Navasota has officially been designated as Texas' 67th Music Friendly City, a recognition from the Texas Governor's Office that celebrates the city's dedication to arts and music.
The designation recognizes Navasota's dedication to music and the arts, especially as the Blues Capital of Texas.
The city will celebrate the title at its annual BluesFest this Saturday, revived last year after a 10-year hiatus.
The recognition is expected to attract more visitors and enhance entertainment options for locals and surrounding communities.
"You gotta be cool first and foremost to like even, you know, aspire to be a music-friendly city. So obviously Navasota is cool," said one local musician, Hadden Sayers.
Navasota Mayor Bert Miller highlighted the city's rich blues heritage as a driving factor for seeking the designation.
"With our heritage of being the blues capital of Texas, it seemed to be a real fit to apply for that through the governor's office, and we were, after a couple of years of applications and all this hard work, we were designated just a few days ago," Miller said.
"The new title reinforces Navasota's commitment to the arts, a sentiment that local musician Hadden Sayers echoed. "It's not surprising because it's always been kind of, there are many patrons of the arts in Navasota, and I love that cool old downtown," Sayers said.
Mayor Miller said the recognition will attract more city visitors, benefitting residents and surrounding communities.
"It just attracts more people to want to come to Navasota and gives the local citizens and the local folks in the city and the county a place to have some great entertainment, on top of all the other entertainment we have at other venues," Miller said.
Navasota will officially celebrate this new title at this Saturday's BluesFest, a revival of a beloved local event. "BluesFest has been around since the early 90s, took about a 10-year hiatus when, unfortunately, the organizer for BluesFest passed away; we brought it back last year, so this is year two of our event," said Lucy Ybarra, a Grimes County Chamber of Commerce member and BluesFest chair.
Among more than 1,200 cities in Texas, Navasota's distinction as the 67th Music Friendly Texas City marks a promising future for the Blues Capital of Texas. Hadden Sayers reflected on the festival's atmosphere, "We're trying to create a feeling, Sayers said.
