The marquee on the old State movie theater announced a new event playing. “Bridal Show 2021,” the sign announced alongside Texas Avenue in downtown Mercedes. The movies may be long gone at the State, but there’s new life inside the former movie house and the adjoining First National Bank building. The two historic Mercedes buildings now house Jose’s Cafecito Courtyard & Catering. On a late August evening as summer waned…
Walk into Karma Coffee & Books in South Padre Island and it’s immediately a place where you want to sit and stay a while. There’s a wide variety of coffee-based drinks to go with breakfast and lunch sandwiches – and of course books. It’s an ideal place to take a break from the beach sun and surf. The way that Will Everett sees it is that his new coffee and…
VTX1 Companies is extending broadband services to more than 100 units with the Willacy County Housing Authority. The $100,000-plus investment by VTX1 is a major plus for housing residents who work from home, students who need the services for homework, and senior citizens who need to connect to healthcare providers. Jaime Serna, the executive director of the housing authority, praised VTX1 for its service to the community. “We are excited…
Brownsville needed to send out a different kind of message that fit with the times of a city that sees itself as the state’s new space city. City leaders wanted to accelerate the process of getting business prospects through the grind of meeting building codes and ordinances. Every city has those measures in place, but it doesn’t mean they have to be overly cumbersome in the process of getting a…
The City of McAllen has long prided itself on having superior infrastructure with well laid out streets and drainage that usually avoids the kind of flooding other Rio Grande Valley cities see. These qualities were the pride and joy of Mayor Othal Brand, who during his 20-year tenure would drive around the city checking for potholes. Beautification has been another source of pride. Keep McAllen Beautiful is a non-profit organization…
The Mexican-grown Persian limes are rolling down the conveyor belts at ColiMex in Weslaco. Workers are sorting and inspecting the fruit. Boxes of “Fresh Quality Limes” are stacked high on pallets near an open warehouse door, waiting for delivery. The limes at the Weslaco plant will be shipped across the country to some of the nation’s best known national and regional grocers. Food service companies are also major buyers in…
The girders and concrete pillars form a trail of construction at FM 495 in Pharr and head toward what is the Rio Grande Valley’s largest highway construction project since the region saw its first convergence of freeways in the 1990s. The project of three decades ago would be called the Pharr Interchange. The highways in the early 1990s, known as U.S. Highway 281 and Expressway 77/83, are now I-69C and…
Eduardo Casas knew he was doing more than repurposing an old building into a new restaurant when he opened SMOKE: Texas BBQ & Watering Hole. SMOKE BBQ would be housed where the Rainbo Bakery held forth on Harrison Avenue in Harlingen. Rainbo was a mainstay Harlingen business for over seven decades. Memories run long in the city when it comes to the iconic bakery. “My idea in opening here was…
A year ago, Delyssa Gonzalez was working as a home health provider in Brownsville. At the time, employment opportunities looked to be limited. Where Gonzalez is at the present time – training to be an electrician – is unimaginable compared to where she was. It’s a story she told in brief form in front of a crowd recently at the administrative offices of the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement.…
A bridge known more as a crossing for tourists to buy Mexican curios and medications at border pharmacies is gearing up to become more of a player in commercial and industrial traffic. The Progreso International Bridge is making a $20-million investment to double the capacity of its commercial lanes on the east side of the main span. It will also be modernizing facilities and developing its industrial park. The Progreso…