Texas Lions Camp fall festival returning for third year

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Santa’s Wonderland will look more like fall Saturday. That’s because the Lions Club of the Brazos Valley is returning with its Texas Lions Club Fall Festival. This is the organization’s third time hosting the event.

The event will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be packed with live entertainment, kids’ activities, food trucks and vendors.

In addition, there will be a car show with vintage vehicles like Mike Martenson’s 1971 Pontiac Grand Prix.

“Just like it came off the showroom floor except for a little bit of an upgrade in the motor,” Martenson said. “I’ve owned it for a couple of years. I had one when I was 16, and my wife and I decided that we needed to have another one.”

It’s stories like this that make the car show fun and special, according to the event’s car show chair Patricia Lindblom.

“For me, it is about traditions. It’s about families getting together and putting things together,” Lindblom said.

Along with fun, the event serves a greater purpose in helping kids have an unforgettable experience at the Texas Lions Camp. It’s a nonprofit camp for kids with physical disabilities, diabetes, Down syndrome and cancer.

The camp sits on over 500 acres and gives kids the opportunity to experience things like swimming, horseback riding and rock climbing.

“The whole goal is to build self-esteem and to build a can-do attitude,” fall festival chair Wayne Dicky said.

Because of the fall festival, kids can attend the week-long camp for free.

“It’s an opportunity for us to serve up to about 1,500 kids a year,” Dicky said.

Erin Mabry, the fall festival’s outreach & communications chair, has seen firsthand how campers have transformed because of the experience.

“It’s so cool to see them at the end of the week smiling, having fun and going home with lots of stories to tell,” Mabry said.

Newly-elected Texas Lions Camp director Dan Castillo said this is one of his favorite parts of the camp experience.

“Come Friday graduation, these campers are saying, ‘I’m gonna stay here another week, mom,’” Castillo said.

For more on the Texas Lions Camp and the fall festival, click here.

Free event parking will be available in Santa’s Wonderland Prancer Lot.