Tag Archives: Mercedes

Film Commission Designates Mercedes as Film Friendly

Community e-Brief Features Featured News Comments
Mercedes

The Texas Film Commission has designated the City of Mercedes as a Film Friendly Texas Certified Community after completing the multi-step training and certification process. “Congratulations to Mercedes on joining more than 200 Film Friendly Texas Certified Communities,” said Governor Greg Abbott. “The Texas Film Commission partners with communities in every region of the state to market their unique appeal and attract new investments in media production. Through ongoing Film…

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A&M Trees Grant Plants Awareness 

Community News Comments
Parents and children gather around Alan Williams of Region One as prepares to plant a tree at a San Benito city park. (Courtesy)

Alan Williams works with cities and schools in developing native habitats and will cut to the chase and ask local leaders what they’re willing to invest in green spaces.  “Something I’ve talked to city managers and parks directors about is to be honest with ourselves and look at the time public works departments spend on tree care,” said Williams, who is the landscaping and gardening director for the Region One…

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Mid-Valley Growth Lifts Entrepreneurs

Food & Entertainment News Comments
O’s Burgers & More are a welcome new addition to the food court at the Rio Grande Valley Premium Outlets.

The growth of a small business can come from the result of well-crafted planning – or sometimes by happenstance. Norma Ozuna and her husband Eddie, with years of experience in working for corporate restaurant chains, made the move in 2021 to open their own business along Expressway 83 in Mercedes. O’s Burgers & More is located adjacent to the emerging Shops At Mercedes. The latter is a 250,000-square-foot retailing development…

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RGV Muralist Creates ‘Epic’ Art

Arts Featured News Comments
Leo Rivera’s murals of cowboy and Western culture reflects the heritage and history of Mercedes.

Leo Rivera left the Rio Grande Valley to get his art training and education at a Denver-area design school. It was in Colorado where the Harlingen native did his first large-scale wall mural. Rivera was active in the Denver arts scene for 11 years after graduating from the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design. Returning home in 2020, Rivera set off to work as what he calls an “artist…

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Mercedes Refreshes Boots & City’s Heritage

Community News Comments
Some of the boots of Mercedes were lined up and repaired recently at Viera’s Paint & Body shop.

The city of boots has refreshed its look with paint and repairs that are making it shine anew. The City of Mercedes over the last 13 years has highlighted the city’s western heritage with 30 boots – each standing six feet tall – that are placed on street corners and major intersections. The boots bear the names of colleges and universities in Texas and the United States. The city’s big…

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Mid-Valley Florist Celebrates Expansion

e-Brief Features Featured News Retail Comments

Nayelli Valdemar was ebullient on a sun-splashed September morning in looking out the windows of her newly expanded business. Valdemar’s Funky Flower Shop in Mercedes enjoyed a chamber of commerce ribbon cutting in mid-September to commemorate a doubling of the square footage of her business. The new floor space of Funky Flower at 400 square feet may not register much excitement at the H-E-B stores where she once worked. It…

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Young Entrepreneur Seeks Good To Great

News Professional Services Comments
Fitness buffs enjoy open spaces under a black ceiling at Top Gym.

Youthful Weslaco entrepreneur Juan San Miguel knew it would take a fierce determination when seeking to start his own business. “I had to do my best to make it impossible to say no,” he said, recalling the days of needing startup capital.  San Miguel’s ambition was to own and run his own gym. Sitting behind his desk, he smiles and recounts how he went from the framework of an idea…

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RGV Native Grows Retailing In Region

News Real Estate Comments
Merit Commercial Real Estate CEO Will Collins, center, with Mercedes community leaders and members of the Schwarz family.

McAllen native Will Collins has built a formidable retail and commercial real estate company whose developments span much of South Texas. From its headquarters in San Antonio, Merit Commercial Real Estate shows on its webpage dark blue diamonds pinned on a Texas map. Each pin represents a Merit development project with clusters of them in the Rio Grande Valley and the San Antonio-area market. Collins comes from a banking family.…

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New Census Numbers Show Growing RGV

Community News Comments
Weslaco has seen a surge of new home construction in recent years as the city has solidified itself as a key midway point in the Rio Grande Valley.

Mid-Valley cities for years touted their heart-of-the-region location as a selling point for economic development and an ideal place to live for commuters with jobs in every part of the Rio Grande Valley. For years there were no real numbers or data to back up the middle-of-the-Valley rationale as a winning strategy. New numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau are changing that narrative. Cities like Mercedes and Weslaco show some…

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Active Chambers Boost Small Towns

Community News Comments
The blue coats as led by the Mercedes Chamber of Commerce’s former president Fred Gonzalez, center, have been active at business openings such as this Starbucks celebration in 2024. (Courtesy)

Elma Chavez was in the midst of a busy work day and reflecting on the one before as a self-described “one-man show” at the Raymondville Chamber of Commerce. It has been about two years since Chavez was called back from the private sector to revive a chamber that had lay dormant since 2020. She knew what she had to do. A previous tenure as executive director of the Raymondville Chamber…

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