Texas Border Business

Edinburg, Texas — Back for its eighth year, the Museum of South Texas History presents Summer Nights at the Museum on June 14, June 28 and July 12 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. This three-night series brings history to life with hands-on activities, living history re-enactors, music, and entertainment.

Your favorite puppet characters will be back with new adventures and an interactive scavenger hunt designed to guide your family through the galleries. Children who complete the hunt will be entered in a drawing for a nightly prize from the Museum Store. Those who participate in all three nights will be entered for a grand prize drawing!

Imagine the Rio Grande Valley as part of the ocean floor, in a prehistoric time, when giant sea turtles were hunted by mosasaurs of the deep. Or, picture the area during the Ice Age when early peoples moved from place to place in search of seasonal plants and after herds of Columbian mammoths.

The River Frontier exhibit will be the focus for June 14 and showcase the heritage of South Texas and northeastern Mexico from prehistory through the Spanish Colonial era to the end of the Mexican War of Independence. Favorite activities such as atlatl throwing, the archaeological dig pit, and rebozo wrapping will return this year. Learn how Spanish explorers struggled to survive in a new land and how they navigated the seas to come to the New World.

What if you could take a trip from Rio Grande City to Brownsville on a steamboat loaded with bales of cotton, ready to export past a Union blockade in the Gulf of Mexico? Or, get on horseback, and join vaqueros on a cattle drive north through dusty trails and open range?

On June 28, the River Highway exhibit will feature the history of South Texas and northeastern Mexico from the beginning of the Texas Revolution through the steamboat era on the Rio Grande through the United States Civil War and cattle kingdom to the end of the 19th century. The steamboat and wharf will be loaded with tradesmen, musicians and stocked with cotton to trade. Guests will learn about vaquero skills such as roping, cattle roundup and cattle branding.

Choo choo! Did you hear that? It’s 1904, and the railroad has finally reached South Texas with trains full of modern farming equipment and new people looking to make a living. Let’s send it back with fresh citrus and cars full of vegetables while watching our families and cities grow too.

Finally, the River Crossroads exhibit will be featured on July 12 when families will discover the great technological feats of the 20th century. Dress like a Mexican revolutionary, learn the impact of the railroad lines and use a decoder to decipher secret military telegraphs. Be transported into the WWII era by learning to spot enemy planes, working on a recycled goods drive, and looking through a German U-boat periscope.

Admission to Summer Nights at the Museum is the regular admission price, passes, and coupons excluded: Adults (ages 18+) $7; seniors (ages 62+) and students with ID (13+) $5; children ages 4 to 12, $4; children ages 3 and under are free. As a participating museum in the Blue Star Museums, starting Memorial Day, all active duty military personnel and up to five family members receive free admission to all three Summer Nights at the Museum. Become a FRIEND of the museum to attend all three Summer Nights at the Museum – and more – for FREE. For more information about Summer Nights at the Museum or becoming a FRIEND of MOSTHistory, please call the museum at 956-383-6911

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