Written by Adam Russell, TAMU
Chat with Green Aggies, a team of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists and agents, will be hosting an emergency webinar session at 4 p.m. February 26 to address questions and concerns related to recovering turfgrass and plants in urban landscapes and gardens following the winter storm.
Austin, TX – The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) is pleased to announce a new virtual Research Webinars series, free online programming provided by its Archives and Information Services division. TSLAC reference staff will offer virtual versions of the popular Second Saturday workshops formerly provided on site.
Like TSLAC’s other online series, the #TXBookChat virtual series from the Texas Center for the Book, these public presentations will now be held online via Zoom. Renamed Research Webinars, monthly workshops will give participants a brief overview of the collections, resources, and services available at the State Archives.
Ron Hoover RV & Marine Center in Donna will be hosting their annual Boat Expo. The event will be held February 27 and 28 at 101 Expressway 83. The expo is full of seminars, vendors, and more. Visitors also get some free stuff.
The event will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Editor’s Note: These next three weeks we will be introducing some not so widely known golf courses. A few golf courses that you should try out if you have not already. Even with the abundance of golf courses in the Valley, there are a few that our Winter Texan readers seem to gravitate to.
Just in its first month of registration in October, RootsTech Connect 2021 had more than 111,000 people from 168 countries signed up for the virtual event. And 86% of them have never attended RootsTech before.
RootsTech Connect — a free, global family history conference with classes, keynote speakers and virtual expo hall — will be held Feb. 25-27, 2021. For the first time in RootsTech’s 10-year history, classes will be completely virtual and offered in multiple languages. Presenters will teach from international locations.
The Museum of South Texas History will host the Sunday Speaker Series Online presentation, “Callandret, The Man, The School, The Times,” featuring Sandra Tumberlinson and Lonnie Davis at 2 p.m. on Feb. 21 on Facebook Live.
This presentation is part of the Virtual Pioneer & Ranching Crafts Day programming, which highlights regional pioneers in education, industry and city founding.
McAllen International CarFest returns to the McAllen Convention Center, 700 Convention Center Blvd., Saturday, February 27, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a Social Distance Edition and free admission.
Read more: McAllen International CarFest: Social Distance Edition
We have been asked often about where to go for vaccinations. We have put very little in the paper because availability have been known to change at publication time or shortly after. We have been able to put a few notices on our Facebook page and have tried to monitor them as much as we can so we can unpublish when they are no longer valid.
Several cities, including Mission and Brownsville, have had some recent clinics that have been successful and are looking at having more in the near future. I would like to get some of this information out to you so you know where to go for information.
Ron Hoover is having a boat expo next week, February 27-28, and will have vendor space available. All proceeds from vendor space will be going to the Rio Grande Valley Make A Wish Foundation.
Vendor space will be sold by donation. Minimum donation is $100. Those interested can contact anyone in sales for a booth.
Also at the event will be The Ernest Cisneros seminar called ‘Tid Bits and Fishing Tips.’
The event will be free admission for visitors. Free drinks as well. A full seminar schedule will be held both days. There will also be food vendors, games and prizes.
The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, February 27, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 28. It will be held at the RV & Marine Center at 101 Expressway 83 in Donna.
COASTAL BEND, TEXAS – Over 340 volunteers participated in the 2021 Annual Adopt-A-Beach Winter Cleanup that took place on February 5 and 6, 2021. Volunteers worked together to clean a total of 28.5 miles of beach and bay area.
The two-day trash cleanup event resulted in over 8,900 pounds of trash being removed, leaving our Texas beaches clean and beautiful for wildlife and the community alike to enjoy.
Sixty-three volunteers helped clean South Padre Island on Friday and collected 1,512 pounds of trash. Hundreds of other volunteers cleaned up areas along Padre Island National Seashore, Cole Park, Port Aransas, North Corpus Christi Beach, Packery Flats, and Aransas Pass where they collected 7,468 pounds of trash.
All volunteers were required to wear a mask, social distance from separate parties, and bring their own gloves as a COVID-19 precaution.
You cannot miss Port Isabel. Especially if you are going to South Padre Island. Port Isabel is a welcoming small town with little shops, museums, piers, and a beautiful lighthouse. Lots of history sits in the little square just before the Queen Isabella Causeway.
Virtual Pioneer & Ranching Crafts Day programming is scheduled at 2 p.m. on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14 on the Museum of South Texas History’s Facebook page.
Every year, for nearly 30 years, the community was invited to participate in homestead and ranching activities such as butter churning and cattle herding at the museum. This year, however, the museum will host a virtual demonstration on the community-favorite activity butter making. This demonstration will feature museum staff showcasing the ingredients, science and history of butter making in the borderlands. A digital recipe card is available to view or download at mosthistory.org so you can follow along or make on your own time. “Butter Making Demonstration” will broadcast at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, on Facebook Live and YouTube Live.
The sandcastle village at South Padre Island is constantly rotating according to the holiday. As soon as Christmas was over, the sandcastle artists began making plans for a Valentine’s Day themed sandcastle village.
They have whimsical details throughout the village that display the fun of the holiday and what it means to the artists.
Quinta Mazatlán is hosting author Jennifer Bristol from Austin on Thursday, February 4th, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on The Back Porch. Drawing from her experience as a former park ranger and lifelong nature enthusiast, Bristol explores 90 birding locations that are open to the public in Texas.
The book, Parking Lot Birding, is divided by geography, with each of the nine sections centered on a defined ecoregion in Texas. Locational accounts end with a “Feather Fact” that provides interesting and relevant details about birds in a particular region.
The Rio Grande Valley is home to the World Birding Center and has several locations throughout the Valley. Weslaco features one location, Estero Llano Grande State Park, and a nature center located in the middle of downtown, Frontera Audubon.
Estero Llano Grande State Park is the geographic center of the World Birding Center network. The park attracts a spectacular array of South Texas wildlife with its varied landscape of shallow lake, woodlands and thorn forest. Visitors will enjoy exploring the 230 plus-acre refuge.
Water is the magic ingredient for attracting wildlife and the park offers the largest wetlands environment in the World Birding Center network. A shallow lake, fringed with marsh cane, is actually part of the Arroyo Colorado. Classic Rio Grande woodlands add variety to the park that already boasts a well-deserved birding reputation. A former agriculture field was transformed in wetlands, with an island just right for a secure nesting site.
