Edinburg is the state’s fifth fastest-growing city, a fact borne out by a drive around town in any direction.

For Mayor Ramiro Garza, the surge in both brick-and-mortar development and street expansions is much appreciated. The former city manager and economic development director knows, however, that a city needs more than material growth to provide it with a sense of being and place. 

It’s why the mayor joined in recent years with other community leaders to push through the building of the $15-million Edinburg Arts & Cultural Events Center. The facility is now under construction on McIntyre Street. It’s surely a choice spot right between City Hall and the new looming county courthouse that’s downtown. The new center will sit where Sam Houston Elementary School sat for generations as one of the city’s first schools.

Across the street is the original site of the Edinburg Junior College, the forerunner to Pan American University and then eventually to the University of Texas System campuses, one of which was UT-Pan American and today’s UT Rio Grande Valley. 

“The city has come a long way,” Garza said of the eras preceding today’s Edinburg and its population of over 100,000 residents. “We need amenities like this center as the city continues to grow. It adds value to what we have. It’s a form of a quality of life every city seeks to have.”

Diversity Of Events

The 36,000-square-foot arts and cultural center will certainly be multifaceted.

City officials refer to it as the ACE center. It will serve as a downtown venue in hosting art exhibits, classes and community events, conferences and live performances. Edinburg in recent years has built up a formidable list of yearly and seasonal events. They range from a film festival to a Dia de los Muertos outdoor dance to a Frieda Fest honoring Frida Kahlo and women’s empowerment. 

“On any given day, there could be creative writing, dance or art classes, films, and visitors enjoying coffee and an afternoon pre-show theater talk in the lobby,” said Letty Leija, the director of library and cultural arts in Edinburg. “The center is envisioned as a 12-hour venue, with planned use from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.”

The city established a cultural arts division within its local governmental structure to manage and coordinate the many events Edinburg hosts. The new center will also serve as the administrative hub for this wing of city government. It will thus strengthen Edinburg’s quest to be “a city of festivals,” Garza said.

“The ACE will provide a home for all of the events and things we have going on in the city in regards to arts and culture,” said the mayor. He then mentions the local festivals and events attract 35,000 visitors yearly. “It’s going to be a place to connect our city from the downtown square to the university.”

Garza often referred to the city’s Promenade Park. It runs along McIntyre in front of the emerging ACE with an adjoining amphitheater that opened last year. In time, water gardens are to be built alongside these developments. There’s a brick walkway that’s closed to vehicular traffic on this stretch of McIntyre where outdoor festivals often take place. Additionally, City Hall is next door to this cultural arts district as is a historic 1920s-era auditorium that was one of the original junior college campus buildings. 

Present-day UTRGV is just a half mile away. It’s a fact the mayor brings up as an influence in developing arts in Edinburg. 

“We have a lot of talented artists and entertainers here in our arts community,” Garza said. “The university plays a role in all of that, so we see it as something our residents want and expect.”

‘Creative Tourism’

The ACE center is expected to be completed in the spring of 2024. Splitting its construction funding evenly are the city and the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation.

Both the mayor and Leija referred to the economic development component of the ACE center. Leija expects the number of visitors coming to Edinburg for festivals to increase significantly over the current mid-30,000 mark with the opening of what she calls “the McIntyre Promenade Complex.” 

“The center will be a magnet for creative tourism,” Leija said. “It will be a venue where exhibits from around the country will be showcased and shared with the community.”