Host and crew to attend premiere of ‘The Daytripper’ episode featuring area May 30
"The Daytripper" host Chet Garner stomps grapes at Perissos Vineyard in Hoover's Valley while filming an episode of the PBS show last year. Garner and his crew are returning May 30 to premiere the episode, which features the vineyard, Hoover Valley's Cafe, Lake LBJ and On the Rocks in Cottonwood Shores. The event will be at On the Rocks, 4401 Cottonwood Drive in Cottonwood Shores, starting at 8 p.m. Admission is a non-perishable or canned food item, which will be donated to one of the local food pantries. Reservations are recommended. For reservations, call (830) 637-7417. Courtesy photo
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
COTTONWOOD SHORES — When Chet Garner of PBS’ “The Daytripper” travel show arrives at On the Rocks for the premiere of his latest episode, it almost will be a source of irony.”Truly, On the Rocks was a surprise,” Garner said. “We end up at On the Rocks for dinner (during the episode), but we hadn’t really planned on it.”
As the crew was shooting the episode last fall around Burnet County, they found themselves up against Mother Nature. The two-day shoot looked like it would be cut to one as rain threatened the second day. So they retired to On the Rocks for some beer and brainstorming.
As Garner and the crew looked around, they realized the Cottonwood Shores restaurant with its sunset and view provided a great final dinner for the program.
“I thought, seriously, this is incredible,” Garner said recalling that moment. “This is perfect. We said, ‘Let’s fire up the camera and go. Let’s shoot it.'”
On May 30, Garner and “The Daytripper” crew return to the scene of the crime to debut the KLRU premiere of the episode featuring On the Rocks, Lake LBJ, Perissos Vineyard and Hoover Valley’s Cafe. The event starts at 8 p.m. at the Cottonwood Shores restaurant, 4401 Cottonwood Shores Drive.
Admission is a non-perishable food item or a canned good, which will be distributed to one of the local food pantries in Burnet, Bertram and Marble Falls.
Garner and the crew will be on hand to sign autographs and for photo ops. For reservations, call the restaurant at (830) 637-7417.
Garner and “The Daytripper” are regulars in the Highland Lakes and the Burnet County area. Early on, when the show was called “The Austin Daytripper” and highlighted quick travels not far from the capital city, Burnet County Tourism Director Teri Freitag realized there was something about the program.
“I watched the show and thought he was a lot of fun,” she said. “One of his first episodes was when he was in Bertram, Burnet and Inks Lake State Park. He has a great way of combining the travel, education, cultural and fun aspects about an area.”
So Freitag reached out to Garner, and the show and the county forged a strong partnership. The Highland Lakes of Burnet County is “The Daytripper” show’s only destination-marketing organization sponsor.
“There are a lot of other organizations that would really love that,” Freitag said.
With the sponsorship, Burnet County gets launched into homes not just across Texas, but in 10 other states as more PBS stations pick up “The Daytripper”.
Garner, who was a lawyer before jumping into travel television, said the idea for “The Austin Daytripper” sprang from watching the national programs.
“I kind of got tired and frustrated watching national travel program shows because I didn’t have the time or money to go to the places they showed,” he said. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a show highlighting all the great things about Texas?’ When I began researching the idea, I was surprised how little people knew about their own backyard.”
So Garner and his crew created one: “The Austin Daytripper”.
The initial PBS program was geared toward day trips Austin-area residents could take. Garner and the crew explored places people didn’t even know existed. The show combined culture, travel and history. Garner said it fit right in with the PBS mission.
But Garner and the crew gave the show its own distinct personality with a dash of humor. It’s not uncommon for Garner to don costumes connected to the location they are visiting.
In the upcoming Burnet County-Kingsland episode, Garner visited the house used in the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” movie.
“Leather Face may or may not make an appearance,” he said with a laugh.
The educational, travel and humor combination worked. Soon, other cities reached out to Garner about producing “Daytripper” shows for their locales. But he couldn’t see doing a Houston “Daytripper” or a Dallas “Daytripper”. So the crew dropped “Austin” from the title after the second season.
The mission remained the same, introduce Texans (and anybody else watching) to great day trips they can take across the Lone Star State.
While he loves all parts of the state, Garner admitted an affinity for the Highland Lakes. The show has featured the area during several episodes.
“I think we come back to Burnet County and the Highland Lakes because it is one of my favorite parts of Texas,” he said.
And that works great for the county, Freitag said, because it introduces Burnet County and the Highland Lakes to those who might be unfamiliar with them.
Though the show keeps him and the crew out on the road quite a bit, Garner said it’s worth it. The program’s popularity befuddles him a bit, he admitted.
“It blows me away. What amazes me is people come up to me (in the store) and tell me about an episode or how they love it,” he said. “You can tell this show touches them. People are planning their vacations around it. And more families are spending time together, which I think is great.”
For more on the program, go to www.thedaytripper.com.
daniel@thepicayune.com