Georgetown was named the Red Poppy Capital of Texas by the state Legislature in 1990, but the flower has bloomed throughout the city for more than 70  years, said Cari Miller, manager of the Georgetown Visitors Bureau. Henry Purl Compton, who served as a corporal in the U.S. Army during World War I, is the first known person to bring the red poppy to Georgetown. According to legend, Compton picked poppies in northern France at some point of his service and sent the seeds back home to his mother, who planted them in the yard of her house, which now stands at 507 E. Seventh St., Georgetown. Since then the red poppies were spread by birds, bees and people down the San Gabriel River and over much of Old Town. Today Georgetown is one of the few American cities where red poppies reseed themselves year after year. Georgetown celebrates the blooming of red poppies each April with the annual Red Poppy Festival. This year's festival takes place April 27-29.