Christmas Through the Years in LBJ Country

News Release Date: November 7, 2016

Contact: Brian Vickers, 830-868-7128 ext. 233

Due to the continuing threat of inclement weather for December 3, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park will postpone “Christmas Through the Years in LBJ Country” until Saturday, December 10. The Boyhood Home will remain open for Lamplight Tours the evening of December 3.


JOHNSON CITY, TEXAS – Gather the family and come out to Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park to celebrate the holiday season at “Christmas Through the Years in LBJ Country” on Saturday, December 3, in Johnson City, Texas. This National Park Service centennial celebration will run from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The special event will be free and open to the public. The event takes place outdoors at 200 Elm Street in Johnson City on the city block where young Lyndon Johnson came of age. The president’s Boyhood Home will be open for lamplight tours. Next door is the Pedernales Electric Cooperative headquarters, where thousands of Christmas lights illuminate stately live oak trees.

Christmas was a special time for President and Mrs. Johnson and their family. This year the National Park Service carries on the Johnson family’s tradition by making this season special for locals and “out-of-towners” alike. In conjunction with the Lights Spectacular celebration in Johnson City, and through a partnership with the Friends of Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce, this local celebration will cap the National Park Service’s year-long centennial celebration. Activities will showcase Christmas traditions from the 1860s through the 1960s—from the time of the president’s grandparents to the years of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency.

Activities at this outdoor event include:

• traditional country music and Christmas carols with Brian Black from 7:00 to 8:30 pm
• an 1860s chuck wagon cooking demonstration with cowboy stories
• hands-on Christmas crafts for children
• display of President Johnson’s historic 1915 American LaFrance fire truck
• lamplight tours through Lyndon Johnson’s Boyhood Home
• an exhibit and presentation on young Congressman Lyndon Johnson making Lights Spectacular a future reality with the creation of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative
• screening of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on an outdoor movie screen

Brian Black of Bandera, Texas, is a music artist who has opened for and played with a number of renowned musical artists including Garth Brooks, Tracy Byrd, George Jones, the Marshall Tucker Band, Tanya Tucker, Lee Greenwood, and his brother Clint Black. Rick Mitchell of the Houston Chronicle wrote, “Brian Black’s promotional t-shirts read ‘Almost Famous,’ but his singing stands up to comparisons with his brother Clint and most any other new traditionalist country artist.”

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is open seven days a week from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more information call 830-868-7128 ext. 231 or 244, or visit www.nps.gov/lyjo and www.facebook.com/LBJohnsonNPS.

More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 413 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice. For more information on the NPS Centennial visit www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/index.htm.