28 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Fall 2018 TheCoastalBend.com Festival Navideño at Heritage Park Corpus Christi’s Instituto De Cultura Hispanica Festival Navideño (Hispanic Culture Institute Christmas Festival) is a celebration of the Hispanic and Mexican-American traditions that have held, and evolved, over 400 years of history in South Texas. In fact, the festival’s theme is Celebrando Nuestros Abuelos,“Honoring Our Traditions.” Enjoy fantastic food from trucks and vendors, including the widest variety of the best hot tamales you have ever eaten, plus live music, dance and theatrical presentations and lots of tra- ditional, holiday songs. Arts and crafts vendors, pictures with Santa Claus, and much more. The festival takes place Sat. Dec. 8, 3–7 p.m. at Heritage Park, Downtown Corpus Christi, where the Hispanic Culture Museum is located, and which will be open for tours. “Holly-Days” at the South Texas Botanical Gardens One of the Coastal Bend’s most beauti- ful places will be the site of a wonderful family weekend of holiday cheer on Sat. Dec. 1 and Sun. Dec. 2, 9–6. Enjoy holiday music throughout the gardens, storytelling for kids including,“The Night Before Christmas in Texas”and “Legend of the Poinsettia,”plus photo sessions with Santa Claus with parrots, and Santa Claus with reptiles! The cen- terpiece of “Holly-Days”at the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, is the 20-foot Frazier Fir—the ultimate Christmas tree—decorated with 24,000 colored lights, displayed on the Rose Garden Lawn. Don’t miss the Parrott Talk Show live at 1:30 p.m. each day, plus Kids Crafts activity area and Kids“Loose Parts”Program, which is the exploration of block building using nature materials. A food truck will be on site, and the annual Members Holiday Sale in Nature’s Boutique runs from Nov. 15–Dec. 31. 8545 S. Staples St.