‘Let the celebrations begin’ | Granbury named official Celebration Capital of Texas

From the “Best Historic Small Town in America,” to a “Music Friendly Community,” to a “Scenic City,” Granbury has received several honors and designations — but this may be the biggest one yet.

Made official by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 11, Granbury is now designated as the “Celebration Capital of Texas."

“I think this is the biggest thing that Granbury’s ever been recognized for,” Visit Granbury Director Tammy Dooley told the HCN. “And I’m just ecstatic.”

According to the Legislative Reference Library of Texas website, the Texas Legislature can assign “place designations” for any city or area in Texas if it reflects some sort of historical or cultural significance. The legislature may not assign the same designation to more than one event or location. A place designation lasts for 10 years but can be renewed with a new resolution.

“In tourism, we're always looking for new opportunities to promote ourselves and propel tourism forward and I realized that Granbury has never had a capital place designation,” Dooley said. “I frankly was really surprised because we have so many things that we could be the capital city of, so I started researching it and looking into what Granbury was going to be. It could have been historical, it could have been nature-related, it could have been art-related — there's so many things that it could be.”

Dooley asked for recommendations from the Visit Granbury team and the Rise & Grind community about the perfect place designation for Granbury — and the results were astounding.

"We literally had hundreds of suggestions, and many of them were already taken, so we had to say, 'OK, who are we and who are we going to be over the next 10 years?’” she said. “We took the top 25 and we spent probably over an hour going over it and narrowing it down to three.”

The top three choices were history, monarch butterflies, or festivals and events.

“Al of a sudden ‘celebration’ started coming into the mix, and everyone just looked at each other and were like, ‘That's it,’” Dooley said. “After all these months of trying to figure this out, it was like ‘That's who we are.’”

"If you think about our city, there's history and all the events that take place and I think the idea around it was trying to make it very inclusive,” said Steven Vale, city council member. ‘Celebrate’ just seemed to encompass all the things that people were seeing, thinking, and feeling in the room. We just thought that it just kind of captured the essence of what we were trying to communicate about our city, and it really captured the overarching feel of ‘When you come to Granbury, what do you feel?’”

Following the unanimous vote of “celebrate,” the Granbury City Council adopted a resolution to request that the Texas House of Representatives designate Granbury as the “Celebration Capital of Texas.”

The resolution was forwarded to Rep. Shelby Slawson who authored the bill, then to Brian Birdwell who sponsored the bill, and finally, to Gov. Abbott.

Recognizing the wide array of special events and celebrations — both time-honored and new — that add greatly to the city’s distinctive character and strong sense of community, Abbott signed the joint House/Senate resolution on June 11 during the 88th Texas Legislature designating Granbury as the official Celebration Capital of Texas.

"We've been the ‘Celebration’ capital for years, and we're going to be the ‘Celebration’ capital forever,” Dooley said. “But to have it move that fast and have everybody so excited about it is amazing.”

Soon, Visit Granbury will be rolling out new marketing campaigns and materials specifically announcing and promoting the designation.

“We will be celebrating all year,” Dooley said. “The ‘Celebration Capital of Texas’ designation is not only an honor for the city, but an invaluable marketing tool to promote and tell our story. Celebrations are our brand. Visitors come to Granbury to celebrate everything — festivals, history, patriotism, arts and culture, music, culinary, nature and recreations, lake activities, girlfriend weekends, family reunions, weddings, conventions, car shows, and even monarch butterflies. We have become known as a place to head to for a celebration.”

According to the Visit Granbury news release, Granbury hosts over 40 events annually with well over 75,000 attendees. Some of Granbury’s showcase events include the Fourth of July celebrations, Wine Walk, Harvest Moon Festival, Lone Star Street Rod Association, Hood County Stampede Rodeo, Spartan & Tough Mudder, Spooky Spectacle, LakeFest, Founder’s Day, Bull Riding on the Beach, JazzFest, Goosebump Jump, and many others.

“I think (this designation) encompasses all the things to do and all the activities and events that people coming into the city can partake in,” Vale said. "If a couple or a family come in, and the kids want to go to the beach, the husband wants to go play golf, and the wife wants to go shop downtown or take in a show at the Opera House or Granbury Live, they can do that, but then the family can also do things together. We've got a drive-in theater, we have the city beach, there's lots of restaurants, and there's just a lot of activities to do around the city, so I think it becomes a great tool for Visit Granbury to use in marketing the city of Granbury for tourism.”

Dooley added that Visit Granbury will also be working on the “Celebration Capital of Texas” logo.

“This is just something that we all get to celebrate in, so it’s just fascinating,” she added. “It's fabulous.”

Approximately 90 cities and counties in Texas have the capital place designation, including Brownsville, the Chess Capital; Glen Rose, the Dinosaur Capital; and Parker County, the Peach Capital of Texas.

“Welcome to the Celebration Capital of Texas,” Dooley stated in the news release. “Let the celebrations begin.”