With the recent change in the weather, we can’t help but anticipate the spookiness that lies ahead. Those looking for a good scare this season will want to keep Haunted Hotel: La Niña on their radar. Unlike your traditional haunted house setups, this one has roots that run a little deeper than ground level. This one is making its debut in the basement of National and Texas registered historic landmark…
Willacy County has a reputation as a farming region of the state. Thousands of acres of land contain sugarcane and sorghum, cotton, corn and sesame seeds. One can drive for miles and miles and see nothing but fields covered with crops during the growing season. But in the last 10 years, one thing has drastically been changing the rural landscape in Willacy and parts of Cameron County. It is the proliferation…
An aviation services manager recently gave Celia Galindo a call a few days after she had cooked meals for customers waiting to go through customs on their way to points south from Brownsville South Padre Island Airport. “Do you know who you served the other day?” the manager asked. No, she replied, saying she often does not know the identity of affluent customers she serves waiting to go through the…
Robert Sanders rolls open the huge doors of a World War II-era hanger. He walks onto a floor of Learjets and other turbo prop business and civilian jets. It’s TIA Aeronautics at the Valley International Airport in Harlingen. Sanders, the business owner, and Orlando Cano, the company’s general manager, begin to point out the various state of repairs on the planes. Sanders was born in Germany as the son of…
Families looking for the perfect fall photo shoot backdrop this season should make plans to visit the Maddie’s Pumpkin Patch. The McAllen location offering an unforgettable experience sits on Bensten Road between Lark and Auburn Ave. It certainly is a crowd pleaser, especially during the golden hour. Melanie and Rick Vega first opened their McAllen location in 2017, and Maddie’s Pumpkin Patch has since then expanded. There is now a…
The sound-blasting golf carts seen along the streets of South Padre Island are as popular as they can be. The half dozen or so businesses that have the “rent me” signs have been adding newer and fancier rental vehicles to their fleet. Some of these vehicles look like fancy racing cars, called slingshots. Others resemble the smart cars seen on some roads these days. The demand for such vehicles decrease…
The bays of a brand new 82,500-square-foot warehouse swing open. Truck trailers stand ready to receive freshly packaged 500-pound bales of Rio Grande Valley cotton. “The gins are working 24/7, so we have to be ready,” said Laura Salazar, the general manager of Commodities Integrated Logistics. Salazar walks through the warehouse in Weslaco. Forklift operators are busy transporting packages of cotton to and from the trailers. It’s the cotton season…
Hidalgo County’s Health and Human Services department has received state recognition in the form of a Gold Award. The award comes from the Texas Healthy Communities Program for efforts to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke, as well as other chronic diseases in the county. “This award is a direct result of collaborative efforts of a workgroup coordinated by Ricardo Salinas,” said Eduardo “Eddie” Olivarez. Olivarez serves as Health and Human Services…
Last week we met Ryan Peterson and Brian Reed of the Ryan & Brian Real Estate Team in Part 1 of “Local Business Gets Real (Estate).” They have been working hard since 2006 to build their business and team. But what they feel is more important than that is building the relationships with their clients and community. They feel that education is one of the most important parts of their…
With fall on the horizon, pumpkin patches are rising in popularity. One very popular attraction is Maddie’s Pumpkin Patch in McAllen, which opened on Sept. 14. Pumpkins line walking trails leading you to several picturesque photo set-ups ready for you to use. There are goats, piglets, bunnies and horses you can enjoy petting at the big red barn. Take advantage of snacks and the playground, and let the kids take…