Thursday, May 9, 2024
“The Daytripper” star Chet Garner will be visiting Granbury again on Tuesday, May 2, at the Lake Granbury Conference Center in celebration of National Travel and Tourism Week.
Chet Garner, host of the PBS television show, “The Daytripper,” visited Granbury for an episode back in 2015. He said he ate tacos at Stumpy’s, visited Jesse James’ grave, climbed to the top of the courthouse to see the old clock, and went swimming at Granbury City Beach Park.
Visit Granbury will soon be celebrating National Travel and Tourism Week and who better to celebrate with than with famous Texplorer Chet Garner?
ABOUT CHET GARNER
Garner is the host of the six-time Emmy Award-winning travel series “The Daytripper” on PBS — a show centered on one-day adventures exploring the food, culture, and history of Texas towns throughout the Lone Star state.
"We show everybody what they can see and do if they were in Granbury for instance," Garner told the HCN by phone. “A couple of years ago, we actually made a Granbury episode. It's been one of our more popular episodes that's for sure, because Granbury is so well loved. We told the story of John Wilkes Booth. We ate tacos at Stumpy's. We went to the top of the courthouse and saw the old clock. We went to Jesse James' grave, and we went swimming at City Beach.”
The first episode of “The Daytripper” premiered on Oct. 9, 2009, and the show hasn’t slowed down since. Garner has traveled throughout Texas, showcasing famous landmarks, hideaways, and obscure dives.
“It's a 30-minute show, and my goal is to inspire people to hit the road more than just like, ‘Hey, a cool Travel Channel show.’ I want to make people say ‘What? I didn't know that was there,’ and they get off their couch and jump in the car,” he explained.
Garner, who grew up in southeast Texas, spent a lot of his time traveling abroad before realizing that some of the greatest sights were right here in his home state.
"I just realized that some of the best things on Earth don't require a plane ticket and a wallet full of cash; they're a lot closer than we think,” he said. “Sometimes you have to step away from your home to realize how special it was, so I left Texas, and then would come back and explore and be like, ‘This is better than that thing I paid 2,000 bucks to go see on a plane,' and so I just kind of got this inspiration that people needed to celebrate their state more. Texans are proud, but I wanted to give people lots of reasons to be proud of their state — real, true things they've experienced rather than just something that we're mimicking back.”
TOURISM CELEBRATION BRUNCH
Visit Granbury has invited Garner to help celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week with the second annual Friends of Tourism celebration from 9-10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 2, at the Lake Granbury Conference Center.
Garner, a resident of Georgetown, will be discussing his lifetime endeavor to explore Texas to hopefully inspire local residents to head out on their own Texas-sized adventures.
“It's a celebration breakfast inviting in people from the city, people who are involved in tourism, and kicking off National Tourism week,” Garner explained. “Tourism is one of the biggest drivers of economies in small towns — especially in a town like Granbury. Tourism's a great industry; it drives billions of dollars in the state of Texas, so it's super important, and it’s cool to be able to kick it off in Granbury because there's no place like it in Texas.”
The event is free but requires an RSVP as seating will be limited to 200 people. Tourism stakeholders and community members who support travel and tourism are invited to attend.
"Travel is at the heart of Granbury — powering a strong Granbury tourism economy, creating jobs, and strengthening our community’s culture and identity,” Tammy Dooley, director of Visit Granbury stated in a news release. “This National Travel and Tourism Week, we are proud to celebrate all that travel does for our community now, and all that it will contribute in the future.”
Dooley said during the celebration brunch, Mayor Pro Tem Trish Burwell will read the official proclamation recognizing National Travel and Tourism Week, as well as its impact of travel tourism to Granbury and Hood County.
“The proclamation will celebrate and create awareness of the special occasion,” she added in the news release. “The Friends of Tourism Celebration will also recognize volunteers and some very special Friends of Tourism.”
To RSVP for the celebration brunch, call Visit Granbury at 817-573-5548 or email Rhiannon Crump at rcrump@granbury.org.
