Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/946707
14 letter editor HUNT SLONEM I 'm getting quite excited about this spring's iteration of the Round Top Antiques Fair. So much is new … which is a strange thing to say about an antiques fair. There are a few names in Round Top that pop up again and again — people who've taken the lead in restoring, remodeling, and bringing fresh air to the area. Mark Massey has developed The Compound venue, which grows every season, and he's continuously creating and tweaking his other properties, Rummel Square and Henkel Square. Armando and Cinda Palacios, who have long owned property in Round Top, have now opened Bad Hombres in Rummel Square and are about to open, as of press time, two new restaurants: Manditos Mexican and Lulu's pizza, paninis, and the like. And there are Joan and Jerry Herring who, along with Mary and Evan Quiros, have purchased the old Country Place Hotel in Fayetteville, 14 miles from Round Top, and have breathed chic new life into it, renaming it the Grand Fayette Hotel and enlisting George and Kathy Valtasaros to turn The Wine Bar at The Grand Fayette into the smartest place to dine within miles. Many others have come to Round Top and Fayetteville, fallen for the area hard, and set up shop: The Dapper Deer, Lark, Townsend Provisions, and The Garden Co., to name a few. Stylish young thing Katy Bader has made Bader Ranch a go-to venue during the shows to both shop and eat, and she, along with partner Kristin Light, have opened The Frenchie inn — just 11 guest rooms, with a potting shed turned wine bar. Houston restaurateur Lee Ellis (State Fare and Starfish), whose wife Melissa is opening the shop Tutu & Lilli, have pulled up stakes and moved to Round Top. The antiques fair is a glorious two weeks each spring and fall, with spring's dates loosely March 21 though April 8. The twice-annual PaperCity party will be at the Grand Fayette Hotel, Thursday, March 29. For our complete 22–page section of where to be and what to do, turn to page 82. See you there! Holly Moore Editor in Chief holly@papercitymag.com