsboro Autumn Trails fills every weekend of the month with trail rides, antique car shows, a youth and mule rodeo, trades days, competitive judging of everything from chili-eating to beards, and who knows what else!

It's Easy to See Yourself in Winnsboro

Winnsboro would come to you if it could, but an intimate theater, walkable and historic downtown, and a whole month of October festivities just aren’t going to fit in the minivan.  Find an empty weekend on your calendar and write Winnsboro’s name on it. It’s just the sort of quiet country town that’ll fill your belly and your soul in two days’ time.