Conference Activities, Tours & Programs

• ▼▲Children's Programs

  • Spend the day in historic downtown Abilene. Start at The Grace Museum, home to three museums. Everyone will have fun at children's inter-active museum, the history museum or the fine arts museum. Next, stop in at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, tour the exhibit and participate in an art activity.
     
  • Spend the morning at the Abilene Zoo, Abilene's #1 attraction. The zoo is both fun and educational and is large enough to display more than 160 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Guided tours are available with advance arrangements.
     
  • Head to the Melvin Martin Center for Children’s Safety, a miniature city block that's complete with pedestrian crossings, mini-cars and bicycles. This program, ran by the Abilene Police Department, teaches street safety.
     
  • A day full of fun can be found at PrimeTime Family Entertainment Center.
     
  • Lunch and an afternoon of fun can be found at Gatti Town. Enjoy an all-you-can-eat pizza and dessert buffet and over 15,000 sq. ft. of games and excitement found at The Midway.
     
  • Click Here for Other Things to Do
     

• ▼▲Commercial Tours

  Abilene Ag Service	1301 S. Treadaway	325-677-4371
  Learn about seed cleaning, the blending of fertilizers, and the mixing and manufacturing of livestock and poultry feeds. Fertilizers are specially blended based on land and crop use as well as for lawn and garden purposes. (45 minutes or more)
  Abilene Livestock Auction	NE Interstate-20	325- 673-7865
  Enjoy the facilities used for Tuesday auctions. Special sales and events are held on other days to allow maximum use of the grounds. (30 to 45 minutes)
  Cargill Mill, Inc.	774 China St.	325-672-3271
  Tour the manufacturing plant for animal and poultry feeds. See what ingredients are used, how the feed is made, the mixing processes, and the packaging methods. (30 minutes - 1 hour)
  USDA Cotton Classing	24 Windmill Circle	325-690-9378
  Handling a good portion of Texas and all of Oklahoma, this company is equipped to class over one million bales of cotton per year. Tour the facilities and learn about the grading process from start to finish. See how cotton is tested for length, strength, fiber maturity, and the human classing methods. (45 minutes or more)
  West Texas Rehab Center	4601 Hartford	325-793-3400
  West Texas Rehab provides a tour through various treatment service departments, the wheel chair shop, and allows patient therapy observations. (30 - 40 minutes)
  Caltex Feed Yard	381 County Road 373, Trent, TX	325-862-6111
  Rosemary Bland Hayter, founder and owner of Caltex Feed Yard since 1968, has the capacity to feed 25,000 head of cattle. Her operation as a working cattle feed yard includes, a mill that makes her own feed and a nutritionist; which provides the best ratio portions for the animals. Rosemary says, “We are not fancy, not a show place but we accommodate our customers.”

• ▼▲Conference Activities

  • Memorable Evening in Historic Downtown - Frontier Texas! is a perfect location for an evening function or group tour! This amazing facility allows visitors to meet – at least figuratively some of the real people who live and died on the Texas frontier between 1780 and 1880. Unlike a regular museum, Frontier Texas! uses first-person narratives to tell the story of the Texas frontier.
     
  • Buffalo Gap Historic Village Tour followed by dinner and dancing at an area ranch.
     
  • Walking tour of historic downtown Abilene; offering you numerous museums and galleries, fine dining and unique shopping
     
  • Casino Night or Theme Party - The bureau provides the dealers and you provide the gifts for winning.
     
  • Golf Tournament or Skeet Shoot
     

• ▼▲Spouse Programs

  • Start your morning at the Dyess Visitor Center Memorial Park, located just outside the base, for an overview of Base and its history.
     
  • Spend the day in historic downtown Abilene. Start at Frontier Texas! visitor center, tour the attraction and pick up a Historic Walking Tour brochure.  Walk down the street to The Grace Museum. Don’t forget to visit The Center for Contemporary Arts, National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum, the Cockerell Galleries and Studios and the Paramount Theatre. For a taste of the west stop in at Cedar Break Fine Art Gallery.
     
  • Spend the day on your own shopping and antiquing. An antique guide to Abilene is available to help plan your day.
     
  • Have a luncheon and style show followed by jewelry making demonstrations. Create a something special as a conference souvenir.
     
  • Enjoy a class of pottery making at one of Abilene's pottery shops. Take your masterpiece home with you.
     
  • Think about utilizing one of these enjoyable services or activites:
     

  Deborah's Collection	325-692-3847	Care and Make-up
  Friendze	325-672-3824	Jewelry Making Demonstrations