Big Country Tourism: Brownwood is in the Mix too !

Posted on Wed, May. 17, 2006

A SECOND WIND
Frontier Texas! breathed new life into old Abilene
By Art Chapman
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FRONTIER TEXAS
Frontier Texas! in Abilene has been credited with turning the stodgy old town into a tourist destination.
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Two years ago, amid barbecue smoke and knee-slapping country music, Abilene put out the welcome mat for tourists with a new limestone heritage and information center that offered a history lesson on this open prairie region.
It is called Frontier Texas! and it seems to have worked.
Abilene, that once dusty oil and cattle town that we used to dismiss as a stodgy, conservative city dominated by church schools, has become the darling of West Texas.
According to state tourism officials, Abilene was the 10th most popular leisure destination in 2004. Earlier this month, The New York Times featured it in its travel section.
The Times story identified the city of 115,000 as being in "north central Texas." That's a bit of shocker for Texans; we don't identify that city by its true geographical location.
Abilene is spiritually and culturally a West Texas town.
The Times' story does go on to say, "As you stand on the edge of town, there's nothing between you and the sunburned horizon.
"It's cowboy country, where boots and hats are de rigueur and residents don't bother to take the keys out of their ignition when they park their pickup trucks."
That's West Texas for sure, except maybe for that "de rigueur" thing.
"We feel like we made the big time," Nancy Liles, executive director of the Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau, said of the newspaper article. "They can put us where ever they want. If they want us in North Central Texas, we'll take it. Everybody here is very excited."
Liles said she has received calls from business people in Abilene and heard from tourism officials in other parts of the state.
"Doug Harmon called me from the Fort Worth visitors and convention bureau, the day the story came out," she said.
Abilene is in full blush.
Weeks ago, the city was named by Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine as one of the 50 smartest places to live.
Last weekend, there wasn't a motel room to be had. All three universities -- Abilene Christian, McMurry and Hardin-Simmons -- held their graduations, and the Western Heritage Classic took place at the Taylor County Expo Center. Harley-Davidson owners are in town this weekend for a motorcycle rally, and again, all the hotels are booked. Liles said visitors are having to stay as far away as Albany, Cisco, Sweetwater and Baird.
It is a relatively new situation for Abilene, and many of the business and tourism people there trace the beginning of the trend to the opening of Frontier Texas!
The heritage center was designed to draw travelers off the interstate and to help make Abilene a real destination point, not just a place to get gas and go.
As The Times' story pointed out: "In the same way that Texas' early frontier forts established a protective gateway at the edge of western civilization, Frontier Texas! establishes itself as a welcoming gateway at the limits of downtown."
Other points of interest included in the story were the Abilene Zoo, The Grace Museum and the Paramount Theater. A number of restaurants made the list of high points. Joe Allen's and La Popular Bakery & Cafe among them.
Even the Abilene drag strip got a notice. Area attractions included Albany's Old Jail Art Center, and Stasney's Cook Ranch. Buffalo Gap got its measure of notice too. Perini Ranch Steak House was mentioned along with the Buffalo Gap Historic Village and the nearby Abilene State Park.
Liles said research indicates that people are taking shorter trips. No doubt gas prices have something to do with that trend.
Abilene, 150 miles west of Dallas-Fort Worth, is in a good position to capitalize.
All the recent publicity is helping.

Art Chapman, (817) 390-7422 achapman@star-telegram.com
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/14599546.htm