One of my favorite snapshots of B.J.

B.J. and The Triumphs performed many times here at Garner State Park.  If I could go back in time, I would go to Garner State Park and enjoy the "olden days".  From the stories I've heard, those were really fun times!

 

Garner State Park Texas      Waterfall at Garner

 

Garner State Park is one of the most photographed parks in the state of Texas.  During the summer its visitors make it the largest "town" in the county. Besides the tree lined river, there’s a mountain view that is truly memorable. It’s a park you won’t confuse with any other.

After visiting Garner State Park head south on Hwy 83 towards Concan. RR1120 offers several picturesque points of entry. Concan has one of the most inviting accesses but the parking is limited, so try to arrive early. Stone steps carved by nature on riverbanks, white pebbles and clear water makes the Frio River very enticing.
    

B.J. Thomas was a frequent visitor to Garner State Park in the early 60's with The Triumphs Band.  He wrote the song "Garner State Park" which, as I understand it, is still on the jukebox.  There were a lot of other young up-and-coming entertainers who played there in the 60's (Roy Orbison, Gene Thomas, Johnny Winter, etc.)

Many families have  planned their summer vacations around trips to Garner State Park for decades.  Lots of memories have been made on summer trips to Garner.  The nightly dances on "the slab" still bring back fond memories to those who lived "the experience" of being in that special place.

***********************      1963**************

Practicing************        Night Dancing Today

 

Since the Civilian Conservation Corps built this open-air pavilion, which opened in 1941, families have converged here to twirl and tap toes to a thumping jukebox. Couples have met and married; teenage romance has blossomed summer after summer. The music is special, too. Some of the most popular songs here — staples like "Blackland Farmer" and "Garner State Park" — are virtually unknown elsewhere.

The dances take place every night during the summer and draw up to 1,500 people. In the height of the season, die-hards stake out their spots at dawn, setting up lawn chairs three rows deep on the perimeter of the dance floor.

"These days, the jukebox plays CDs instead of 45s: one song for 50 cents, three for a dollar. We update the songs, but there are certain Garner songs that it's taboo to touch," says park ranger Frank Roberts. Among them? "Blackland Farmer," "Pop a Top" "Fraulein," "Rockin' Robin," and, of course, "Garner State Park."

 

 

Garner State Park Lyrics

In the western part of Texas
90 miles from of San Antone
There's a place I go each summer
When I get the urge to roam

I stand out on the highway
If I couldn't catch a ride I'd walk
To Garner State Park
Let's go to Garner State Park
Come on along to Garner State Park

Where the prettiest girls in Texas
And from everywhere
Parade their city slicking clothes
And bought some boots and western wear
We swam all through the day
And that's when it gets dark
At Garner State Park
Let's go to Garner State Park
We gotta go to Garner State Park

At the dance I met a girl
She was from old Houston town
She was the queen of the park
She was the prettiest girl around
We walked down to the water
We found a big rock, began to talk
At Garner State Park
Come on and go to Garner State Park

Pretty Cloud to Houston town
San Antone and everywhere around

Next thing I knew it was 4 am
She said my Mother's surely worried
About where I am
And with the Texas sky above
We couldn't help that we had fallen in love
At Garner State Park

Everything's great after dark
When you're at Garner State Park

But the summer was soon over
And we had to say goodbye
I said we'll see each other next year
As a tear fell from her eye
When I came I knew no sorrow
Now I'm leaving with a broken heart
From Garner State Park

Everything's great after dark
When you're at Garner State Park

Oh, but I'll be back again next year
I'll be back again next year
Yeah
I'll be back again next year
I'll be back again next year
Yeah
I'll be back again next year
I'll be back again next year
Yeah
I'll be back again next year
I'll be back again next year

Yeah
I'll be back again next year

 

Garner State Park, Released on Roller Skate Records 1982

Pretty Country Girl

You're The One

Walkin' Back

Bobbie

She's Riding High

Bright Nights

Daddy

Plain Jane

Didn't It Rain

Garner State Park

  Also has Garner State Park on this LP

 


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The riverbank below the concrete dance floor, where up to 1,000 dancers congregate nightly between Memorial Day and Labor Day, has for decades suffered erosion from floodwaters common to the Frio River.

The erosion threatens construction done by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s. The last major flood, in the summer of 2003, caused the collapse of the concrete overlook at the bottom of CCC-built stairs leading to the platform.

The overlook will not be rebuilt, according to TPWD’s Rollin Macrae, but the existing steps will still lead to a landing at the top of the new limestone benches. He said the agency is working with an Austin engineering firm to implement a design appropriate to the ecological setting.

Funds for the bank stabilization project come from Proposition 8 bond monies approved by voters in a 2001 constitutional amendment. The funds are part of $36.6 million in bonding authority approved in FY03 by the Texas Bond Review Board for critical repairs and renovations at dozens of state parks, fish hatcheries and other TPWD sites.

Garner State Park covers 1,484 acres and includes 1.5 miles of the Frio River frontage. Garner’s more than 400 campsites attract almost a quarter-million campers each year. The park is named for John Nance Garner of nearby Uvalde who served as vice president during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration.

For more information about Garner State Park, call the park at (830) 232-6132.

 

 

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