Welcome to Brazos Matters.

I'm Jay Socol.

So no matter if you've lived in Aggieland for a lifetime or you're just here for a few years to get an education, chances are that you've had friends or family come visit.

And if those visitors stayed any length of time, I'll bet there was a point when you asked yourself this question What is there to do in this town?

So that's the topic we're going to tackle today with the help of those who lead the tourism offices for the Twin Cities.

So from Destination Bryan we have John Friebele and from Visit College Station, we have Jeremiah Cook.

Gentlemen, thank you for being here.

Thank you for having us.

Excellent.

Well, because I've lived here since the mid 1980s and because I've worked for both cities, I imagine I could guess most of the things on both of your lists.

I think so, because there are obvious things, and I'm fine with you mentioning those because some people don't know about those obvious things.

But what I'm hoping is that you'll go beyond the obvious things because I think that's what we need in order to be really great hosts to our visitors.

So that's what we hope to do today.

So, John, I want to start with you.

What is there to do in this town?

Yeah, So, you know, I think when I think of the community as a broader whole, it has a little bit of everything for what you're looking for, right?

It's a big enough community that you have all the amenities that you need and it's still small enough that you can get to where you want to go and experience those things.

You know, looking at it from Bryan specifically, of course, we lean heavily on our downtown experience.

It's kind of the arts and culture hub and the the vibe of what Bryan has to offer in Downtown alone, of course, which is kind of the main primary thing, is, is retail, restaurants, live music entertainment.

We have a ton of events coming to downtown as well that that bring people down there and create a space to engage with.

And we have new businesses coming in all the time beyond downtown and we can dive in later if that's the intent to the details.

But beyond downtown, one of the things that I think is undervalued, especially when I was a student here, was some of the outdoor experiences.

I know College Station has some as well.

I didn't realize Lake Bryan being as close as it is and having some outdoor amenities, it's got hiking, bike trails, it's got the lake that you can get into, you can do kayak rentals.

So all of that's right here, 10 minutes outside of town.

And part of this experience, part of this community that I think most people don't, don't realize off the top of their head.

And then you look at some of the newer spaces.

Lake Walk, for example, is a great way to engage again in the outdoors, but then have kind of that high end experience as well with great restaurants.

Stella Hotel and visitors are coming in great coffee shops for students, right?

We understand that they want to find places to study a lot of great coffee shops within within Bryan as well.

So, you know, it's kind of a mix.

And then if you're over 21, we have some of those experiences for you as well.

We've seen a half is one of the top volume producers and wine in the state of Texas.

And so that's a great opportunity.

New distillery downtown Hush and Whisper as well.

So there's there's so many different things that you don't realize when you're in your student bubble a little bit.

And so Bryan, Bryan definitely has some of that mom and pop type feel to it that you can experience.

Okay, pop quiz and plot twist.

Jeremiah What did John forget to mention about Bryan that comes to your mind?

Well, I mean, he covered a lot of it.

I think he left out Mr.

G's, which is my favorite piece.

So maybe that was coming in the more in-depth look at Bryan.

But yeah, I was thinking the same things about Lake Walk and about all going over to POV and, and really enjoying the whole experience out there as well.

Yeah.

And what's interesting about all the things that you mentioned and you did a real high level skim is that those are very different areas of Bryan.

You know, those are geographically separated.

You know, you talked about things that are on Bryan's West side.

You talked about things that are kind of northwest of the city.

You talked about right in the heart of downtown, off to the east with Messina Hof.

I mean, the opportunities you described are very geographically different and when you're a student and your whole world is campus, you may not know about any of those things.

Absolutely.

You know, Bryan has something kind of spread out.

Like you said, it's got little pockets all over the community.

I didn't even mention Midtown Park, of course, which is kind of our up and coming area with a Legends event center that has some great opportunities recreationally, but also Movie Bowl Grill that's coming in Topgolf that has taken over that space and some additional enhancements that are going to be at that park that when I was in school was a golf course and now is a beautiful park that students have an opportunity to go take advantage of.

And so, yeah, you know, there's these these great little kind of pockets and just areas within Brian that create this kind of small town type feel but again with with a lot of amenities for people.

So whether you're looking at Mr.

G's which is one of my favorite as well but then you have RX pizza kind of a competing pizzas right across the street from each other.

Or if you're looking for more farm to table and getting that essence of who Bryan is through like Ronin farm and restaurant, that's a that's a great opportunity too.

So yeah, just, just kind of a lot of different things that are going on.

We've been really heavy, as I know College Station has as well, and focusing on music, really, music to cover all genres, right?

I think our community a lot of times get to that rep for country music, of course, which is near and dear to us.

But you look at some places like the 101 in Bryan off Texas that does your heavy metal, your rock, your acid rock, different things like that.

That's fantastic.

And they have probably the most consistent lineup of music throughout the year and their smaller venue, but kind of under the radar.

Nobody realizes that.

Then you have the Grand Stafford that's bringing in some alternative and some pop and some different things there.

And this house has a consistent The Palace, of course, has kind of that country feel to it.

So music's a big thing.

We know that's important to students.

And I think why both our communities have really started to kind of lean into that music realm.

Yeah.

Okay.

We're going to give you a minute to rest.

Jeremiah, it's your turn.

What is there to do in this town?

Yeah, well, there's tons.

I think that whenever I talk about what a visitor is going to do, we always start with the Bush library.

You know, there's only 14 some odd presidential libraries in the country.

And the fact that we have one of them here in what would not be considered a tier one community, I think is really special.

And when I moved here, I'm a transplant myself.

I moved here.

I said, this must be where every second grader goes on a field trip.

Yeah.

And then I talked to my staff and they said, Never been there.

Never in my life.

We go to the Cameron Park Zoo over in Waco, and so it was shocking to me to realize how many locals didn't even though 100,000 visitors are coming in a year to see the presidential library.

And so I think that's where all visits have to cross through when you're talking about College Station.

But once you get a little bit past that, you start talking about the Northgate District and and all of the excitement that's provided there on the weekends as well as at the Dixie Chicken.

You're talking about Century Square, this kind of newer eat play with pop stroke, joining in there as well.

And then just all of the disparate things that come from being where the university is.

Right.

So you you add in the leach teaching gardens over on campus or you add in an event that's going on it read like Theo Von coming up or something going on at Kyle and you really start to stack things up to see that it's not just about a a quick trip, but there's actually a lot that can kind of build on top of each other to create a fantastic experience for our community.

Okay.

John, what would he forget?

Yeah, no, you know, I think I have the benefit of being here almost 20 years, right?

So, you know, again, I'll lean into the outdoors a little bit.

I'm a big outdoors guy.

Lick Creek Park is fantastic.

It's a great getaway for students when you kind of want to decompress a little bit, whether you just enjoy the trails or birdwatching or anything in between.

Just getting outside right and enjoying a beautiful day.

So I definitely enjoy that.

And you've got that on the South side, kind of go into that spread out type feel again, right?

And then music's another thing.

I know College Station has been focus focusing on excuse me quite a bit.

So, you know, those are kind of the two that immediately come to mind for me that I enjoy from some of the different aspects.

You know, you've got the Wolf Creek Amphitheater that has some consistent music coming in on a regular basis.

Yeah.

One thing that I used to think about when I was with City of College Station especially, but it's really relevant for both cities, is kind of the military, the military tourism or veteran tourism that exists here now you have to kind of piece it together a little bit.

But talk about because you guys know what I'm talking about, describe what that might be in terms of the venues that are in and around.

BCS Yeah, so you starting with the Museum of the American GI, right as you come in on the south side of town.

And that experience out there is really it's unique and it's something that as we talk about things that maybe people don't think of initially, you know your, your eyes are drawn to the big red barn right next door and often miss the tank that's sitting outside of the building next to right big red barn being sand is one.

That's right.

That's right.

And so I think you start with that.

Obviously, the Bush library is already sad.

And looking at his service and his President Bush's view of how service fits into the American life.

And then you have the veterans park loop there, the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial that really walks through all the different wars that that we've been in, the effects they've had on the Brazos Valley, but also really gives a really wonderful honor to all of those that have served, you know, and then continuing to extend that even, you know, north into Bryan, you've got some different opportunities.

We've got a Vietnam era helicopter, helicopter downtown that you can come and check out.

There's a war memorial as well near downtown.

The Carnegie History Center has a lot of the local type of history as it relates to the military here.

The Hood's Brigade for a number of years has done their reunion here, and they have some interesting tidbits there.

And then you look at it, relics, of course, that's a that used to be the Bryan Air Force Base.

And so there's some aspects of even just kind of seeing history still today continue to develop with what's going on with the military out of edit relics.

Right.

So a lot of cool ties from this community beyond just what's on campus with Sanders Corps of Cadets Museum, right?

Yes.

Yes.

I was going to say there are some destinations on campus that fit into that very well.

And even if you want to go north a little bit to Hearne, to Camp Hearne, the former P.O.W.

camp there, which I've not visited, but I would really like to.

But I think all the things you just described fit together really well.

Sure.

Talk about some other things that that students especially may not be aware of that that exist here that are also affordable.

You talked about some outdoor opportunities.

You can you get more specific and things in maybe right in in in line with a student's pocketbook.

Yeah.

So, you know, with us, we really prioritize a lot of events for our organization.

We're responsible for putting on events, but also bringing events in.

And so first Fridays, one of those that we still are shocked by, the amount of people that have said they're not familiar with first Friday or never been, and that's the first Friday of every single month.

It's a free opportunity to come downtown.

We have anywhere, depending on the month from 5 to 10000 people, and it's a great way to interface with the community.

You have a lot of nonprofits that come out, including a lot of A&M organizations that just are showcasing what they're doing, the good work that they're doing.

But then you also have free entertainment.

As part of that.

You've got music and performances depending on the month.

And so definitely the events side is where you can really find some real good value as it relates to something to do throughout the the time here, the holiday events.

I know both cities have their own holiday events.

When we get back into November, December, of course, lights on and the Christmas parade and downtown again, two great free events.

So that's that's a huge piece of what we're focused on.

Our philosophy is if we can engage with students the four years that they're here in town, they become our future visitors and they become advocates.

Bryan looks a lot different than it did in the seventies, eighties, nineties, early 2000s when I was here.

And we're all about trying to change that perception.

And so I think a lot of times perceptions, everything and a lot of current students are getting that perception from their, their former students that are parents.

Right.

And and just our attitude is have you changed since college?

Well, so have we.

And kind of taken that tact.

And so we try to do that in everything that we do.

You know, another kind of cheap alternative to just experiencing a little bit more.

We've got a taco trail that we've launched in, Bryan.

We are a very diverse community and we have more than 40 taquerias that are listed on this taco trail.

You can go and download the bandwagon app and it lead you kind of on a tour of of all the different types of taco places and you can win prizes along the way.

So, you know, tacos are some of the cheapest food that you can buy sometimes.

And so it's a great way to explore some new places and find some hole in the wall type spots.

Have you tried all 40?

I have not, no We've you know, we do have prizes as people progress through and add to their their taco repertoire for for lack of a better term I guess.

But I have not we've had probably five or six people that have completed I think it's all 48 now.

And any time somebody else opens, we add them to it.

So it's kind of evergreen.

40.

It's a lot.

Yeah, it's a lot.

Which I think there was somebody that tried to do in about two weeks one time.

That's a lot of tacos in a two week period.

And I'm from the valley, I'm from down south in Harlingen, and that's a lot of tacos, hopefully some breakfast tacos or mixed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You can get them all times a day.

There's there's some late night spots, too.

You have to have a young person's constitution to be able to hear.

I can't do that anymore.

That is a brisk pace.

Okay, Jeremiah, what about in College Station?

Sort of from a student's point of view and maybe financially more in line with what they could do?

Yeah, for sure.

So I think that I was actually talking to our team this week asking like, what did you what did you not know about until you started working here?

Right.

And and one of the things that came up that I thought was really interesting was stage 12 with Brookshire Brothers.

There's constantly events going on there, and I think that people don't recognize because they see, maybe they see the gas up front or they know what Brookshire Brothers is as a as a as a grocery store, but don't realize the event venue that's outside the place to study that's there and the constant there's every night of the week, it seems there's music, there's movie nights all going on there right off of campus here.

Yeah, that's strange to have something like that at a grocery store, but it's really nice.

It is.

It's a it's a nice facility.

Yeah, it's really cool.

And it's something that's unique to our community.

You know, oftentimes everybody has a Wal Mart, everybody has a Chick-Fil-A, right?

Like, how do you differentiate yourself?

And that's one of those things that not a lot of folks have.

And so I think that's really cool.

Lots of other opportunities.

You can't you can't talk about affordability without skipping over Northgate.

That's kind of known to be it's a college district.

Yeah.

Is where it kind of started at.

And now it's evolved into this historical place that people are are traveling in that people know from miles around about the Dixie Chicken and about these other establishments that have been there for a while.

And not only are they known for the really cool vibe that's there, but that it's also generally really affordable when it comes to if you're comparing it to go into Houston, Austin or Dallas.

So I think it's a really fun place to be.

And then you start talking about the outdoor things as well with Wolf Pen Creek and with Lick Creek and being able to be in the city where you have all the amenities that you need, but get away from it all and actually breathe a little bit and relax, I think is really is really critical.

And something that's really cool about being this a tier two or Tier three city is that we have the opportunity to have everything we need and also to to step away from it for a moment.

Yeah.

You know, singling out the Dixie Chicken, the reason why I think that makes so much sense is because it is a destination, because people hear about it who who maybe aren't affiliated with Texas A&M.

But if they're coming here, they're like, you got it here.

But if you were a student here back in the day, the magic of that place is you walk into it today and the Ganter Sisters have done a marvelous job of keeping it the way it was.

So it's like a time machine walking back in and being able to feel like you did back when I was in school, in the in the eighties and early nineties.

So.

Yeah.

And it's it's family friendly as well, right?

I mean when it's not just about students on a Friday night, but it's about a family going to grab lunch there after church.

I actually was talking to somebody other day about that.

So it is it's one of the few places where I feel like multiple socio economic backgrounds and multiple age groups all feel welcome and all feel at home there at the Dixie Chicken.

Yeah.

So if you just tuned in I'm Jay Socol you're listening to Brazos Matters our guests today are John Friebele from Destination Bryan and Jeremiah Cook from visit College Station and we're trying to solve the problem of knowing what in the world there is to do in this community when your family and friends come and visit.

So you talked a little bit about the taco tour because I was thinking about food tourism.

So if you guys have more to talk about there, and also especially in Bryan, at least I think about it in Bryan before I do College Station, about architecture tourism as well, because there's some some interesting historical structures not just in downtown but in the East Side historical district with the homes there.

But talk about more about food or architecture or anything else that may be kind of a genre that I'm not thinking about.

Yeah, Yeah.

You know, I think with the food side of things, we've got some great local spots and I think that's one of the keys that when we talk about Bryan that we try to pride ourselves on is you're going to walk in and talk to the owner who's behind the front desk.

That's that's cooking your meal, right?

You know, there's an argument as to who's got the best burger.

And I know there's several good places in town.

Top of the hill out there by Lake Bryan is a fantastic spot.

My personal favorite, Margie's in downtown.

If you have not been to Margie's, it's a hundred year ongoing for 100 years, and so it's fantastic.

May I say the best tots in town.

Best tots, I would agree.

Yeah.

And then you have, you know, plenty of other locations as well and cuisines to cover all types.

One of my favorite spots is remnant of nawlins which you get somebody from New Orleans that is cooking Cajun food right here in Bryan.

Right.

And I mentioned Ronin Farm Restaurant earlier.

If you want to go check out their farm near Lake Bryan, see what that has to offer, and then see the same things that they're doing out at the farm on your table later that night.

That's in downtown in the Icehouse building.

Right.

And then from an architecture standpoint, there's a lot of beautiful spaces that both cities have.

And looking downtown, we are one of three primary cities in Texas where a lot of Italian immigrants came to back in the early 1900s.

And so you look at downtown, we have a lot of Italianate architecture and a lot of Italian roots in our community.

And you see that in the arches.

And the way we've built our brand somewhat tries to reflect that.

But then you go to these early, you know, these mid to early 1800s type homes that are in the either west or east side of downtown in some beautiful historic districts, which I know College Station has a fantastic historic district on the South Side as well.

Yeah, I think it's a little bit different in College Station because we are such a young city comparatively speaking, comparatively city, comparatively speaking.

And so it's always interesting.

Our offices in a is an firehall number one, and people always say, my gosh, I want to see this is so historic.

Well, it is from the 17th, correct?

Correct.

It's a little bit different.

But then you talk about South Side neighborhood and and really the founding of College Station 80 some years ago and how it built itself around the around the university, I think is really cool.

And so you talk about Benjamin Knox Gallery over on university, the original college station and getting to see that.

I think it's it's cool because it harkens back to a little bit of a different time and you can begin to track that.

As the university grew, so did College Station.

And to see those those architectural trends throughout the buildings here on campus as well, I think is really fun.

But something that is a little bit different about College Station is the amount of high end restaurants that we have.

And I think this is great for students to know when your parents come in town and you have a little bit of a different car.

Yeah, but whenever visitors come in, they're always surprised by the Republic or Porter's or Casa do Brazil down in South Side, you know, really high end restaurants that you would see in Dallas or Houston or Austin that you wouldn't expect here.

And I think that's something that's really cool that we get to offer is just let me tell you, it has been that way for that long because you dial the clock back to the nineties, you know, we didn't have upscale places.

We had one upscale place.

It's not here anymore.

It's called The Texan.

That's a whole different story.

But it is amazing how the food scene here has evolved into what it is today.

So I think we've got more chances than ever to get families of students to come to Aggie land because you've got all the sporting events, you've got ring days and Aggie musters and Yale Practices and Aggieland Saturday and commencement ceremonies and all the things.

How do you get the things that you have talked about here today?

How do you get your list of things to do in front of those families before they ever come here?

How do you do that?

Yeah, I think that it's obviously super important to to both of us.

It's definitely part of the marketing plan.

I think part of it is, as John mentioned earlier, is really starting when students move here, we want them when they come here and they do orientation and they get ready and go out to fish camp and everything else that we're already starting to engage with them at that point because we want them to know when you're coming back and the Aggie moms are coming back and all these different groups that are gathering here, we want them to know that it's not just come in, eat one meal and head back, but that there's actually so much that they can interact with here in our community.

Yeah, yeah, I would agree.

And it's just reinforcing that it's getting in front of them early and often and consistent messaging.

And from that day one at fish camp which you know, destination Bryan we've sponsored fish camp for that reason specifically it's all with intent but then Aggieland Saturday coming up this weekend is another one where we're both going to probably have booths out there so that we can interface with students before they're even students, right?

Yeah, that's kind of the whole idea.

But then of course, with the Aggie family, there's so many students whose parents were former students and so they are already kind of in tune with what we are trying to do in the communities and have a vested interest in the communities in which their kids live.

And so they're following us on social media.

If you're not already following us on social media, do so because it's going to be the best place to find out information and events.

And then, you know, strategically when, for example, family weekend comes up, the first part of April, we structure some of our events at the same time to give them a reason or an excuse to come in to Bryan.

So our Art Fair will be on Saturday family weekend as just something else to do between whatever other activities you have come explore downtown with the reason to come see Art Fair, But you're going to find your new favorite restaurant and shop.

So it's a multi multifaceted strategy that I think both our organizations are employing.

Yeah, yeah.

And I think something that's really important is that when we go out and we ask, why would a visitor come to College Station, we always land in the same place, that it's the vibe that is here.

It's, it's the feeling that's here.

It's the people that are here, and it's completely different than anywhere else you've been.

And that's really hard to put into a marketing plan.

Like, we have really nice people.

Well, congrats everybody has nice day.

Nobody's going to tell you that their people aren't really different here and it's really hard to market.

And yet when families come into town, they feel it.

And so I think that that's another thing is that students and families are repeat visitors here because we don't have to convince them that there's something different about this place.

They already know it.

Yeah.

Okay.

So it's as time starts to wind down on us, are the things that have come to mind during this conversation that you didn't mention as viable things to do that you want to go ahead and get out there?

Yeah.

You know, on my top of mind and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Aggieland Safari, which is an outdoor kind of drive thru safari exhibit on the east side of town.

And I you know, I'm a I'm a little kid at heart and so and my little kids enjoy it as well.

And so we get out there pretty regularly to go, you know, drive thru, feed the animals, go see all the animals that they have through the walking exhibit as well.

Hand feed, giraffes, you know, how often are you going to get to do that?

And it's it's relatively affordable.

So that's a great opportunity for something just to go do on a weekend, but then keep an eye out, go back to the events, keep an eye on all the events that are coming in.

We announced the Troubadour lineup this morning, so that went out.

So that'll be coming up in May.

And the university's doing a great job of putting new events on as well.

So, you know, it kind of just again, encourage people to tune in to our own social media handles because that's where all that valuable information is going to be found.

Yeah, And I was actually thinking about Gate 12 actually was on my list of things because I feel like people don't know a lot about it.

And yet when it comes to visitors, it's kind of tucked away back there.

And yet you don't have that opportunity in every community to sit out there and watch planes take off and land all day long, different military planes coming in.

You've got to have a reservation, especially if you're going at lunch or dinner time.

But it's such a cool aspect of our community that I think sets us apart and it's a little bit different.

So that was one of the things that came to mind as I was.

Yeah, that is a great place.

Okay, final couple of minutes here.

Are there any trends emerging in your industry?

Because I know I know your industry gathers a lot, compares notes, a lot, looks ahead.

Anything that's emerging that might be of interest to us, I think we're all focused on the way that technology continues to change.

How we interface with people, how we engage with them, of course, is such a big conversation right now and implementing that.

But I think, you know, in terms of relative to your audiences, our organizations have taken a hard look since 2020 internally and said it's about the people in our community.

That's why we're bringing visitors in.

Yes, we use visitors and enjoy every dollar that they spend, but we bring them in to impact the quality of life that our residents see.

And ultimately I think is which has been a big shift.

I think that's kind of the trend that we're seeing in our market.

Specifically real quick, I think it's an ever evolving trend, but it's one that has been a mainstay for us for years is sports tourism.

Yeah, you can get out and check out some incredible top end talent from youth to adult sports here in Bryan College Station.

Yeah.

And I was going to say along the lines, the same thing, that it's about sustainable tourism and not in the way of like, did I recycle or not?

But how do we ensure that tourists are not just coming in and taking from our community, but giving back to our community as well?

And that those are not just they come in and they spend a little bit of money, but that they're actually growing our community in the right way and that it's the right time for our communities.

And so I think that's really important as we move forward and as our destination continues to develop.

Yeah, So I know that you guys mentioned some specific dates of events and so forth, which kind of date this particular episode that's going to go out.

However, the fast majority, the bulk of our talk today really is useful and kind of evergreen, whether you're a full time resident or you are a student here.

And again, you're wondering what is there to do in this town?

I think you guys have helped answer that.

So thanks very much.

John Friebele Jeremiah Cook, again, really appreciate you guys being here.

Thanks for having us.

Quick websites www.destinationbryan.com www.visitCollegeStation.com.

You both got it right.

Easy enough.

Thank you, guys.

Really appreciate it.

Awesome.

Thanks to you, Brazos Matters is a production of Aggieland's Public Radio 90.9 Kamu FM, a member of Texas A&M University's Division of Marketing and Communications.

Our show is engineered and edited by Matt Dittman.

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I'm Jay Socol Thanks so much for watching and listening and hope you have a wonderful day.