Quinta Mazatlán World Birding Center is honored to host, Mycological Solutions LLC (One Up Mushroom Products), on Thursday November 4th from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for a presentation on “Fungi: History, Usage, and Health Benefits” on the Thursday Night Live series at Quinta Mazatlán.
The Rio Grande Valley Red Hatters are ready to get together for their events this year. Their first big event is planned for November 8.
The Red Hatters will be getting together on Monday, November 8, at 11:30 a.m. at Arturo’s in Weslaco (2303 W. Expwy. 83). Games will be played, and all are invited to share what has happened in their lives over the last 18 months. Those wanting to attend are asked to RSVP by text or call Sandy (Finny) at (608) 432-1440 by Friday, November 5.
In Mexico, “Dia de los Muertos,” or “Day of the Dead” is a celebration and a reunion of the departed with their families. On this day, an altar with an ofrenda, a Spanish word for “offering,” is prepared to remember and celebrate departed loved ones. The belief is that during the Day of the Dead, the loved ones come to visit their living relatives. The ofrenda altar helps the dead observe, smell and taste. The most common ones have three levels, which represent heaven, earth, and the underworld. The six most common objects found on alters include: calaveras (skulls), cempaxuchil (marigold flowers), papel picado (perforated paper), pan de muerto (bread of the dead), salt to quench the thirst of souls, and photographs of the loved ones that have passed.
Read more: Altar honors threatened, endangered animals and plant species
The Edinburg Chamber of Commerce and City of Edinburg proudly present their Annual Night of Lights Parade. The parade will take place on Friday, December 3, at 7 p.m. in the Edinburg Downtown District.
Organizations, schools, marching groups, businesses, and community groups are now welcomed to submit a parade entry by November 19. All entries are encouraged to participate in this year's theme “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.” Participants of the parade must design their floats inspired by different genres of music and/or decades of music.
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 Edinburg, the Festival of Las Palmas in McAllen and not to be missed the Festival of Lights in the small town of Hidalgo. Even Kingsville joined 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.
Showcasing the immense talent and dedication of UTRGV students, the Student Performance Series features performances by UTRGV School of Music students.
Ranging from studios to medium and large ensembles, this series includes concerts from various areas such as voice, percussion, low brass, orchestra, woodwind, and many more.
Upcoming performances include The UTRGV Band on Wednesday, November 3; Fall Trumpet Musical Harvest on Thursday, November 4; UTRGV Opera Theater on November 13 and 14; and other specialty concerts.
Take a look at all upcoming Student Performance Series performances on their website, utrgv.edu/patron/series/student-performance-series. All events through the end of 2021 are free of charge.
For questions, email patron@utrgv.edu or call (956) 882-7025 or (956) 665-3881.
It’s interesting to see the emails that come through my desktop each day. A lot of it is political, and we don’t tend to share that in our paper. We like our of-interest news items. Sometimes I really have to weed through things to find something of newsworthy to you, our readers, and some days I have just what I need.
This week I received another news report about a previously mentioned survey done by Storage Café. Storage Café had previously published an article about top destination for ‘Snowbirds,’ or Winter Texans. The last article they sent out listed McAllen, Harlingen, Brownsville and Mission as making the list.
This new list has some other details, but still have Mission and McAllen in the top. Texas has 26 of the top 100 destinations on this new list. The previous survey had Brownsville in the top 10 as well. Because of the two cities being in the Rio Grande Valley, it also highlighted why the Rio Grande Valley, as a whole, is on the top of their list.
Curt Mecklenburg has competition flowing through his veins. It’s a part of his DNA. From swimming to softball to card games he is fierce, but friendly.
“I’m also a poor loser,” the Minnesota native joked. “But competition is good.”
But that competition is also enjoyable for him, a way of life since at a young age, and one of the most enjoyable times is when Mecklenburg and others from different branches of the military get together for infield and batting practice as they prepare for the second All-Veterans Senior Softball game set for Saturday, Nov. 13 at Brewster Elementary in Linn, Texas.
The concept was born out of an idea by Army veteran Fred Esqueda. A Mission native, Esqueda saw a call for softball players in the newspaper one day. After calling for more information, he found out that he would not be able to play because he was still working, and games were taking place during the day.
The Valley Symphony Orchestra will take the stage for the first time in nearly two years on Friday, November 12. The 70th anniversary season will begin with Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, a masterful staple of the Symphonic repertoire. Maestro Peter Dabrowski will conduct the full orchestra onstage at the McAllen Performing Arts Center.
Recently, national nonprofit Wreaths Across America (WAA) announced the addition of the United States Space Force to the set of ceremonial wreaths that are provided to all participating locations nationwide to be used on National Wreaths Across America Day – this year scheduled for Saturday, December 18, 2021. This is the eighth ceremonial wreath with corresponding service flag to be provided by the organization to all registered, participating locations. The ceremonial wreaths represent each branch of the service, and POW/MIA, and are encouraged to be on display as part of each National Wreaths Across America Day ceremony held.
