The LBJ Museum of San Marcos is a two-story museum on the downtown square that celebrates the former president that used to call this city home, and it is supported by public donations. It will be hosting its annual benefit gala beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 20, and fittingly, it will be held at the LBJ Student Center Ballroom at Texas State University. The museum is currently looking to sell additional tables for the event.
According to the LBJ Museum of San Marcos Board President Wayne Kraemer, the exhibits at the museum generally focus on the years that Lyndon Baines Johnson spent at Texas State and the legislation he created based off of those experiences.
“It’s kind of a hidden gem on the square,” Kraemer said. “We get a lot of visitors who didn’t know the museum was there, but once they go through … were really impressed by the offerings that we have.”
He said the LBJ Museum is a valuable asset to the community, because it offers lecture series throughout the year.
“We have a fall lecture a spring lecture, we do a summer Chautauqua [named after an institution that provided popular adult education courses and entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to chautauqua.org], and this coming summer we’re going to offer more educational programs for students in school,” Kraemer said. “There’s a lot of things that are available at the museum that I think people have not fully explored yet, and we would invite them to come and explore the museum and certainly come listen to Douglas Brinkley at the Gala.”
The benefit gala will consist of a seated dinner, music by the Texas State Quartet, a silent auction and a speech by Douglas Brinkley — a presidential historian who has received seven honorary doctorates in American Studies and has had six of his books named Notable Books of the Year by the New York Times. The silent auction will have a variety of items, including tickets to the LBJ presidential library, Lady Bird Wildflower Center and Uncharted Adventures, among others.
Kraemer said to purchase a table of eight is $600 and an individual ticket is $80. The museum is accepting donations for the silent auction but asks that the items cost at least $50. There are also sponsorship levels that are named after different elected seats that LBJ once held, and those come with varying degrees of recognition based on price. The presidential sponsorship is $10,000, which comes with the largest amount of sponsorship opportunities. The vice presidential sponsorship is $5,000. The senatorial sponsorship is $2,500, and the congressional sponsorship is $1,250.
To learn more about the sponsorship levels and to purchase a table or individual ticket go to lbjmuseum. com/events/2024-lbj-museum- of-san-marcos-benefit- gala.
