www.salado.com

Salado Chocolate Festival

The festival kickoff begins on Friday evening with an Evening of Chocolate & Wine from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Salado Wine Seller. Carriage rides and Belgian horses will provide transportation from both Stagecoach Inn and the Holiday Inn Express to the event location. Guests will be invited to savor the taste of premier Texas wines paired with decadent chocolates. The Evening of Chocolate & Wine will feature the finest in artisan chocolates and wine tasting from Texas vineyards. The Belgian Horses will run from 7:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.

Go to: http://saladochocolatefestival.com/schedule.htm

Check out the other events during the same weekend and buy tickets–they’re going fast!

Congratulations Salado Scrappers!

Lynn Renfro and Drew Van Winkle dump water on Salado Scrappers coach Keith Fisher and his players after they beat the Belton A’s 9-1 on Thursday for the championship of the Texas Teenage Baseball Machine Pitch State Tournament in Belton. The Scrappers finished 5-0. (Mitch Green/Telegram)

Picture from Temple Daily Telegram, August 1, 2008

ADELEA’S–new restaurant in Salado

I’ve just attended the ribbon cutting for a brand new restaurant at 302 N. Main Street here in Salado.  Their website is Adelea’s on Main.  It is owned by two sisters and the place is BEAUTIFUL!  Now there is another great place to have a glass of wine in Salado and I’m looking forward to doing some wine dinners with them.

Here’s their description:

Whether you are enjoying a relaxing lunch with friends, treating the special people in your life with an afternoon English tea, sipping our famous sangria on our outdoor patio, or cooling off with a cold beer in our Hemingway’s Bar, you will find whatever it is you are looking for at Adelea’s On Main.  Our 1925 home features soothing tones meant to evoke the feeling of an elegant beach house complete with a front porch and a patio so you can enjoy the meanderings of Main Street while getting to know the locals or catching up with old friends.  

Shy Tree plays at Salado Silver Spur AUG 17, 2008

Hello!

My son, Josh Brown, will be in concert with his wife Alison and their band,
Shy Tree, on Sunday, August 17th at 7:00 at The Salado Silver Spur.
If you would like to listen to his music, please click on this link and go to
Audio and press Listen.

http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=106582

I am on a mission to help their success in Central Texas so maybe they can move
back to this area from Las Vegas.

Please help me by spreading the word.  If you or someone you know may enjoy
this concert, please come! Ask for the “Realtor” discount!

Artfully yours,

Rita Oden
Salado Realty
254.718.7956 cell

New www.salado.com Website

It’s finally here folks!

I’ve been working on this for a couple years.  First I served on a committee that explored forming a new website.  Then I served on the committee that overhauled our Chamber of Commerce brochure.  Then a year ago, I formed the new website committee, found volunteers to help me, brainstormed, issued a Request For Proposal, reviewed, and helped choose a designer.  Then we  worked with the designer, Steve Kleypas at the Woodward Creative Group.  He designed 3 mock-ups and then we debated, and debated, then finally we decided.  Then the work began!  We tweaked, twisted and tortured the data into the new website.  So check it out, and only let me know if you like it!

 www.salado.com

To find the restaurants in town, go to Salado Restaurants 

To find a place to stay in Salado, go to Salado Bed & Breakfasts

To find me, go to Salado Wine Seller

Free Texas (as in zero cost)

A local author from Belton, Texas has recently written a book about free places to visit in Texas.  One of the places mentioned is the Central Texas Area Museum right here in Salado!  The book is only $13.46 on Amazon.com.  You can find out more about the book at http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=1&nid=15975. 

I have visited the museum and it is in an interesting old building and chock full of history related to the various Scottish clans who settled in Texas.  The museum also sponsors an annual “Gathering of the Clans” which is a fun weekend of traditional Scottish contests.  I am excited because this year, November 8-9, 2008, the events will take place in downtown Salado and will be much closer to us.

 But don’t wait for the big weekend to visit because the “Wee Scots Shop” will be full of hot, sweaty, kilt-clad guys fighting for haegus!  Come to Salado now and visit the museum then walk or drive exactly one mile north on Main St. and cool off with a glass of Texas wine and tell us what you think.

Local Chocolate celebrity in Salado!

I hear we have a local celebrity who recently moved to Texas and is quite the expert on chocolate….. 

Berry Whiz Closes Shop

Eminger Berries

 We know where she is, and if you’re nice to us and spend lots of money, we just might tell you….

And stay tuned for more details for the Chocolate and Art Festival here in Salado on October 10-12!  On Friday night, October 10, we will have a chocolate and wine pairing event at Salado Wine Seller~

Honorable Mention in Austin Statesman

http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/travel/06/08/0608smiles.html

 

Photo by Larry Kolvoord AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Salado’s popular with other wedding couples, of course, including these newlyweds cruising the streets of the historic village, which was named in 1860. Below, Roy T’s Old Salado Bakery offers blue plate specials, pizza and baked goods with a New Orleans touch: homemade beignets.

Photo by Larry Kolvoord AMERICAN-STATESMAN

TRAVEL

Jenna Bush puts sleepy Salado on the map

Known for its galleries, restaurants and shopping, now this quaint village has star appeal.

By Candace Birkelbach
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Sunday, June 08, 2008

SALADO — This quaint village north of Austin, which bills itself as “artfully yours,” already was on most Central Texans’ list of places to visit. With galleries, fine shops, restaurants and a beautiful creek, it’s a natural place to escape the chaos of big city life.

But lately it’s been buzzing for a different reason thanks to Jenna Bush’s super secret bridal luncheon at Salado’s Inn on the Creek and “Texas-Sized Celebration” at Salado’s Silver Spur Theater.

Inn owner Will Lowery admitted with a laugh that the village had never seen anything this big.

I decided to check in and see how Salado is doing after the entourage rolled into, and out of, town. Fortunately, all the hubbub has died down, returning the area to the serenity for which it is known.

My first stop was Roy T’s Old Salado Bakery to get my caffeine fix. This place has a locals-only vibe, but don’t worry about looking clueless when you walk into the shop. Owner Roy “Knox” Tyson quickly pegged me as an “I-35er,” someone who just pulled in from the highway that runs directly in front of the shop, and helped me sort through the menu. If the homemade doughnuts and beignets don’t make you a lifetime patron of this New-Orleans style bakery, the coffee is sure to win you over. What’s with the New Orleans theme? Tyson went to Tulane University and fell in love with the Big Easy.

The Salado College T-shirts adorning the walls are a nod to the first co-ed college in Texas, which burned down in the 1920s. (Ask about getting an honorary degree!)

There are also daily blue plate specials and the family’s own unique recipe for Manhattan-style pizza. And you can wash it down with a classic Dublin Dr Pepper.

But time now to shop.

Horsefeathers has home décor items to suit any taste. And if you buy something, designer Diana Woolard will follow you home to help you figure out where to put it. I found some interesting candles (lemonade, fried green tomato and cashmere scents), lamps, trinkets, furniture and paintings that I would be happy to place in my home.

Mud Pies Pottery offers colorful handmade pottery. Want to make your own? There are pottery classes for adults and children. And please, try the 46 flavors of fudge, including chocolate cherry walnut, armadillo crunch and key lime.

OK, I’ve had my morning fudge; now it’s time for lunch.

The Ambrosia Tea Room is next door and serves fresh salads, chilled strawberry soup and ginger peach tea. And as 31-year Salado resident Robert Denman told me, men are allowed to eat in tea rooms.

But Browning’s Cafe across the street also offers salads and classic sandwiches such as chicken salad, tuna fish and pimento cheese. I opt for the homemade minestrone soup, and I made the right decision. The bold, rich tomato base of this soup made my mouth very happy, along with the fresh vegetables.

I’m curious to see where Jenna Bush set up camp during her wedding weekend, so I drop by the Silver Spur Theater (the only source of night life in the town, it offers over-the-top slapstick comedy with a touch of vaudeville). Owner Grainger Esch, sitting on the edge of the stage decked out in a red plaid shirt, black vest and cowboy hat, says in hindsight he is glad he didn’t know in advance because it would have been daunting to keep the secret.

Lowery says that when Bush arrived at the inn, she and her friends ran down to the creek, kicked off their shoes and walked through the water holding hot pink parasols.

He prides himself on maintaining a discreet inn where dignitaries can come for a peaceful evening. (The inn offers specialty dining for reservation only on Friday and Saturday nights, with a different four-course menu each week.)

My afternoon ended too soon, and I left town with a thought running through my head: “I wish I were older so I could retire and move here now.”

Birkelbach is an Austin freelance writer.

Worth checking out

Roy T’s Old Salado Bakery, 100 N. Church St. (254) 947-7181, www.oldsaladobakery.com.

Inn on the Creek, 602 Center Circle. (877) 947-5554, www.inncreek.com.

Salado Silver Spur Theater, Royal Street. (254) 947-3456, www.saladosilverspur.com.

Mud Pies Pottery,(254) 947-0281. www.mudpiespottery.com.

Salado Wine Seller (881-B N. Main St.) open for wine tastings Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday noon to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 8 p.m. Five tastes for $3. Thursday is Ladies Only Night from 6 to 8 p.m. (254) 947-8011, www.saladowinery.com.

Fletchers Books and Antiques(945 N. Main St.). Eclectic items from estate sales. Civil War, religion and philosophy books. (254) 947-5414.

austin_americ576:http://www.statesman.com/services/content/life/stories/travel/06/08/0608smiles.html?cxtype=ybuzzBuzz up!Vote for this story!

One more Jenna story…

 This quote from People magazine “President Bush: An ‘Awfully Special’ Wedding Weekend” posted Sunday, May 11, 2008:

Back in Crawford and nearby Salado, where many of the guests had booked rooms at the quaint inns and B&Bs, it was time to pack up and clean up. One twentysomething man checking out of the Old Salado Celebration Center & Retreat, where Friday’s rehearsal dinner had been held, told PEOPLE: “The wedding was a great party. It was beautiful, incredible, outstanding.”

Well, that “twentysomething man” stopped by the Salado Wine Seller shop.   I sold him a bottle “Texas Hills Kick Butt Cabernet“.  I carded him, and I know who he is, but I’m protecting his privacy.  Unlike some of the shops in town, for example Tyler Fletcher of Fletcher’s Books & Antiques who claims he sold a book to Karl Rove!