Category Archives: Community

McAllen Festival Lights Up Holidays

Community Events News Recreation & Tourism Comments
The nation’s tallest digital Christmas tree is a centerpiece attraction at South Pole Illuminated Festival. (Courtesy)

The McAllen Holiday Parade with its towering balloons and lighted extravaganza of features attracts tens of thousands of spectators. The massive event headlines Christmas celebrations in the city.  Yet, there is another holiday event in McAllen that quietly but surely has developed a following of its own. The South Pole Illuminated Festival, with its month-long run on the grounds of the McAllen Convention Center, now attracts 128,000 visitors annually. It…

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‘Long Road’ Leads To New VFW Post

Community News Comments

The white sign along Business 77 on the Harlingen/San Benito line has seen its better days. It leans over a bit with wear that has not worn well. It reads “VFW Post 2410” with an arrow pointing north to where the lodge sits on Whalen Road. It is there where post Commander Trey Villela walks among boxes of toy donations for distribution throughout Cameron County. The boxes of Legos, Star…

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McAllen Students Reach Elite Level

Education News Comments
The Lamar Academy IB Science Olympiad Team will represent McAllen and South Texas at the 11th annual MIT Science Olympiad Invitation Tournament in January 2025.

The students sat around a large table in the science lab at Lamar Academy in McAllen. Their exuberance felt palpable, smiling as their teammates spoke. The Lamar Academy International Baccalaureate Science Olympiad Team discussed how they got to this point. In January, the 20-member team will travel to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. to compete against 65 other teams in a national tournament. The Lamar Academy Team…

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Mission to Host 30th Annual Community Health Fair

Community Events e-Brief Features News Comments

The Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Mission Regional Medical Center and the City of Mission, will host the 30th annual Mission Community Health & Wellness Fair on Dec. 5 and Dec. 6 at the Mission Event Center. The free event from 7-11:30 a.m. is open to the public, providing a variety of essential health services. These include blood pressure checks, strength tests, stroke risk assessments, medication reviews,…

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IMAS Presents Mysterious Cosmos Family Fun Nights

Community e-Brief Features News Comments
Mysterious Cosmos Family Fun Nights

The International Museum of Art & Science will begin hosting Mysterious Cosmos Family Fun Nights on Nov. 21, providing an immersive educational series for families to explore the wonders of the cosmos. The series takes place monthly until February, featuring hands-on activities, presentations and guided stargazing experiences.  The museum invites patrons to bring a foldable chair, sit back and gaze into the mysteries of space with telescopes provided by UTRGV’s…

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McAllen Recognized for Balance in Work Environments

Community e-Brief Features News Comments
Work Environments

A recent study by commercial real estate blog CommercialCafe.com ranks McAllen eighth in the top 10 Texas cities for mixing work from office (WFO) and work from home (WFH). Furthermore, McAllen’s top four statistics for WFO rankings are top three in the state of Texas. To determine which Texas cities best meet the needs of households managing various work styles, CommercialCafe.com created a ranking system that evaluated each city’s capacity…

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Culinary Icon Choi Headlines UTRGV Speakers Series

Community Events e-Brief Features News Comments
Roy Choi

Roy Choi, the culinary trailblazer of the modern food truck movement, will serve as the inaugural speaker for the 2024-2025 season of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Distinguished Speaker Series. DSS, a free event, takes place Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the UTRGV Performing Arts Center (EPAC) in Edinburg. Choi, a Seoul native raised in Los Angeles, will share his journey and insights into how he transformed…

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Businesswoman Builds Brands & Learning

Education News Professional Services Comments
Susan Valverde formerly worked for the McAllen Economic Development Corporation and is now the brand president for Sylvan Center. (Courtesy)

Susan Valverde’s background was in business and going to trade shows to attract jobs to McAllen. Working in business development, Valverde was on the staff of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation. It was a six-year stint that ran from 1997 to 2002. She began to understand that bringing in jobs to her community was dependent on having a better trained and educated workforce. That fact became even more apparent in…

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McAllen Lauded In Top Business Listing

Community Government News Comments
McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos says his city’s pro-business policies are benefitting small businesses in the community. (Courtesy)

McAllen’s inclusion on a national top-20 list for small businesses reaffirms the city’s long-standing support for entrepreneurship and development. McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos made that assessment after learning of CoworkingCafe listing his city as the ninth best place for small businesses among 136 southern U.S. cities surveyed. Coworking Café is a listing service for flex workplace solutions in supporting remote workers, freelancers and employees from all fields seeking user-friendly platforms.…

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UTRGV Opens Center for Human Genetics Building

e-Brief Features Education Healthcare News Comments

The UTRGV School of Medicine has opened of its new, state-of-the-art Center for Human Genetics, headquartered on the Brownsville Campus. The new facility is dedicated to cutting-edge research that addresses major public health concerns in the Rio Grande Valley, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, liver cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and depression. The 17,246-square-foot facility, funded by a Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation grant and support from the UT System Permanent University Fund, will…

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