Victoria is turning 200 this year, and to celebrate we have planned a yearlong series of events to commemorate the occasion. April 13 is the big day with a weekend full of events to celebrate, but the bicentennial won’t be just one day. We have compiled a calendar full of events for residents looking for ways to celebrate.
The bicentennial calendar, which can be found at www.victoriatx200.com, includes events hosted by the City and other organizations celebrating anniversaries; for example, St. Mary’s Catholic Church will celebrate 200 years, Victoria Symphony will celebrate 50 years and Victoria Ballet Theater will celebrate 40 years, just to name a few.
We hope you’ll join us March 14 for the ribbon cutting for Riverside Duck Pond. You can stick around after the ribbon cutting for the kids’ fishing camp (preregistration is required at www.victoriatx.gov/kidsfish.)
We will be having a full weekend of bicentennial events highlighting April 13, which marks the 200th anniversary of the day Martín de León received permission to found the colony of Nuestra Señora Guadalupe de Jesús Victoria.
Staring April 12, the University of Houston-Victoria and Museum of the Costal Bend will be hosting events in partnership with each other, focusing on the history of the De Leon legacy and the prehistory of Victoria. There will be several educational events held by different museums throughout the bicentennial year.
The big day, April 13, begins with the Victoria Day of Caring, where residents join together for volunteer projects across the city, followed by the Mother Cluckers’ Home of the Six Flags Market with live music and food trucks in downtown Victoria. Anyone wearing their Victoria Day of Caring T-shirt will get one free food item from one of the participating food trucks.
In the afternoon, we'll unveil a new statue of Martín de León and his wife, Patricia de la Garza, at De Leon Plaza, along with a ribbon-cutting for the expanded plaza. In the evening, we will host the Bicentennial Ball at the Victoria Community Center.
The weekend concludes on April 14 with a Mass honoring Martín De Leon and Patricia de la Garza at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, which was founded in 1824.
Oct. 18-19, the City of Victoria and the Museum of the Coastal Bend will host 1824: A Victoria Origin Story, a live reenactment of what life was like for the settlers and pioneers of 1824. This will be held in Riverside Park. Friday afternoon, the event will be open for school groups, but Friday evening and all of Saturday will be open to the public.
If you’re looking to learn more about our historic downtown, we are offering monthly trolley tours featuring over 80 historic homes and properties. While most of the next few months are sold out, there are spots available later in the year. If you can’t make it this year, the trolley tours will continue even after the bicentennial year.
We are also seeking residents to interview for Victoria Stories, a video series about experiences and memories of life in Victoria. If you would like to submit an application to be interviewed and learn more about our bicentennial celebration, visit www.victoriatx200.com.
We hope you can join us in our yearlong celebration of Victoria turning 200. To stay connected with the bicentennial or any other events taking place in Victoria, remember to follow Explore Victoria Texas on Facebook or visit us online at www.explorevictoriatexas.com.
Joel Novosad is the director of the City of Victoria Convention & Visitors Bureau.