Imagine every community town picnic and ethnic festival from the West Texas Plains to the Gulf Coast rolled into one gigantic, four-day celebration of Texas' roots, smack-dab in the middle of Texas' most historic and unique city (San Antonio), and you've got the Texas Folklife Festival.

On the grounds of the Institute of Texan Cultures (part of the University of Texas system) at Bowie and Durango in HemisFair Park downtown, this year's festival marks the 30th of these annual events. The Folklife Festival's origins date to 1968, when representatives from the Texas Pavilion (ITC's predecessor) at HemisFair '68 were asked to cosponsor the Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C., along with the Smithsonian Institution. This sparked interest in a "home-grown" event, and the initial Folklife Festival in September 1972, with a mere 2,000 representatives from all over Texas, treated visitors to a smorgasbord of traditions, foods and crafts from the diverse ethnic and cultural groups that make up Texas.

Ethnic Foods

Today, more than 10,000 statewide participants stage the four days of colorful events for 70,000 to 100,000 visitors. To avoid the heavy September rains, the dates for the festival were later changed to August, and last year the festival made a "cool move" to June to escape roasting the crowds in the sometimes three-digit temperatures of late summer, which had put a damper on recent attendance. (Not even "mad dogs" or Texans can party in that kind of heat.) June was selected as the optimum month after extensive research by ITC, which saw an increase of more than 10,000 visitors at last year's June event.

Forty-five ethnic groups from more than 60 counties and 280 organizations will treat visitors to the dishes, crafts, music, dances and stories of their country of origin plus those of pioneer Texans. In the demonstration area, you'll learn everything from how to preserve a cucumber to plucking a goose, while the food booths will tempt your palate with such delicacies as Norwegian Lapskaus to Chinese Rangoon Puffs. It's inexpensive fun for the whole family, with food coupons just 50 cents each and most dishes costing only four to six coupons.

Music of Many Nations

Bagpipes, zithers, castanets and more tap out the music for dancers treading the Polish krakowiak, Filipino singkil and Ukranian privit -- to name a few -- and you'll be invited to get right up there and participate. And what fair would be complete without contests, such as watermelon-seed spitting, corn shucking and Belgian pole climbing?

This year, numerous groups are marking their 30th anniversary with the Folklife Festival, including the Belgian American Club of Texas, the Lebanese community, the Texas Wendish Heritage Society, the Scottish Society of San Antonio and the Luling Watermelon Thump. Thursday, June 7, is Seniors' Night (seniors 55 years and over are admitted for $4 at the gate), and Sunday, June 10, is Kids' Day, with children 12 years and under admitted free with accompanying adult and special activities planned.

So hitch up the wagon for a trip around the world Texas-style at the Texas Folklife Festival.