Ennis Bluebonnet Trails

Ennis Bluebonnet Trails. . In the 1930s, Ennis resident John Louie Clarke (1868–1956) recognized the beauty of Country Club Hills as yearly a profusion of bluebonnets swept across the meadow near his home. Clarke began clearing a walking path to view the wildflowers across the Kachina Prairie, complete with hand-lettered signs. John Blasingame, an Ennis native who was employed as a landscape architect with the Texas Highway Department, mentioned to Edna May McMurray and Elizabeth Stout of the newly formed Ennis Garden Club that the abundant fields would interest nature lovers. In 1952, Ennis Garden Club, with McMurray and Stout as co-chairs, sponsored the first annual Bluebonnet Trails, held over two weekends in mid-April. The event, which was comprised of three trails totaling 41.8 miles, attracted an estimated 1,000 visitors, including several cars with out-of-state license plates. Just three years later, attendance had grown to 10,000 persons., The Ennis community rallied behind the Garden Club and, in 1957, the Ennis Bluebonnet Festival was born. The festival included a parade, costumes, dances, industrial display, races, calf show and rodeo, and crowning of the Ellis County Bluebonnet Queen. The state legislature later named the Ennis Trails the official Bluebonnet Trail of Texas. Although visitors have never been charged admission to drive along the Bluebonnet Trails, the event has consistently brought economic growth to local businesses during the weekends of the festival. Later community efforts have included bluebonnet conservation and reseeding campaigns in partnership with TxDOT, and bluebonnet-themed art shows, essay contests, and other events. (2023) Marker is Property of the State of Texas