It was a day before the Longhorn Cattle Company reopening and owner Bill Turner was raring to go. “The fires are lit and the beans are cooking,” said Turner on June 2, the eve of his barbecue restaurant reopening after weeks of COVID-19 closure. The San Benito mainstay business along the expressway is a destination restaurant in the Rio Grande Valley. The days of closure were long ones for a…
Tape holds up a distiller’s and rectifier’s permit from the state to the front window of Jerrod Leon Henry’s emerging business. A gold 120-gallon copper still made in Tennessee sits inside of what will become the Rio Grande Distillery and Magic Valley Moonshine. It’s on Highway 100 on the outskirts of Los Fresnos. Traffic buzzes by on the way to Port Isabel and South Padre Island. Henry is bringing a…
David Garza opened his San Benito pharmacy on April 1, 1980. That same day, his wife Dorothy gave birth to their first child. It’s 40 years later and The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy endures. The landmark anniversary has been met by a worldwide pandemic in the spring of 2020. The COVID-19 virus has put a dent in the longstanding community pharmacy. It perseveres, however, under the primary watch of a second…
Engineering students are at work inside a new innovation lab building on the Mercedes campus of the South Texas Independent School District campus. They peer over laptops and move from table to table, conferring over projects and looking over numerical formulas that offer solutions. “These kids know they’re not on an island,” said Gabe Valdez, an instructor at the school. “They collaborate. They look for opportunities to teach each other.”…
Nocturnal animals have many interesting adaptations that give them huge advantages to survive in their dark world. The Rio Grande Valley Chapter of Texas Master Naturalist invite the public to learn about these local creatures March 10 with “Creatures that Come out at Night.” The talk will feature nocturnal animals and how you can see them for yourself. Attendees will discover native spiders, bugs, bats, birds and other animals that you…
The Rio Grande Valley Chapter of Texas Master Naturalist is offering a new class session to their program of enlightening and educating a corps of volunteers about the natural resources of the Rio Grande Valley. Classes begin Jan. 15 and take place every Wednesday night for 10 weeks. Additionally, Sunday field trips will pair with the classes. Most participants of this program volunteer at local state parks and wildlife refuges.…
Rebeca Castillo is building from the ground up in giving San Benito its first viable economic development corporation. The San Benito Economic Development Corporation is in its third month of being a standalone entity from city government. The EDC is in its own building on Bowie Street. It is adjacent to the Heavin Memorial Park which wraps around the city’s main resaca. Furniture and refurbishment of a facility that was…
The Rio Grande Valley Chapter Texas Master Naturalist will host a volunteer training class for volunteers wanting to learn about natural resource and conservation management. The classes take place Aug. 29 – Oct. 16 at the Cameron County Annex Building. The mission of the organization is to “develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities for…
The San Benito residents living south of Expressway 77/83 will soon have something they have never had -– a comprehensive park. What is currently being called Southside Park is nearing completion. The six-acre project is the first phase of what is hoped to be a 12-acre park. The first half of the project will have plenty for residents to enjoy. It will include a splash pad, walking/jogging trail, two soccer…
Every city has a story to tell and San Benito, with the new San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum, is now better able to tell it while also attracting traveling exhibits that can bring new insights to the city. The 7,000-foot-square museum opened in November 2018 and has already featured photo and artistic elements highlighting border life and culture. Luis Contreras II, the city’s cultural arts director, says those exhibits are…