Jeff Haney

Peterson Brothers

Ruby Jane

Greg Izor

“Music Has the Power to Liberate and Bridge All Gaps”

Playing Saturday, August 13, 2011

7 PM- 1 AM

Tickets are $10.00

Location is Big Daddy’s Roadhouse

242 Hwy 95 South

Smithville, Texas 78957

phone: 512 237-1098

We still have a few rooms available at our Katy House Bed and Breakfast.

Smithville is the hometown for the movies “Hope Floats” “Tree of Life,”  “Doonby” and many more!

Sell  Smithville

Visit the Smithville area for a preview of our available Real Estate, whether residential, commercial, farm or ranch.

Realtors and owners are holding the doors open so you can view property – From 10 AM  to 4PM

Learn about Mortgages, Title Companies, Home Warrantee, Insurance, Home Inspections and MORE at the Smithville Recreation Center.

Free maps to all open locations are available at the Smithville Recreation Center, Hwy 95 at 1st Street on Saturday, May 7.

For more information or to hold an open house (RSVP by April 22, call 512 678-1131)

Realtors and owners are here to help you BUY SMITHVILLE!

Get a piece of your dream. 

 For more information on Smithville, visit the Chamber site.

GREAT COMMUNITY * GREAT SCHOOLS * HOSPITAL * RECREATION CENTER * PARKS * RIVER * FRIENDLY PEOPLE

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Bruce and I love this time of year. The Katy House is decorated for Christmas, the weather is cooler and downtown Smithville is decked out for the season with trees and four-foot Gingerbread Men up and down Main Street. As guests come and go this season, we are reminded that the very best thing about owning a Bed and Breakfast is the wonderful and interesting people we get to know.

This is a perfect time of the year to give a gift certificate to the Katy House. You know someone that would love to come and visit Smithville. One night is $160 for two, including breakfast, all the trimming and the taxes. We’ll mail the gift certificate to you, or send it to the recipient. It will be a gift that will be remembered for years. Maybe it’s time for you to return to Smithville, so buy one for yourself!

The Annual Festival of Lights, December 4th, was a fun-filled Saturday, with a lighted night-time parade then a free live theater production called “Frosty vs. the Abominable Snowman,” by Smithville Playhouse. The movie, “Beneath the Darkness,” filmed part of the parade. As the Smithville High School Band marched and played, a man ran through the band, with a policeman chasing him down.

Smithville continues to be a “film friendly” community. “Tree of Life,” starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn will be in theaters May 27.th In the last year there have been several films made here. We’ve had the pleasure of visiting with John Schneider, Jenn Gotzen, Ernie Hudson, Robert Davi, Will Wallace, Joe Estevez and Erin Way. They were here in the spring filming “Doonby.” Watch for these movies to open in 2011: “Tree of Life,” “Five Time Champion,” “Natural Selection,” “Doonby,” “Bernie” and “Beneath the Darkness” as all or part were filmed here. Dennis Quaid’s trailer is parked across the street right now.

We’ve had a fun and busy year at the Bed and Breakfast with lots of wonderful guests that are now friends. Bruce has now retired from the Union Pacific Railroad. He still runs trains as a volunteer engineer for the Austin Steam Train. He has also been restoring the caboose and it will eventually be a guest cottage.

The Katy House Baked Egg recipe is perfect for a special breakfast for visitors.
Just email us and we will send you the recipe.

We hope you have a blessed Christmas Season and hope to see you in Happy New 2011!

Smithville Community Garden Fundraising Tour.
May 1, 2010
10AM to noon: Expert Talks at Selected Locations
Noon to 4PM: All Garden Locations Open
$10 for adults; children 12 and under FREE!

Most locations will feature experts in various fields such as bees, vermiculture (worms), landscaping, rainwater recapture, integrated pest management, and others. Some garden locations will include more formal discussions from 10AM to noon, and all locations will provide information and informal interaction with the experts.

Ticket sales will pay for plants and seeds for garden sites, educational programs, needed tools and equipment, and a building fund for the property at MLK and Hwy 95.

The Smithville Community Gardens turns vacant property into productive land with help from many volunteers.

We hope to see you there!
See http://www.ci.smithville.tx.us/ for more details.

Tickets can be bought at the Smithville Chamber or at the gardens on Saturday.

Voices of Ireland

A verbal and musical tapestry of Ireland

Produced and Directed by Nicholas Collier

 Ireland’s long rich cultural and political history is reflected in her spoken and written literature, which will take your emotions from the lowest ebb to sidesplitting laughter.  Nicholas and his troop of fine actors and musicians will guide you through 2000 years of tears and cheers of the Voices of Ireland.   Having grown up in Ireland, Nicholas experienced the last of the old ways in the Emerald Isle.  His knowledge of Irish culture, history, and literature is wide and varied.  Come share in a celebration of all things Irish and perhaps expand your knowledge of this ancient and lovely island and its people. 

Irish coffee will be served to make the evening complete

Suggested Donation: $15-$25

For seat confirmation, inquiries of how to become a volunteer, and any other program related input or thoughts.  www.cottageofthearts.com

 for more information see the web site. www.thunderonthecolorado.com

An Occasion To Remember

Many men fall victim to their own memory when it comes to anniversaries. Fortunately, my anniversary falls in the same ten-day period as Valentine’s Day and my wife’s birthday. While making this easy to remember, it does have its issues, but nothing I can’t handle.

On our wedding day, we drove to Smithville Texas, the site of the movie “Hope Floats” featuring Sandra Bullock (yes, it is a chick-flick, but it is a good one) and stayed at a bed and breakfast called The Katy House. Now, for those who read this blog (yes, I am talking to you) you may remember that Michelle and I love to tour small towns off the beaten path. Well, Smithville—with a whopping population of 3,900—certainly qualifies as small and it does sit just off of state highway 71, which is a beaten path.

This town has a quaint old style main street with buildings built around the turn of the century (not the recent one, mind you) and a train depot (which is not really a functioning depot anymore, but it serves as the chamber of commerce and a railway museum). Most of the buildings that are occupied house antique stores or craft boutiques, while many sit empty. The other streets are filled with old houses dating back to the late 1800’s when this town was built by the MKT railroad. The Katy House is one such home.

Built in 1909, it was originally named the Chancellor Residence after its first occupant. Many others have lived in it since, but it is now a very comfortable B&B run by Sallie and Bruce Blalock. They made our wedding night stay quite pleasant, setting us up with a bottle of bubbly and getting us reservations at the town’s pre-eminent restaurant, The Back Door Café (make the trip if for no other reason than to eat here, it is that good). Because the stay was so memorable, we come back every year to celebrate our anniversary with them….

This is from the American Statesman, from Feb 4th, 2010. Smithville High athlete with cystic fibrosis signs scholarship!

For the full story see  http://www.statesman.com/sports/smithville-high-athlete-with-cystic-fibrosis-signs-scholarship-211151.html

“SMITHVILLE— Back in the summer of 2004, the Nieto family of Pflugerville shared their story with this newspaper, and it was a story of hope and salvation through the primal act of running.”

“Brice Nieto, who was 12 years old and struggling to manage cystic fibrosis, was about to compete in the 38th National Junior Olympic Games.”

“His parents, Laura and Jimmy, started Brice in running when he was a younger boy with too much mucus in his lungs. Their story included the strong belief that Brice would be better prepared to manage the genetic disease if he were in top physical shape.”

“Brice discovered that he actually loved running. He ran varsity track as a freshman in high school, and when his family moved 45 miles east of Austin to a 10-acre plot of land with fishing tanks and a couple of horses, he made the varsity track team at Smithville High School.”

“He ran in the Texas Relays.

He earned his letter jacket at Smithville High.

The story gets even better.

On Wednesday, Brice sent his letter of intent to Oklahoma City University, where he will join the track team in the fall.”

“Brice earned an athletic and academic scholarship at the private school of 2,100 undergraduate students. Brice and his mother toured the campus on his official visit. It felt like home, they said.”

“The coaches told Laura Nieto they expected Brice to grow. As an athlete. As a person.”

“I liked to hear that,” she said.

“Life changes for all college students when they leave home. For Brice, the change will be drastic.”

“He soon will be individually responsible for taking his medicines, wearing the vibrating chest that loosens his lungs and going to the hospital, if he needs to, when he needs to. Because he has to.”

“I think I’m ready for it,” Brice said.

“His parents worry. They also see reasons for optimism and opportunity.”

“Brice said he believes his running helps him stay one long stride ahead of the cystic fibrosis, which has no cure.”

“Jimmy and Laura Nieto take comfort in that fact. They know their son will do what he has to.”

“I need to,” Brice said.

“Brice is a year-round runner. After school, he runs three 400-meter sprints and three 500-meter sprints. On weekends, he stretches and performs lunges and high-knee kicks that keep his body moving the way he wants it to.”

“If people told him what he couldn’t do,” said Smithville athletic director Justin Wiley, “he wouldn’t be here today.”

“When Brice was diagnosed at the age of 9, his parents reasoned that scaling the bleachers and running around the track at Connally High School would make Brice stronger.”

“I’m really glad they did it,” Brice Nieto said. “Now that I look back on it, I’m really glad. It made me who I am.”

“His story begins with running.”

“For us it’s working,” Jimmy Nieto said. “So we’re not going to stop.”

“It continues with running.”

“He has a willingness to do whatever’s necessary,” said Oklahoma City University track coach Micheal L. Houston , who noted that Brice has “the heart of an athlete.”

“And he has the mind of a student. Brice took a chemistry class as a junior at Smithville. He enjoyed it. Chemistry made sense to him, he said.”

P.S.   All of us in town are proud of Brice.  I invite you to visit our small town.  Smithville Texas is 43 miles from Austin.  Come see many beautiful historic homes and old buildings.   There are lots of antique shops on Main Street and super small restaurents in town.  But lately, the town is getting known for being “Texas Film Friendly!”  We have had 2 major motion pictures filmed here in Smithville, “Hope Floats” and “The Tree of Life.”  There have been a number of smaller films, also.  Check out the Chamber Web Site for a listing of productions.  Our Bed and Breakfast is just off of Main Street. Come stay with us and explore Smithville.  Sallie Blalock, Innkeeper – Katy House Bed and Breakfast www.KatyHouse.com

 Synergy Brass Quintet, Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 3:00 pm

 This entertaining group performs more concerts than anyone in classical music today, averaging nearly 300 engagements per year. Acclaimed for “a veritable fireworks display of outstanding musical ability combined with superb showmanship” (Door Concerts,Inc) in addition to “blazing precision [and] amazing technique” (The Watertown Daily Times), the Synergy Brass Quintet has emerged as one of the world’s most exciting ensembles. Synergy “has hit on a magical approach…unadulterated exuberance, and a rock star approach of performing,”

If you have not visited Festival Hill, put it on your list.

It is only 35 minutes from our Bed and Breakfast, here in Smithville, Texas.  The Katy House is a great place to stay. You can go to concerts at Festival Hill, drive back to Smithville, have a great dinner at the Back Door, located on Main Street. Then have a restful stay at the Katy House and awake to the smell of fresh baked bread.

 For more information on Festival Hill see the web site:

http://festivalhill.org