Texas Festivals: Creating Community Through Celebration Exhibition

Texas Festivals: Creating Community Through Celebration is on at the Bullock Texas State History Museum from April 25 through September 27, 2026. It's a bilingual exhibition put together for the museum's 25th anniversary, and it takes a look at the festivals that bring Texans together and what they say about the state's identity and history.

There are 27 festivals from across Texas featured here, and the display pulls from a wide range of traditions. You'll see a sand sculpture from Port Aransas's Texas Sandfest, an art car celebrating Stevie Ray Vaughan from Houston's Art Car Parade, and royal court regalia from San Antonio's Fiesta and the Texas Citrus Fiesta in Mission. The exhibition also brings out the mascots: Tex the onion from the Texas Onion Fest, Priscilla the pig from the Hogeye Festival, and Big Jake from the Texas State Forest Festival. Between the regalia and the mascots, you get a sense of how different these celebrations are, from the coast to the Valley.

The exhibition is broken into three sections: 'What is a festival?', 'What do festivals celebrate?' and 'How do festivals create community?'. It uses interactive elements, a short documentary, and iconic objects to trace the state's industries, geographies, and cultural heritage. The bilingual presentation means it's accessible in both English and Spanish, which fits given how many of these festivals are rooted in the state's diverse communities.

It runs through September 27 at the Bullock Museum, 1800 Congress in Austin. Admission to the exhibition is free with museum admission.