The 2019 red snapper season started on June 1 and will run through Aug. 1 in federal waters. Now is the time to book a trip on one of several commercial businesses operating out of South Padre Island. Known as head boats, these vessels are leaving every day for half- or full-day trips weather permitting until the end of the season. Among them are Captain Murphy’s Charter, Osprey Cruises and…
Summer is in full swing and camps are the way to go for many students. This summer, UTRGV has added summer camps and programs in Brownsville and South Padre Island. Topics range from marine science to teaching to chess. Upcoming camps taking place throughout June and July include: Marine Science Summer Day, South Padre Island – The School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences offers two summer camps in June and…
Timing is everything. If one needed even more reasons to visit South Padre Island, they are here. This summer, why not combine fun and education for the entire family? The South Padre Island Birding, Nature Center & Alligator Sanctuary now also boasts an alligator sanctuary, where visitors of all ages can discover something new and visit 50 contained alligators. The new home for what some consider nature’s most interesting and beautiful reptiles held a public event in…
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will host the NSF INCLUDES Symposium for ADVANCING Latinas in STEM Academic Careers on May 16-17 at The Pearl South Padre Resort. The event will address best practices and lessons to enhance successful STEM careers, This is the first part of a two-part series on Latinas in STEM academic careers. The series addresses how work-life issues, policies/practices, mentoring and climate affect their pathways/pipelines, recruitment, retention and…
Fresh out of college at 23 years of age, David Hernandez saw an opportunity and then seized it. With $30,000 in hand from his relatives, Hernandez used it as seed money to open the first of what would become 12 Pop-A-Top stores in the Rio Grande Valley. The yellow stores with blue trim became ubiquitous across the region. “Coldest Beer In Town” was the Pop-A-Top signature line and Hernandez meant…
Little did Al Salazar know that a small bait and tackle stand on South Padre Island would become a multimillion-dollar enterprise that keeps growing as time goes by. Today, the family business owns and operates seven restaurants, and is about to open an eighth eatery, Josephine. Salazar, the family patriarch who wears no fancy outfits and who often advertises himself holding a beer mug, said he opened a fishing stand…
The Rio Grande Valley Medical Education Conference & Exposition for Valley physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists and medical students takes place April 27-28 on South Padre Island. “This year’s conference will be particularly convenient in allowing physicians and other healthcare professionals in Hidalgo and Cameron counties to obtain the education credits they need in one jam-packed weekend,” said Dr. Robert Sepulveda, chairman of the conference. The conference will also provide…
Some businesses come and go like the wind. Others not only survive but stay alive and prosper despite enduring one obstacle after another. Barbara, an upscale boutique on South Padre Island, falls in the latter category. The shop, owned by Remedios Villarreal, has been in business for nearly half a century and has been doing remarkably well after all those years. “I am still running Barbara,” she said. “It was…
Inspired by a lifelong love of photography, and using creative computer software designed by her husband, Elisa Baker has embarked on a path to turn her personal passion into a business venture. Baker concentrates her photography on capturing images of Rio Grande Valley flora and fauna. Her husband developed the software that processes photos to create a sfumato effect. A style of painting associated with Italian Renaissance artists like Leonardo…
The scene was reminiscent of an old-fashioned barn raising, where friends would turn out to help a farmer build a new barn, and then celebrate the accomplishment. But on this Saturday in December, what was being raised was a new covering for a damaged greenhouse at Acacia Farms in Bayview. The greenhouse, some 30 feet by 130 feet, lost its plastic covering in a freak windstorm earlier in the year…