Friends of Garland's Historic Magic 11Th Street

Annually Friends of Garland's Historic Magic 11th Street spearheads the Historic Home Tour in Garland's Travis College Hill National Register District. The previous four annual home tours have been in the spring. For 2019 the home tour has been moved to December 5, 2019, and renamed Garland's Christmas Historic Home Tour. Nearby neighbors in the historic Embree Neighborhood have been invited to participate in the event. All 12 homes in Travis College Hill will be decorated outside with Christmas lights and 6 of the 12 will be open to the public 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, December 5, 2019s. Two of the homes in Embree will be open to the public. At least 6 Embree homes (and likely many others) will be decorated with Christmas lights. Horse-drawn carriage rides, Christmas carolers, Santa Claus, and free hot cocoa are included in the tour.

The Latino population is now the largest single people group in Garland, TX., having grown to about 41% of the population. The local school district is 51% Latino. Garland's Latinos represent almost every country in the world that is of Spanish origin or culture. The Latino role and history in the community is is often minimized. No history of the Latino community in Garland is available. At the same time, one of the purposes of Friends of Garland's Historic Magic 11th Street is to spotlight and encourage preservation of all people groups in Garland, including Latinos, African-American, Anglo, Asian, and so forth. The Garland Latino Cookbook, to be published in May 2020 will spotlight the culture through recipes and stories that tell of the Latino beginnings in Garland in 1928 with one family and expanding over the years to being the largest single people group.