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Welcome to Sulphur Springs, Texas. Whether you're seeking family activities, learning experiences, getting in touch with the past, a place to enjoy driving your antique cars, or just some quiet time away from stress, we have it all! In Sulphur Springs, people still say "please and thank you." Sulphur Springs is the home of the Texas State Champion Homemade Ice Cream Freezeoff, held each year on the second Saturday in June. The event has been featured on the Food Network's "All American Festivals" segment. The freezeoff is held in connection with the annual Hopkins County Dairy Festival and Hot Air Balloon Rally—our 50th year! The World Champion Hopkins County Stew Contest, in its 39th year, has also been featured on the "All American Festivals." The Stew contest is held on the third Saturday in September as part of the annual Hopkins County Fall Festival. Another event during the Fall Festival is the annual Fly-In at Sulphur Springs Municpal Airport. Over 250 private planes, experimental aircraft, and military aircraft regularly attend this event.
Agriculturally speaking, Hopkins County has been the "official" Dairy Capital of Texas for over fifty years, having over 600 grade-A dairies in years past. The dairy industry has been on the decline the past few years and our dairy numbers have declined to 160 county-wide. Those remaining dairies, however, have grown with the times and have positioned themselves to compete in today's marketplace. There have been several new startup dairies in the past few months, signaling what we hope is the return to dairying prosperity in Hopkins County. The beef cattle business has, at the same time, escalated due to some innovations which were initiated by local agri-businessmen and the Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce. An organization of agri-business leaders calling themselves the North East Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO) was formed by the Chamber six years ago to improve the quality of beef calves produced in the North East Texas area. NETBIO does this by setting up requirements and qualifications to be met by producers so that these "preconditioned" calves could attract feedlot buyers from the Midwest willing to pay premium prices for the calves. Calves sold at these special sales commonly bring $8 to $10 per hundredweight more than standard non-preconditioned calves at the regular sales. As a result, NETBIO has been copied by other organizations in other parts of the country.
Another area of agricultural pursuit being addressed by the Chamber of Commerce and the local Extension Agency is in the equine area. In Hopkins County, we have been marketing ourselves to serious equine breeders across the country, encouraging them to locate in Hopkins County and North East Texas with their breeding operations. Events such as the seminar sponsored by Mary Bonham's Rafter L Ranch and the Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce, which featured the leading thoroughbred trainer in the world D. Wayne Lukas, put Hopkins County on the map in thoroughbred circles. The resulting publicity by BloodHorse magazine, Texas Thoroughbred Association, and the Daily Racing Form have already brought several new breeders to our community. Equine breeders have discovered that our soil, our central location, weather which allows training 12 months of the year, our existing facilities and "equine mentality" are aligned with their needs and are bringing this expanding agricultural activity to North East Texas in a big way!
There are seven school districts in the Hopkins County community. Six smaller rural districts include Como-Pickton CISD, Miller Grove ISD, Cumby ISD, North Hopkins ISD, Sulphur Bluff ISD and Saltillo ISD. All of these are rated Recognized, or above, by the Texas Education Agency.
Sulphur Springs Independent School District is a Class 4A size school district, accredited by Texas Education Agency. For the past 22 years, Sulphur Springs High School has dominated the region's University Interscholastic League academic competitions, having won district for the past 22 years straight, and regional competitions eight of the past ten years. Sulphur Springs won the 4A State Academic Title in 1999! Our middle school "Odyssey of the Mind" (now called "Destination Imagination" ) competitors have won state competitions several times and our "Destination Imagination" ESL (English as a second language) competitors won state... the first ESL team ever to advance to world competition!
The Sulphur Springs Campus of Paris Junior College is located adjacent to Sulphur Springs High School and allows high school junior and senior students the ability to take concurrent college classes while in high school. Many of our students have 12 hours, or more, of college credit upon graduation from high school. Vocational and continuing education classes are offered by the campus to local residents along with a two-year Associates Degree program. Classes are offered during the day and at night.
Texas A&M University-Commerce, just 15 minutes away and a member of the A&M family of universities, provides traditional and non-traditional learning opportunities through existing and new programs which set high expectations and goals for students and staff. The University promotes a sense of community through a nurturing environment for all individuals in order to maximize learning, career, and personal development. The community of Sulphur Springs, Texas, is very children oriented, and our school system encourages parental participation in all grade levels. The Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce has sponsored several child related organizations and activities over the past few years including a High School Leadership class for selected senior students, the Texas Scholars program in high school, Teen Court, and a unique program introducing school children to stringed instruments from elementary school through high school. |
