Harlingen Community Theatre is celebrating 50 years

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Published: Wednesday, 30 October 2024 18:05

By Carina A. Brunson

Harlingen Community Theatre (HCT) is where Valley stars shine, and they are celebrating 50 years of highlighting that Valley talent. The theatre has a fantastic lineup that begins November 8 with Steel Magnolias.

Last year, my husband, son and I had the opportunity to see the last showing of Fiddler on the Roof. When I tell you it was a great show, it’s an understatement. These actors looked well-seasoned – and came to find out for some of them it was their first year participating. We had a great visit with the cast after the show as they lined the entry hall as guests were leaving, thanking everyone for coming to their show. We wished we had been able to catch more of their shows, because it was definitely worth seeing, and seeing more of, as often as you can. You can tell the cast really enjoys what they do when on, and off, stage and that they are dedicated to each production.

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Valley Birding Festival starts next week

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Published: Wednesday, 30 October 2024 18:02

Get ready for the Annual Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival. The event is slated for November 6 through 10 at the Harlingen Convention Center, 701 Harlingen Heights Dr.
There will be over 100 fantastic field trip offerings to choose from including traditional tours through the parks the Valley is well known for as well as several new offerings such as private ranches for those seasoned returning festival birders. Special trips in the field with some of the featured speakers to further enhance their presentations are also always a great treat. In addition to field trips, they will also have keynote speakers, informative workshops, seminars, a giant tradeshow full of vendors, a silent auction, fun socials with local music and food, and of course all the birds.

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October 30, 2024 - Rina's Ramblings

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Published: Wednesday, 30 October 2024 18:01

Lots is going on in the Valley right now. With Halloween tomorrow, Dia de Los Muertos events, and more, there are plenty of events to choose from to attend this week through the weekend.

Along with the wide range of events that are available for you to attend, this week and throughout the season, there are lots of options for food. You can find just about any cuisine in the Valley, but one that rings true anywhere is Mexican food. And the Valley is known for some good, authentic Mexican food and great tacos. I have a few favorites of my own, which unfortunately were not on the list, but a couple of Valley restaurant were recently featured in Texas Monthly.

I personally have not been to this place, but I am sure some of you have. So, I would like to hear your thoughts about it, and what some of your other favorites might be.

Nana’s Taqueria (located in Weslaco) Lonche taco made the top five tacos in Texas, according to Texas Monthly. According to the write up, it’s not your typical taco, it’s in a fried bolillo. It’s a savory Mexican bread also called Pan Frances – meaning French bread. And it does look like a small hoagie.

Nana’s adds seasoned ground beef similar to picadillo, some crumbly cheese and avocado, then tops it with Nana’s homemade salsa verde. They might also add cilantro, tomato, and cabbage.

It all sounds good to me. I might just have to go and try it sometime. If you do, please let me know how it is. The pictures on the Texas Monthly website make it look quite savory.
They also talked about top taco places in Houston, El Paso, Austin and San Antonio. And I have been to the place in San Antonio – Henry’s Puffy Taco. Everything there is quite flavorful.

If you go to the Texas Monthly story, it features the five restaurants by giving a brief history of the owners, the restaurant, and their food.

So, if you want to see the story, visit https://vst.texasmonthly.com/taco-talks.

In another story by Texas Monthly, author Jose R. Ralat traveled about 14,000 miles and visited over 400 taquerias in six months. He was looking for tacos that met a certain level of ‘craft, quality, creativity, and flavor,’ said the news release. He noticed something, the article says, that Mexican dishes are changing and becoming what he is calling the New Tejano movement – ‘dishes that marry nostalgic Mexican food with native Texan ingredients.’ He made a list of the top 50 places to go for New Tejano in Texas, and guess what? A Mission location took the top spot.

The number one spot went to Ana Liz Taqueria’s for its Chile Relleno. The restaurant is run by James Beard Award-winning chef Ana Liz Pulido, said the article. Sylvia’s Restaurant in Brownsville made the honorable mentions list. You can read more of the story, and find links to the lists, at www.newswire.com/news/texas-monthly-releases-its-list-of-the-50-best-tacos-in-texas-22445932

So, that gives you more spots to check out while in the Valley.

What are your favorites – Mexican food or otherwise – in the Valley. We would love to hear what you look forward to eating while you are here. You can email me at news@wintertexantimes.com

Festivals, Parades, and more

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Published: Wednesday, 30 October 2024 17:59

I continue to be amazed at how many things there are to see and do in the Rio Grande Valley. It seems that every town has a festival or a special day to celebrate. There is the Butterfly Festival in Mission, the Birding Festival in Harlingen and another in McAllen, the Citrus Festival in Mission, the Festival of Las Palmas in McAllen and not to be missed the Festival of Lights in the small town of Hidalgo. Even Kingsville joins in with the Saturday before Thanksgiving celebrating ranch life with the Ranch Hand Breakfast.
You name it, we've got it!

And then we have the Parades - July 4th, Veterans Day and Christmas Parades as well as the Port Isabel Boat Parade just to name a few. It appears that we are running out of names for the festivals, so we now have a Margarita Festival, and a Jalapeno Festival is sure to be added. Edinburg presented a Halloween-themed Fall Festival. Perhaps I missed one or two that you consider special. If you live in a Mobile Home or RV Park, you no doubt have all sorts of entertainment to fill your days.

In addition to Festivals and Parades most towns set aside special days to offer special events. There are Market Days at least once a month with some towns offering market days only during the growing season where garden fresh fruits and vegetables are sold.

One more venue sure to attract your attention should be the concerts and theater presentations that the larger towns offer. Don't miss Steel Magnolias in Harlingen. Also, be aware of your local school districts. They often offer many theatre and music productions during the school year. Your best reference for things to see and do in the Rio Grande Valley is the Winter Texan Times. They cover the entire Valley from top to bottom.

My favorite of all the venues is the Monarch Butterfly Festival. In February of 2025 Go With Jo will provide a tour to see where this beautiful butterfly spends their Winter. It is just too cold in Canada for these delicate creatures who don't move until the sun warms their wings. What a sight it is to see the pine trees where they spend the night come alive with orange as they wait for the warm sun rays. Once the wings are warmed, they fly down to a water supply for a refreshing drink. If you sit very still you might even have the butterflies land on you. Come join our tour.

Another great experience in nature for you to witness is Turtle Release Day on South Padre Island. It is such fun to see those tiny little turtles not much bigger than a silver dollar as they scurry to the water. Now how do they know which way the water is? Somehow, they do know and off they go.

Your church may even have an altar set up to celebrate The Day of the Dead which occurs at the end of October corresponding to our Halloween, through the beginning of November.

You won't lack for something to do in the Rio Grande Valley. So, enjoy!

Broadway in McAllen announces schedule, group sales available

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Published: Wednesday, 30 October 2024 17:55

Nederlander National Markets in partnership with the McAllen Performing Arts Center are thrilled to announce the exciting 2024/2025 Broadway in the Rio Grande Valley, including four new shows. They are also excited to announce that group orders of 10 or more for all Broadway in the Rio Grande Valley are available. Broadway Groups enjoy many benefits, including saving up to 10% on orders of 10 tickets or more and access to seats before single ticket sales.

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