Kingsland’s AquaBoom celebration — along with the Bluebonnet Festival in Burnet and Shoot for Coop in Smithwick — was voted Favorite Community Event in the 2023 Locals Love Us contest. Photo by Stennis Shotts
Highland Lakes residents certainly know what community events they love the most. Once again, the Bluebonnet Festival, Shoot for Coop, and AquaBoom were voted 2023 Locals Love Us Favorite Community Events in the Burnet, Marble Falls, and Kingsland/Llano areas, respectively, by The Picayune Magazine readers and KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune listeners. All three are repeat winners from 2022.
BLUEBONNET FESTIVAL
Billed as “the most exciting small-town festival in Texas,” the annual Bluebonnet Festival, celebrating the state flower, takes over the courthouse square in downtown Burnet on the second weekend in April. The 2023 festival was Easter weekend, April 7-9.
Festival fun includes a carnival, live music, a grand parade, a demolition derby, a bicycle decorating contest and other children’s activities, wiener dog races, vendors, and more. Go to bluebonnetfestival.org for details.
SHOOT FOR COOP
This sporting clay fundraiser is held in memory of Cooper DeSpain, who was killed in an ATV accident in 2014 at the age of 9. Proceeds from the Cooper DeSpain Memorial Scholarship Fund go toward 18 scholarships given each year to local high school graduates.
This year's event was April 22. The shoot is always held on the DeSpain family ranch in Smithwick, about 14 miles west of Marble Falls. Go to shootforcoop.com for details.
AQUABOOM
Kingsland celebrates America’s birthday each year with a week of events building up to a July 4 explosion of fireworks over Lake LBJ. The fun also includes parades, a beauty pageant, tournaments, a street dance with live music, a costume contest, and a rubber duckie race. Go to kingslandaquaboom.org for details.
Flip through the digital 2023 Locals Love Us magazine for a full list of winners.
suzanne@thepicayune.com
