The festival is set for Friday through Sunday and will include the dedication of a Texas State Historical Marker, a cattle drive down Main Street, a colorful parade down Main, a rodeo, tours of the historic Robertson Plantation, re-enactments along Salado Creek, heritage crafts, historical walks and tours, and a concert.
Kickoff begins at 4 p.m. Friday when a cattle drive down Main Street will evoke images of the past when Salado was a pioneer settlement.
The event, sponsored by Salado's tourist bureau, is billed on its Web site as a celebration of the founding of Salado College. Oddly, it leaves out the founding of Salado in the same year.
The history of the two is inexorably intertwined, said Mary Belle Brown, a local historian. She is the great-great-granddaughter of James Anderson, who in 1850 was one of Bell County's first justices of the peace.
Ms. Brown said that on Oct. 8, 1859, E.S.C. Robertson donated 100 acres at the Old Military Road Crossing on Salado Creek for a town. Ten acres was to be the site for a future school. Ninety acres was cut into city lots to be sold to raise money to build the school, she said.
"Salado College when it was built became a prep school for children of all ages whose parents could afford to send them there," Mrs. Brown said. "The college is just one of several things that attracted people here. Salado Creek and the springs play heavily into the history of the area, too. They brought Spanish explorers here in the 1600s. For hundreds of years the Indians came and went. Settlers came and stayed."
At 9 a.m. Saturday, Mrs. Brown will lead the dedication of a Texas State Historical Marker at the south end of the Main Street Bridge. It will be dedicated to the history of Salado. She said ancestors of the original 16 Salado settlers would attend.
Ms. Brown said she mentioned to Mayor Merle Stalcup a year ago that Salado's sesquicentennial was coming up and deserved tribute. Stalcup took the idea to the tourist council.
Will Lowry of Inn on the Creek said owners of inns and hotels along with retailers are very much in the spirit of the occasion. Bookings are up for both dining and overnight guests.
Stalcup said he hopes the festival will become an annual event.
"Because of the history we have here we would like to recognize our forbearers every year from now on," Stalcup said. "This marks 150 years for both Salado College and Salado as well. It brings to light the trials and tribulations the pioneers endured and brings them into the reality of today's events."
James Bienski, president of the Salado Historical Society, has spent most of this year with society members preparing Robertson Plantation for tour by cleaning and repairing.
Situated on 851 acres, the two-story, wood frame, Greek revival structure is surrounded by a neat, white picket fence and shaded by huge oak trees. It evokes an aura of its long ago antebellum past.
The plantation house was built between 1856 and 1860 by Col. Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson - the same early resident who donated the land that formed Salado and Salado College.
Historians consider the plantation, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and a Texas Historic Landmark, the best example of its kind in Texas because after 150 years it remains intact and in the same family.
Docents in period attire will greet guests who will tour the ground floor of the old mansion as well as the barn, servants' quarters and family cemetery. The family reserves the second floor for private use.
Bienski said it has been a privilege being involved with maintaining and improving the old manor house in partnership with the heirs who own it.
"Everything we do today will make a difference five years or 100 years from now," Bienski said. "Our mutual goal is to make sure this showcase is preserved, maintained and shared with everyone in Texas and beyond."
Nancy Shepperd Carter and Linda Cawthon, members of the Salado Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, both handcrafted the dresses they will wear as docents during the tour.
"We are very proud of our heritage," Mrs. Carter said. "All members of the Daughters had to have ancestors living in Texas before 1846."
Mrs. Cawthon said she grew up in Salado, as did her parents and grandparents.
"I'm so glad to be a part of this celebration, " she said. "The whole weekend will be so special."
For information, go to www.saladofoundersday.org
