frontier texas

Roadside Oddity: Flying Herd of Buffalo in Abilene

January 31, 2023 | By Loretta Fulton

The flying herd of buffalo towering over the eastern edge of downtown Abilene isn’t an illusion created by a blazing sun but the realization of local artist H.C.

Book it to the Big Country for The Children’s Art and Literacy Festival in Abilene

April 30, 2019 | By Matt Joyce

My children stepped foot in Abilene for the first time in their short lives last June for a quick three-night visit. Now, even though it’s been a year, mention Abilene to them and you’ll get a happy earful of stories.
This fond association traces directly to the Children’s Art & Literacy Festival, an annual celebration of all things picture books. Most people know Abilene as the capital of the Big Country, a dusty railroad outpost thick with steakhouses and Churches of Christ. But for three days every June, the festival (known as CALF) cloaks downtown Abilene in an imaginative world of colorful characters and fanciful tales—and ice cream vendors aplenty.

Daytripper: Abilene

February 6, 2015 | By Chet Garner

North of the Hill Country, but south of the Panhandle; west of North Texas, but east of West Texas, is a region that can only be described as “Big Country.” It’s a land of rugged prairies and epic stories as legendary as Texas itself.

The October 2023 issue of Texas Highways "Tastes Like Home"

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