“Waggin Trail Bike Ride” Scheduled May 2nd
(first Saturday)
along with Outlets at
Hillsboro’s Cinco
de Mayo Fiesta
Two of Hill County’s finest community oriented
organizations, Hill County Paw Pals and Hillsboro Police Department Community
Outreach Programs, have joined together to launch the second annual “Waggin
Trail Bike Ride” which has been scheduled on the first Saturday of May (May
2nd). The event is planned with five
routes to meet the needs of avid cyclists to the casual rider to include 70, 58,
40, 26, and 10 mile routes.
Hillsboro Lions Club has once again volunteered to manage the registration for
this event which will start at
6:30am. We
are proud to announce Outlets at
Hillsboro as the event sponsor where planned activities from
11-7pm will include Cinco de Mayo Fiesta and Tractor
Supply’s 2nd annual Chihuahua Dog Races. The Cinco de Mayo Fiesta will offer
live music and activities for children to include face paintings and a bounce
house and admission will be free.
Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for fifth of May)
commemorates the Mexican army’s unpredicted defeat of the French army where the
Mexicans were outnumbered two-to-one and up against a force much better-equipped
and had known no defeat for 50 years.
Since this victory, no army from another continent has again invaded the
Americas.
The planned routes of Waggin Trail Bike Ride will
offer cyclists a unique tour of rural
Central Texas.
Hill County is 986 square miles of rural area that is joined
together with miles and miles of splendid paved farm to market roads. With a combined county population of
only 33,000,
Hill
County offers plenty of wide open spaces. On many areas of the bike ride, one
can see for miles around—the splendid beauty of open land—flowing creeks,
pastures with cattle and horses grazing, farmers’ cultivated fields, and proud,
rural communities.
All Waggin Trail routes will start at Outlets at
Hillsboro and run though
Hillsboro’s historic town square where the famed county
courthouse stands. Built in 1890 and
gutted by fire on New Years day 1993, it has been completely restored thanks to
the aid of community members, two Willie Nelson concerts, and the Texas
Courthouse Alliance. This massive
three-story limestone structure is an impressive seven stories high, making it
the tallest structure in
Hill
County and it can be seen from many miles around.
Hillsboro is known for its historic buildings and features
Victorian Bed and Breakfast homes, antique stores, and a popular outlet mall.
The varied routes all explore the back roads of
Hill County and go through communities that were established during the 1850’s
when Hill County was created and named after Dr. George W. Hill, a settler who
served as a congressman and Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas. This spring season will have a full
abundance of Texas wildflowers in bloom—notably, bluebonnets—the
Texas State flower, so named by the Texas Legislature in 1901. Named for its color and it is said,
the resemblance of its petal to a woman’s sunbonnet, bluebonnets have been loved
since man first trod the vast prairies of
Texas. Native
Americans wove fascinating folk tales around them and the early-day Spanish
priests gathered the seeds and grew them around their missions.
This practice gave rise to the myth that
the padres had brought the plant from
Spain, but this cannot be true since the two predominant
species of bluebonnets are found growing naturally only in
Texas and nowhere else in the world.
The planning committee for this event, in
alphabetical order, are: Hillsboro Chief of Police Tony Cain, Paw Pals Director
Lana Crow, Dr. Lane Dykes, Outlets at Hillsboro Marketing and Special Events
Manager Rebecca Galuppo, Paw Pals Director Mike Hendricks, and Reverend Reed
Justus.
Because
Hill County has so many available rural roads, Waggin Trail
Bike Ride routes will be altered to change the scenery from year to year. All offer picturesque scenery just
waiting to be enjoyed with your family and friends while at the same time
supporting two worthy organizations.
For more information about the bike ride, please visit
www.waggintrailbikeride.com;
www.outlestathillsboro; or call
(254) 580-0679.