Brick & Elm | September/October 2021 by brickandelm

NORTH HEIGHTS LAUNDRY | THE EXCEPTIONAL RODEO | EXPLORING LLANO CEMETERY

AMARILLO’S PREMIER LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

S E P T/ O C T 2 0 2 1

The BRICKANDELM.COM

A L O O K A T F A I T H , F A M I LY A N D T H E F U T U R E O F A M A R I L LO ’ S H I S TO R I C B A R R I O

Reflecting on the Past &

Looking the the Future Reflectingto on Past &

Looking to the Future

Los Barrios de Amarillo

Stepping Up de forAmarillo Years Los Barrios Stepping Up14,for2021 12Years Thursday Oct. p.m. Save the Date Wesley Community Community Wesley Oct. 14, 2021 12 p.m. Thursday Center

Center Gymnasium Gymnasium watch for the link for this Wesley 1615 S.Community Roberts virtual event. 1615 S. Roberts Center Amarillo, TX TX 79102 79102 Amarillo, For more information call 806.570.8644 or Gymnasium email losbarriosdeamarillo@gmail.com. 1615 S. Roberts Individual Seats: $40 Tables of of 8: 8: $350 $350 Individual $40 Tables Visit Seats: us on Facebook @losbarriosamarillo Amarillo, TX call 79102 For tickets or to sponsor a table, (806) 570-8644 For tickets or to sponsor a table, call (806) 570-8644 or email email us us at at losbarriosdeamarillo@gmail.com losbarriosdeamarillo@gmail.com or losbarriosdeamarillo.org Individual Seats: $40 Tables of 8: $350

For tickets or to sponsor a table, call (806) 570-8644 or email us at losbarriosdeamarillo@gmail.com

MASTER PLANNED

Meticulous details have gone into the spaces at Pinnacle. Open spaces and parkways, where all walkways reach schools: K-4th, 5th-6th and 9th-12th. (Coming 2022, 7th - 8th)

THE BUILDERS

Amarillo’s most notable builders have come together to bring their unique styles and experiences to help build your forever home.

DISCOVER PINNACLE

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co n t e n t s

38 | cover story THE NEIGHBORHOOD

A look at faith, family and the future of Amarillo’s historic Barrio

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

06 ON THE COVER: LIZ RASCON-ALANIZ, PASTOR MANNY DE LOS SANTOS, MARY BRALLEY, HELEN BURTON, TERESA KENEDY AND DAVID ROSAS STAND IN FRONT OF THE BLANK SPACES MURAL AT THE WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER PHOTO BY ANGELINA MARIE MARIE, SHORT EARED DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

CA N’T MISS

The top things on our radar

SO CIA L SEEN

Who did we spot at area events?

SPOTL IGHT Heal the City

B IZ

Get up in the city’s business

THE CHA SE

With Andy Chase Cundiff

FO RWA R D

With Patrick Miller

M INDSET

With Amy Hord

R ETA IL THERAPY What’s hot in local shops

SPACES

Transition a home from summer to fall

SPACES

Winterize your plants

51 | ACRES

56 | CLEAN-UP

OPERATION

THIS SPACE

Jason Boyett explores the past and present of Amarillo’s historic Llano Cemetery.

North Heights Linen Service brings industry, jobs and hope to a historic neighborhood.

Amarillo Public Library thrills crafters with its new MakerSpace.

OF HISTORY

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

66 | WATCH

PHOTO BY ANGELINA MARIE

F EAT U RE

Exceptional Rodeo

F EAT U RE Taylor Moore

EL EVAT E YOU R P L ATE With Ruthie Landelius

K I TC H

The Vegetable Course

K I TC H

Oktoberfest: Ein Prosit

PHOTO BY VENICE MINCEY

107

F+D

Golden Waffle Company

118

ROA D TR IP

9th Annual Main Event’s Flavor Fest, Dallas, Texas

120

L ISTEN

Recently on the Hey Amarillo Podcast

122

IN FO CUS D. Maldonado

124

B ACK WHEN

Tri-State Fair & Rodeo

PROVIDED PHOTO

126

FINISH

Featuring Han Owens

hhi i!! i itt’’ss uuss LO PR EM ER AA MM AA RR I LI LL O ’ S’ SP R EM I EI R T LY EL EMM AG L ILFI EF SE TS Y AG AA Z IZNI N EE P U B L I S H ER S

PU B L I S McAffrey H ER S Michele

mm@brickandelm.com Michele McAffrey

mm@brickandelm.com

Jason Boyett

jb@brickandelm.com

Jason Boyett

jb@brickandelm.com

D E S I G N ER Kayla Morris

D E S I G N ER km@brickandelm.com

Kayla Morris CONTRIBUTING P H OTO G R A P H ER S Angelina Marie CO N T R I B U T I N G Venice Mincey PH OTO R A PHPawlowski ER S Jeremy andGLauren Angelina Marie Shannon Richardson Scott Thomas Shannon Richardson CONTRIBUTING Mason W RDudley I T ER S Gray Gillman Jonathan Baker

BRICKANDELM.COM M AY | J U N E 2 0 21 BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

km@brickandelm.com

08 06

Chip Chandler

Andy Chase CO NTR I B U TCundiff ING Amy Hord W R I T ER S

I W

am continually by the hen I lookamazed back over the outpouring past few of support from our readers andsince I last months, it feels like ages advertisers. The heavy-duty, nicethen and wrote an editor’s note, and beautiful magazine you hold atchunky, other times the weeks have flown by. in In your the handsofspeaks to aitcommunity middle January, seemed myhungry days offor typing yearning for aprior product that makes upconnection, my last-minute thoughts to printing a them feelwere proud to live them magazine over. Andhere thenand … ahelps miracle. learn more about their city. We meet people every day whowriting are beaming with pride when My longtime partner Jason Boyett they talk about Brick & Elm. We are so became my new business partner and gratified and&equally proud toThis publish this magazine Brick Elm was born. “hyper-local” about our wonderful citymeetings and its people. magazine was created in at our

respective homes, and it’s the compilation of everything we’ve ever hoped a Sept. 15 marks the beginning of National Awareness Month, andnew we’ve Panhandle-focused publication could be. The Hispanic community outpouring for our dedicated several features to the Barrio history, outstandinghave project has been overwhelming in the bestNeighborhood, way. My friendsitsand local businesses people, andof plans for the future. We’veofgot great tips community sent streams encouraging messages support. Nowfrom I truly know whatprofessionals, it means to mouthwatering recipes, and a few new columns for you this month. We continue to say my cup overflows. grow and you’ll see us on the racksissues at several United stores This isour theretail first reach, of many fantastic Amarillo-centric created by aGrocery true dream beginning Sept. 1. And we’ve partnered with Palace Coffee beyond Co. to house our digital team—Jason and the incomparable Kayla Morris. I’m thrilled measure to edition free on our website. Read for it while you sip a hot latte inside Palace or anywhere share Brick & Elm with you. Thanks reading. else you find yourself with time to peruse our pages.

Ruthie Landelius Chip Chandler Patrick Miller Andy Chase Cundiff Wes Reeves Wes Reeves

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I A

n 2019 and early I had the privilege ll the best parts2020, of my career began of in helping organize art shows celebrating the Amarillo College Journalism theDepartment. histories of the North Heights There, in the mid- and the Barrio. These two neighborhoods—so central 1990s, I learned to write fast. I learned to to the early growth ofpublishing, our city—needed edit. I learned desktop design attention after years marginalization and photography. But of what I learned mostand neglect. Our little art contests highlighted of all is that I really liked magazines. I ended the fascinating stories of these communities, up the editor of AC’s award-winning campus and I quickly discovered little of magazine, AC Current , andhow fell in loveI knew with the Amarillo’s history.a publication, start to finish. process of creating Which issue a special one to me. Ilater. lovedFor being ableMichele to learnand more Here I ammakes again,this more than a quarter-century years, I have about together the families of the Barrioabout in ourour cover as well as to we highlight itsthe storied worked telling stories city.article, A few months ago decided organizations plansa for the future. And I’ve heard SO much excitement from time was right toand launch new, sophisticated, independent magazine about Amarillo. Heights residents about the opening its new service,business which we It North feels appropriate that our first issue covers of topics likelaundry trail-building, also feature here. A healthy city can’t just have a few vibrant neighborhoods. It reopenings, creative problem-solving and breathing new life into historic structures. needs to be the board.for That’s theand Citymaybe of Amarillo’s dedicated We feel like all healthy of thoseacross are metaphors Brickwhy & Elm, for print magazines plans recognize the need to reinvest in these neighborhoods and in neighborhood general. better serve their haven’t yetshine arrived, but we’re So here’s to fresh residents. starts and We a new way to a spotlight on making the city progress. we love. I hope it continues. Thanks for reading. We’re honored that you’re here with us, at the beginning.

A RT | A C C E S S O R I E S | B O O K S | G I F T S

#FUNHAPPENS 2614 WOLFLIN VILL AGE | 367.5567 RESERVEA M ARILLO.COM VISIT OUR NE W SHOP INSIDE FR OM 6TH COLLECTIVE IN BUSHL AND!

co n t r i b u t o r s

KAYLA MORRIS

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Kayla has been designing professionally for local businesses and nonprofits for more than 10 years. Kayla was raised in the Panhandle and graduated with a design degree from West Texas A&M University. When not designing she loves spending time outdoors with family and friends.

SHANNON RICHARDSON

Shannon has been a commercial/advertising photographer for almost 30 years. His work can be seen at shannonrichardson.com.

ANGELINA MARIE

Angelina Marie has been a photographer in the Amarillo area for 11 years. She specializes in food and drink, architectural, and creative portrait photography. She has a passion to capture the true character of the Panhandle in all its beautiful and unique variety. Angelina is the founder of the Amarillo Women’s Collaborative, which promotes local, women-owned businesses. See her work at shorteareddog.com or find her on Instagram.

VENICE MINCEY

Venice is a natural light photographer, specializing in senior, family and child photography. Her passion is photographing high school seniors, especially those who might not have the opportunity to have professional photos taken. Venice has been taking photos for more than 20 years. See her work at veniceminceyphotography.com.

CHIP CHANDLER

Chip is the senior communications specialist at West Texas A&M University. A Canadian High School graduate and award-winning journalist, he has covered arts and entertainment in Amarillo since 1998 and is a member of the Amarillo Convention and Visitor Council arts committee. He is a 2020 Golden Nail Award winner and a 2017 National Philanthropy Day award winner. He is a member of the national GALECA critics group, has seen every Best Picture Oscar winner and watches way too much television.

JEREMY AND LAUREN PAWLOWSKI

Jeremy and Lauren are product and food photographers who focus on bringing light, color and playfulness into every photograph. For the past 10 years, they have lived in Austin and then Portland, Oregon, all while crisscrossing America in search of new scenery and experiences. They recently moved back to Lauren’s hometown of Canyon with their newborn son and dog. See their work at neighborscreative.com.

PATRICK MILLER

Patrick Miller is President of the Amarillo Branch NAACP and assistant principal at Eastridge Elementary. In 2021, he completed a 6-year term on the Amarillo College Board of Regents, to which he was elected at the age of 25. He has earned Master’s degrees in both teaching and educational leadership from WTAMU and has served in a variety of leadership roles within the Amarillo Independent School District.

JONATHAN BAKER

Jonathan’s work has appeared in The Daily Beast, and he has been featured on The Other Stories podcast. Originally from Canyon, Texas, he now lives on the coast of Maine, where he writes crime novels set on the High Plains.

RUTHIE LANDELIUS

Ruthie owns Black Fig Food catering and is proprietor of the online cooking platform Elevated Plant Plate. She has a degree in fine art but has been cooking professionally for more than two decades as a caterer, personal and private chef, college cooking instructor and certified plant-based chef. Learn more about Ruthie at blackfigfood.com and elevatedplantplate.com.

Continued on page 12

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ANDY CHASE CUNDIFF

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Artist, singer-songwriter, music producer and humorist Andy Chase Cundiff spent many years traveling the U.S. and abroad, but calls Amarillo his home. A longtime resident, Andy’s house is on a red brick street in Oliver-Eakle that is lined with elm trees.

rick streets and elm trees are tangible parts of our city, but Brick & Elm definitely has a digital component. In fact, there’s much more to this publication than the physical copy you’re reading now. We’re building a platform to provide the most comprehensive local coverage in the city, including the following:

SOCIAL MEDIA Yes, of course, you can find us on Instagram (@brickandelm), Twitter (@brickandelm) and Facebook (@brickandelmmag). Follow us for a glimpse of what’s happening behind the scenes, first looks at our photo shoots and features, and fun gift-card giveaways from local businesses. The print magazine is a finished product. Our social media lets you into the process—with personality.

Subscribe today.

WES REEVES

Wes was raised in the Texas Panhandle and has been a resident of Amarillo for almost 30 years. He has been active in the Amarillo Historical Preservation Foundation for the past 15 years, and works in his spare time to bring history alive through historical preservation and engaging new generations in the appreciation of the region’s colorful history.

BRICKANDELM.COM Thanks to Palace Coffee, you can now read the digital version of Brick & Elm absolutely free—an $8.94 value. Print subscriptions are $34.94 per year and delivered straight to your home, apartment or business. Even if you’re just interested in our print magazine, brickandelm.com is always worth a visit, because we will occasionally provide exclusive, digital-only content for subscribers.

BRICKLY This issue is packed with content, but we realize there’s a lot more happening in Amarillo than we can include in these pages. That’s why we’ve created Brickly, a free weekly email newsletter dedicated to Amarillo. Subscribe to it today for business and entertainment news, links to important stories, and updates from local businesses. (To subscribe, visit brickandelm.com.)

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Burrowing Owl RECOMMENDS

West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

oodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling an unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a 12-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes. Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late. (Summary provided by Lake Union Publisher)

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can’t miss WITH CHIP CHANDLER

rom outdoor concerts to fundraisers, live theater to orchestral concerts, Amarillo’s entertainment scene is shifting back into high gear. Here are my picks for your sure bets over the next two months (just remember to be safe and considerate out there).

September

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

SPIN DOCTORS: The ’90s sensations (spinsations?) will officially open United Way of Amarillo & Canyon’s fundraising drive with a concert at Starlight Ranch Event Center. (7 p.m. Sept. 2; 1415 Sunrise Drive; tickets $30-$150; 806-376-6359, unitedwayama. org) Other concerts to look forward to in September: the 12th Friends of Fogelberg concert on Sept. 10 in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts; and Beppe Gambetta on Sept. 11 at The Rockin’ OT; country stars Lone Star on Sept. 17, Roger Creager on Sept. 24 and The Eli Young Band on Sept. 25, all also at Starlight Ranch.

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS: The latest Marvel blockbuster features virtually an entirely pan-Asian cast, as the MCU’s ultimate fighter makes his cinematic debut. (Sept. 3) Also in theaters: biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Sept. 17 in limited release) and musical adaptation Dear Evan Hanson (Sept. 24). UP IN THE AIR FOR FAMILY CARE HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL: The kid-friendly fest returns and, weather permitting, you’ll see balloons soaring all over the city, in addition to the festivities and glow at Starlight Ranch Event Center. Other community events will include the 13th annual Crimestoppers Car Show on Sept. 4; and the Power of the Purse luncheon Sept. 29, featuring ABC’s Dr. Jennifer Ashton for the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health. THE SOUND OF MUSIC: The beloved Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, as delightful as the tea you drink with jam and bread, opens Amarillo Little Theatre’s Allen Shankles Mainstage season. (Sept. 16 to Oct. 3; ALT Mainstage, 2019 Civic Circle; ticket prices vary; 806-3559991, amarillolittletheatre.org) Also on the arts docket: Chamber Music Amarillo’s Sept. 11 season opener; Amarillo Symphony’s Sept. 17 and 18 concerts, featuring pianist Awadagin Pratt and Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony; West Texas A&M University Theatre’s You on the Moors Now from Sept. 17 to 26; and Broadway Spotlight Series’ Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story on Sept. 27 and 28. AMARILLO TRI-STATE FAIR & RODEO: The ultimate kickoff to fall, the Tri-State Fair is, without a doubt, one of the area’s most beloved traditions, with its exhibitions and rides and bronc-riding and, oh my goodness yes, its foods on a stick. In addition to all of that, the Bud Light Stage will feature some great Texas country from the likes of Gary P. Nunn, The Great Divide and Ray Wylie Hubbard. (Sept. 17-25; 3301 S.E. 10th Ave.; ticket prices vary; 806-376-7767, tristatefair.com)

October

HANSEL AND GRETEL: Amarillo Opera brings back this beloved fable,

this time starring Amarillo tenor Eric Barry as the Witch. Other arts events scheduled include Center City’s Jazztober outdoor concerts each Tuesday; TheatreAC’s From Up Here from Oct. 7 to 10; WT Symphony pops concert on Oct. 7; Chamber Music Amarillo on Oct. 9; Amarillo Symphony’s performance of Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 on Oct. 15 and 16; Lone Star Ballet’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on Oct. 22 and 23; a TBA-production from ALT Academy from Oct. 22 to 24; WT Theatre’s Monstersongs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1; and the Opera’s The Medium on Oct. 29 and 30. HOODOO MURAL FESTIVAL: Celebrate public art at this walkable/ bikeable party in downtown Amarillo, featuring food trucks, live music, DJs, art demonstrations and the unveiling of new murals. Only in its second year, this has the potential of becoming one of Amarillo’s coolest traditions. (3 p.m. Oct. 2; Polk Street and Fifth Ave; tickets $30; hoodoomural.com) Other community events for the month: Storybridge Live on Oct. 1 at Hodgetown, featuring several kids’ lit favorites; Flavors of Amarillo Mariachi Festival on Oct. 6; and Amarillo Chamber of Commerce’s 25th annual Good Times Celebration Barbecue Cook-Off on Oct. 7 at the Tri-State Fairgrounds. NO TIME TO DIE: Daniel Craig’s Bond swan song might finally come out, following multiple delays throughout 2020 (Oct. 8). Also scheduled to hit theaters: Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark (Oct. 1); historical epic The Last Duel, horror sequel Halloween Kills and comic book sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Oct. 15); sci-fi saga Dune and stunt comedy Jackass Forever Visit brickandelm.com for Chip’s expanded event (Oct. 22); and thriller Last Night in coverage and movie reviews. Soho (Oct. 29).

NELLY: The R&B star makes an … unexpected stop in Amarillo—true, it usually is hot in herre—for an Oct. 9 concert at Starlight Ranch. (We do not suggest you take off all your clothes there.) (7 p.m. Oct. 9; 1415 Sunrise Drive; tickets $65, plus fees; 806-556-4456, starlightranch. com) Other concerts and performances on tap: comedian Tim Allen on Oct. 2 in the Amarillo Civic Center Complex Auditorium; Charley Crockett on Oct. 8 at Starlight Ranch; Nitro Circus on Oct. 8 at Hodgetown; The Vandoliers on Oct. 8 at The Golden Light Cantina; Russ on Oct. 10; Def Leppard tribute band Def Leggend at Starlight Ranch on Oct. 15 (a makeup date from a late July rainout); Styx on Oct. 21; and Dwight Yoakam on Oct. 22 at the Amarillo Civic Center Complex.

Better yet, subscribe to our newsletter, Brickly, for breaking entertainment news every week!

C H I P C H AN D L E R Chip is the city’s arts and entertainment expert, having covered area events since 1998. Stay up to date on local happenings with Chip’s Can’t Miss picks in every issue.

2 6 4 6 W O L F L I N AV E . R OYA L B A R .C O @ R OYA L B A R .C O

ST I R RE D

THE T EXAS RO S E BUD

Introducing Stirred, a collaboration between Royal Bar Co. and Brick & Elm, featuring a “B&E Cause Cocktail.” A portion of the sales of The Texas Rosebud will benefit the Amarillo Little Theatre.

1 ½ ounces Still Austin Whiskey 1 ounce Beetlejuice (fresh processed beets and apple juice) ½ ounce Pama ¾ ounce Creekhouse honey ¾ ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice Aquafaba (egg white substitute)

Look for The Texas Rosebud on the menu at Royal and learn how to make it on Studio 4 next month! {ADVERTISEMENT}

JUNETEENTH

B R I C K A N D E L M . C O M J U LY | A U G . 2 0 2 1

The city’s annual Juneteenth celebration took place June 19 in the North Heights. This year’s festivities had an extra layer of significance, as it marked the first observance of Juneteenth as an official federal holiday. The all-day festivities included a parade that culminated with vendors and refreshments at Bones Hooks Park. (provided photos)

WT ENTERPRISE CENTER 20TH ANNIVERSARY The WT Enterprise Center celebrated its 20th anniversary on July 20. The celebration included an open house, program, and refreshments. (provided photos)

social seen BEER FEST 2021

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

The Hey Amarillo podcast hosted Beer Fest 2021 on July 31 at the Starlight Ranch Event Center. The local showcase of Amarillo and Texas Panhandle breweries include beer samplings, vendors and judges awards. (provided photos)

26TH ANNUAL ORIGINAL H A R L E Y PA R T Y The 26th Annual Original Harley Party was held on July 31 at the Tri-State Fairgrounds. Hosted by Family Support Services, the event included food, beverages, vendors, a Fun Run, and live music. (provided photos)

ARTS SOCIAL MIXER

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

The Texas Panhandle Art Education Association Get Connected: ARTs Social Mixer was held on Aug. 12 at the Amarillo Museum of Art. The event was designed to enable educators, students, artists and community members to get involved in the area arts community. (provided photos)

ALL THINGS ARTFUL ART FESTIVAL The Amarillo Art Institute hosted the All Things Artful Art Festival on Aug. 13. This year’s theme was “Alchemy of the Imagination,” and participants created art, and enjoyed live music, food, shopping and meeting local artists. (provided photos)

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

spotlight

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

PROVIDED PHOTOS

HEAL THE CITY

H O P E T H R O U G H H E A LT H CA R E

eographically, Heal the City hasn’t moved far from its original location, a 1,400-square-foot house near Generation Next Worship Center on historic Sixth Street. But the organization has definitely come a long way since those early years.

Now located in the former Midtown YMCA at 609 S. Carolina St.—a 20,000-square-foot space it continues to remodel—Heal the City today impacts the health and well-being of thousands of Amarillo residents. The nonprofit started in 2013 when Dr. Alan Keister offered free health screenings at elementary schools. The response was huge, especially in the San Jacinto community. So in 2014, he opened a free health clinic in the historic neighborhood. Every Monday night, an average of 80 patients lined up around the block to be treated, and volunteers saw around 4,000 patients that first year. Since then, the clinic has expanded beyond Mondays, grown into 13 dedicated exam rooms, started providing free cervical and breast cancer screenings, and begun offering immunizations for school children. It also introduced Shalom, a chronic care program for a large segment of patients, providing on-site optical exams and weekly meals for those struggling with food insecurity. And during 2020, Heal the City tallied more than 17,000 patient encounters and filled close to 26,000 prescriptions. The clinic now schedules appointments five days a week. Meanwhile, the organization is currently renovating 7,000 square feet of its headquarters into a wellness center, projected to open in

September with a walking track for patients, a group fitness room, and educational classrooms. According to Executive Director Chelsea Stevens, mental health services are another addition. Job losses and the pandemic caused mental health concerns to skyrocket. “We received grant funding to help us help patients diagnosed with anxiety or depression during COVID, or post-COVID,” she says. “Our goal is to strengthen that resource, whether it’s through group therapy classes or general counseling accessibility for those patients.” That holistic approach makes Heal the City unique—and that’s why the organization constantly seeks volunteers to serve alongside its staff of 35 employees. “We need so many variations of skill sets to make this place work. Not just medical but dental, vision, spiritual health, social workers, nurses, people good at filing paperwork. We want volunteers who are passionate about wellness,” says Stevens. “The community sees the difference we’re making and are bringing their skills and talents to take care of patients.” With 60 percent of patients speaking Spanish, Heal the City also needs bilingual volunteers, exercise trainers, mental health counselors and more. “We get a lot of people asking if we’re taking volunteers now,” Stevens says. Her answer is yes. “We are definitely ready to welcome them back.” Learn more and get involved at healthecityamarillo.com. PROUDLY SPONSORED BY:

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Mason Lang has joined the staff of Leslie Massey Farmers Insurance as a Sales Producer. Mason has two years insurance sales experience but has decided to trade in his khakis and join the Leslie Massey Farmers Agency.

CareXpress Anywhere, a virtual medical clinic developed by CareXpress Urgent Care, the area’s largest urgent care provider, is expanding its reach to help provide underserved areas in the Texas Panhandle with high-quality medical care. CareXpress Anywhere is available 24/7.

Governor Greg Abbott designated Amarillo Police Officer Susan Dorris to the Texas Violent Gang Task Force this past July. Dorris has 25 years of law enforcement experience.

Stephanie Coggins, a longtime City of Amarillo employee with more than a decade of service in various capacities, has been named city secretary. She assumed her duties on Aug. 23. The city secretary serves as a liaison between the city council and citizens.

SkyRite Signage Company announced the acquisition of Wellborn Sign Company on July 12, 2021. The new company will be known as SkyRite|Wellborn Sign Co.

Dr. Andrew Hay, former executive director of the Amarillo Symphony, joined the Cultural Foundation of the Texas Panhandle on Sept. 1 as its first executive director. CFTP was formed this year to preserve the culture of the Texas Panhandle and beyond, focusing the efforts of both PanhandlePlains Historical Museum and the Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation, which produces the musical “Texas.” CFTP operates under the oversight of WT, as a member of The Texas A&M University System.

Sister-Bear Foundation, an Amarillo 501c3 organization whose mission is to provide access to adaptive fitness and wellness resources for mobilityimpaired adults, launched its Grants Program with its first gift in June. Darlene Martin, a retired Amarillo teacher who was born with cerebral palsy, received funds for therapy services at Re-Form Physical Therapy & Pilates, which will pay for 24 therapy sessions not covered by her insurance.

Xcel Energy spent close to $524 million with Texas and New Mexico vendors in 2020 to improve and maintain its extensive electrical system and provided more than $1.1 million in funding to nonprofits working to meet the needs of communities impacted by the pandemic.

biz Blue Handle Publishing announced the hiring of two executives and the formation of a new editing services arm to complement its independent publishing house. Blue Handle, a traditional small press recently featured in Publishers Weekly’s BookLife, has hired Madison David as its Vice President. David, who grew up in Amarillo, was previously with Workman Publishing in New York.

BHP has also hired Ricky Treon as its Editorial Director. Treon, raised primarily in the Texas Panhandle, is an award-winning author and editor who’s worked with New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, including Romance Writers of America Hall of Famer Jodi Thomas and acclaimed thriller author Taylor Moore.

RI BBON- C U T TI N G S

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West Texas A&M University named its 2021 Distinguished Alumni Awards in August. Jerry Don Logan, Claudia Stuart and Bruce Thompson were selected by the WT Alumni Association for achievement in their respective fields as well as their contributions to the Texas Panhandle community.

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biz

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UPCOMING EVENTS GOOD TIMES CELEBRATION BARBECUE COOK-OFF Oct. 7 Tri-State Fairgrounds

CANYON CHAMBER CHOW-DOWN Oct. 15 Canyon downtown square

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the chase

AUTUMN, AGAIN! h, it is so fine! Such a huge blessing to some of us who are not enamored with the heat, the sticky, muggy, closeness of summer. It’s not that I do not love summer. I still do, at least abstractly. It just seems like this “grown-up” gig has somehow impinged on my old gleeful childhood habit of celebrating by going swimming, diving, fishing or otherwise playing in the water every day of summer. Nowadays, summer seems to mock my inner child with its ridiculous heat and work schedule.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

But these early fall days are so tangibly different, like a shift in the direction of the breeze that somehow lost its oppressive oven breath, and now carries a whiff of coolness. Like a hint or two of color on the deep green leaves and grass. A waft of tannin in the air. A little promise, an intimation that summer’s dog days are numbered. Doors and windows can soon be opened, the freshness of the chill air coming in, quietly, instead of from a noisy air conditioner. These days are delightful! They aren’t that different from midsummer, just without the teeth of the afternoon heat that seems to last just a couple hours too long. The sweet relief of the High Plains cool that starts a little earlier in the afternoon, that seems to say, “There is always a good rest in store for you here at night.” Friends that come to visit us don’t take seriously our suggestions to bring a sweater or jacket for nighttime use during the early autumn. “It’s not like winter at night this time of year, but it certainly isn’t like summer, either!” we always tell them. These are the days when you look forward to hearing the sound of kids playing in piles of dry leaves, and raking up locust tree “beans” by the pound, wondering again how you can tell the difference between “fruitless” and the other BEFORE you plant. When the squirrels seem a bit more territorial, and to have a bit of added urgency to their nut-gathering activities, scurrying around with an extra go-gear. When the foxes and skunks seem to venture a little further into town in their foraging, and you are more likely to see big birds, maybe even a great horned owl in town for a short visit. When the fighter squadrons of geese and ducks start their practice runs in “V” formation before the real deal migration starts. This is the time of year to get ready for campfires, marshmallows and s’mores, tailgate parties and the Friday night lights of Texas high school and college football. Marching bands with rows of silver and brass horns singing victory songs and kids that have worked all summer to march or play ball with their rosy cheeks and earnest expressions, most of them having the time of their lives and making lifelong friendships.

These are the days when so many of us head to the New Mexico and Colorado mountains. Something up there seems to call for us in the autumn. For me, at least one of those things is the color. I remember the first time I was aware, as a very young kid, of the differences in the colors. It was in the autumn. I always liked red the best, and even though it seems foolish to some people, even some artists, to ask, “what’s your favorite color?” I have no problem with the question. Still red. Up high in the mountains, and some lowland spots back east, autumn gives us magic maple trees that display the most dazzling reds I have ever known. These places sing to my heart. That statement may not be mere poetry. I have a guitar that is made from one of those trees. I have played it in front of thousands of people. It is my way of keeping that maple tree, the color of fall, and other beautiful things alive. These are the days when we stop and marvel at the passage of time, making the same remarks as always, like, “I can’t believe summer is already gone” or, “Wow! We are halfway through the year; it seems like the holidays were just last week!” I have noticed that my sainted mother was right about everything she ever told me, including the fact that “time seems to somehow pick up momentum as you get older.” It was then a nonsensical statement to my young ears, but as I grew, so did her wisdom. Autumn signals a time of the harvest, of color, and approaching winter, when the good earth rests and replenishes from the toil and heat of summer, the frenzied activity AN DY C H A S E C U N D I F F of work and play. It is time to catch Andy is an artist, singerour breath. A time to take inventory, songwriter, music producer to reflect, to count blessings. and musician. In every issue, his column explores the parts of his This has been a great summer, life that don’t always make it into with rainfall and long days, but I so his songs, accompanied by his look forward to autumn! own illustration.

OUR NEWEST PHYSICIAN

RETURNS HOME. A Southwest Retina technician from 2007 to 2010, Jennifer Gallagher is returning as our newest board-certified and fellowship trained retina specialist.

7411 WALLACE BLVD. | WWW.SWRETINATX.COM | 806.351.1870

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

After graduating from WTAMU, where she earned a scholarship to play on their softball team, Dr. Gallagher got her medical degree at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. She says Dr. Eddie and Dr. Aragon mentored her at the beginning of her medical career, and today she’s excited to work alongside them. Welcome back, Dr. Gallagher!

A balanced meal shouldn’t be a privilege. Comida balanceada no debería ser un privilegio. WIC feeds families. www.amarillowic.com | 806-371-1199

f o r wa r d WITH PATRICK MILLER

he polarization of our political discourse is as chilling as it is repugnant. Moreover, the restrictive measures taken by those elected to offices of public trust regarding fundamental concepts of history will undoubtedly have severe ramifications to future generations of Texans. Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with the unique aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Winston Churchill echoed, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Over the summer, with the stroke of a pen, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Texas House Bill (HB 3979) into law. This new law forbids a plethora of necessary topics from being discussed by Texas classroom educators, especially regarding issues related to race and racism in the United States of America. “America’s public schools are the nurseries of democracy,” wrote U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer in a court opinion a few months ago. Texas officials don’t seem to share that opinion. The actual text of Texas HB 3979 states the following: “A teacher, administrator, or other employee of a state agency, school district, or open-enrollment charter school may not require or make part of a course the concept that with respect to their relationship to American values, slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to, the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include liberty and equality.” Let’s pause for just a moment and think about those “authentic founding principles.” Consider the Declaration of Independence. Despite the herculean efforts of its author, Thomas Jefferson, to articulate the God-given, natural rights of those who would later have the privilege of calling themselves Americans, this document doesn’t reference women. Nor does it reference the estimated 200 persons of color enslaved by Jefferson’s very own family. He wasn’t the only historic figure profiting from slave labor. George Washington, James Madison, and almost every other southern delegate of the Second Continental Congress did as well. The first legitimate effort to abolish the evil known as American slavery was the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, a haphazardly drafted Executive Order by President Abraham Lincoln. It sought to emancipate enslaved persons of color in the rebelling states—states that, at the time, didn’t even recognize Lincoln as their president. Slavery was not officially abolished until states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865. Even then, slaves in Texas were not

notified of their emancipation until June 19, 1865. In the United States, we literally fought a war amongst ourselves to abolish our nation’s original sin. For those who disagree, here’s an excerpt from our state’s secession document, known as the Declaration of Causes: “We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.” How are our “nurseries of democracy” supposed to ignore this? We have an obligation to teach students the truth, including difficult truths about American sins, like how Andrew Jackson defied the Court and had soldiers forcibly remove Native Americans from their land. Or how Japanese Americans were unconstitutionally detained during World War II, even though we (rightfully) abhor Nazi concentration camps. The greatness of our nation was never about who we were. The greatness of America is about who we have the potential to become. With each passing generation, liberty and equity have been extended to include persons of color, women, and every soul who calls America home. We believe our nation’s founders had the right concept; they just lacked the moral understanding of inclusivity. Today, the loudest voices are seldomly right, and our generation has the education, power and resources to change America. Our faith has sustained us amidst economic depressions. Our resilience has led us beyond the racial and political strife to attain universal suffrage for all American citizens. Our courage has lifted us from the quicksand of calamity onto a foundation of PAT R I C K M I L L E R strength and autonomy. A passionate local educator and To speak of America’s past is President of the Amarillo Branch to learn from it. Despite what NAACP, Patrick writes in every issue about education, faith and our country has done wrong, we forward momentum. have also benefited from what our ancestors did right. Let us simply teach our real American history.

ELAINE DE KOONING, (American, 1918–1989), Standing Bull, c. 1960, acrylic on board, 30.75 x 48.25 in. Loan Courtesy of Private Collection, © Elaine de Kooning Trust

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mindset

F I N D I N G S E L FC O M PA S S I O N hat is self-compassion? Self-compassion is loving ourselves during times of perceived failure the same as when we experience success. Self-compassion is giving ourselves permission to be human vs. practicing perfectionism. Self-compassion is giving ourselves permission to feel as opposed to judging ourselves for having those feelings. Selfcompassion is “essentially the same as compassion you have toward others, but turned inward” (*Germer & Neff, 2019).

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

In a societal culture that prides itself on hard work and humility, self-compassion can be a challenge. But self-compassion is critical. Why? Research shows that individuals with high self-compassion have great physical and mental strengths: increased motivation (even after failure); healthier self-image; reduced states of depression, anxiety and shame; better physical health; better coping skills; and better accountability for mistakes.* Remarkably, a link has been determined between self-compassion and reduced suicidal ideation and nonsuicidal self-injury.* Self-compassion even appears to help individuals stop or reduce smoking. Those that practice self-compassion report greater ‘life satisfaction, hope, happiness, optimism, gratitude, curiosity, vitality and positive affect.”* Self-compassionate athletes are found to be more resilient and less self-critical. Are you practicing self-compassion? A few questions: • Do you talk to yourself the way you would a best friend or close family member? • Do you practice regular self-care? • Do you break “dates” with yourself? How long have you held on to that gift certificate to get a massage because you’re too busy? Do you skip the gym because there “just isn’t enough time”? • Do you put others before yourself? • When you make a mistake, do you give yourself grace or do you judge yourself? • Do you give yourself permission to have feelings? The answers to these questions are probably obvious—if you answered “no” to many or all the questions, you are likely not practicing self-compassion. That’s OK! You can start making changes to be kinder to yourself. What does your inner dialogue sound like? If you feel like you’ve failed at something or made a mistake, catch your self-talk. Instead of “how could you do that?” or “you’re so stupid!” talk to yourself like you would a best friend. Would you say those things to your best friend?

Of course not, so neither should you say those things to yourself. So … what would you say to your friend? That should become your inner self-talk, which might sound like “you’re human, it’s OK” or “you tried your best.” It takes practice, but once you start to catch these statements, it’ll become easier to challenge that negative self-talk. People often mistake what self-care really means. Self-care is more than a one-time massage or pedicure. Self-care is a regular practice of taking care of your physical, emotional, spiritual and mental needs. And it’s different for each person. For some, the idea of going to the gym would make them cringe but going on a walk with a friend sounds like bliss. For some, spiritual self-care means church and Bible study; for others, it may be a hike or getting in touch with nature. Self-care is setting boundaries and protecting your aforementioned needs. We are taught to be humble and giving, which is what connects us to each other, builds empathy and ultimately makes us better humans. But when we prioritize the needs of others, we aren’t practicing good self-care or boundaries. When we have a friend that is sick or grieving, sure—we drop what we’re doing to be supportive. When we constantly put the needs of others before our own, we can get rundown, resentful and lack compassion. There’s a saying: “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” In other words, if you’re not taking care of yourself, you can’t effectively take care of others. In fact, if you’re not in a good place physically and mentally, you can actually cause more harm than good to others. Self-compassion does not mean lack of accountability or responsibility. It is not narcissism; rather, it is about grace-giving and kindness to ourselves. It’s owning our mistakes, but not at the risk of our esteem or overall sense of self. It’s writing a script, whereby AM Y H O R D we as the author get to write in Amy is a licensed clinical social kindness, compassion, self-love and worker and the Director of ultimately—peace. Behavioral Health and Wellness

*Germer, C., Neff, K. (2019). Teaching the mindful self-compassion program: A guide for professionals. The Guilford Press, New York.

at Family Support of Amarillo, Inc. She grew up in the Texas Panhandle, is married to husband Chris, and has three boys—Dylan, Jacob and Josh.

r e t a i l t h e ra p y

CHOOSE TO REUSE S

ustainable kitchen products have come a long way since Tupperware redefined kitchen storage in the 1940s. Today’s reusable, environmentally friendly products are stylish, colorful and fun, at least based on some of the items we found at local retailers.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

PHOTOS BY JEREMY & LAUREN PAWLOWSKI

ECOLOGIE SWEDISH SPONGE CLOTHS $5.75 WEATHERED ELEMENTS, CANYON Reusable, washable and compostable, one sponge cloth replaces the equivalent of four paper towel rolls. Disinfect on the top rack of the dishwasher.

REUSABLE PRODUCE BAGS $1.99/THREE BAGS MARKET STREET UNITED Bring your own produce bags and you won’t have to lick your fingers or struggle to open the usual thin plastic bags.

KRUMBS KITCHEN ESSENTIAL SILICONE LUNCH CONTAINER WITH UTENSIL $15.99 PURPOSE + PASSION BOUTIQUE Colorful and perfect for meals on-the-go, these collapsible, microwave- and dishwasher-safe containers are ideal for hot and cold food. The eco-friendly silicone is BPA-free.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

MUMI ZIP-UP BAGS $20/THREE BAGS THE SECRET PLACE Tired of throwing out barely used plastic storage bags? Here’s your solution. These durable, reusable bags are BPA- and leadfree, with an airtight, double-lock closure. Wash them by hand to reuse.

GOLDEN RABBIT ENAMELWARE BOWLS $40/SET OF THREE TWO LOONS WAREHOUSE Equal parts functional and fun, this nonstick enamelware comes with BPA-free lids. The durable porcelain-on-steel design means it can withstand a hot oven or stay safe in the dishwasher. Cook, broil, bake, grill and cut in it— then pop on a lid and put it in the fridge.

GIR GET IT RIGHT ULTIMATE REUSABLE STRAW $9.95 THE SECRET PLACE Paper straws fall apart and metal straws taste like, well, metal. Enter the GIR straw. It’s foldable, odorfree and taste-free, and comes with its own carrying case and cleaning squeegee. The platinum-grade silicone is safe for your teeth. Wash these easily in the dishwasher.

EUROSCRUBBY MULTI-PURPOSE CLEANER $5 PETE’S GREENHOUSE These 100-percent cotton cleaners are designed for use in the kitchen, bathrooms and even outdoors as a more sustainable replacement for traditional sponges. Protected by a non-plastic coating, the coarse texture thoroughly cleans surfaces with no need to add chemical cleaners or soaps. To clean and disinfect, simply place on the top rack of the dishwasher.

FA L L I NG I NTO PL AC E

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

fter a hot, dry summer, local residents eagerly anticipate the cool temperatures and bright blue skies of autumn. For some of us, it’s not enough to enjoy the changing seasons outside. You might also want to bring that fall feeling indoors.

To get an idea of how to transition a Panhandle home from summer to fall, we spoke with designer extraordinaire Kasey Tam, proprietor of From 6th Collective. Tam gave us six key suggestions, all of which serve to make your space cozier and cool-season ready. The process is simpler than you think, but there’s more to it than adding a few pumpkins to your usual decor. PHOTOS BY SHANNON RICHARDSON

1 2 3

WARM UP THE LIGHT. Gone are the long days and bright summer sunshine. Set the tone for a softer season by diffusing your lighting. Add multiple lamps to a single room.

TRANSFORM YOUR TEXTILES. Say goodbye to the lighter fabrics of summer and hello to thicker, plusher throws. Tam says the addition of layered elements like fur pillows and even horn accents can serve to soften a room.

SWAP SCENTS. Yes, it’s time for new candles. Yes, woodsy and earthy aromas are appropriate for fall. Yes, one of them can be pumpkin spice. But don’t go overboard.

s p a ce s

GO NATURAL. Seasonal transitions are a great time to transition the wall art in your home. Tam loves referencing the crisp textures of fall through natural photography and nature-focused prints.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

THINK BEYOND BLOOMS. Summer may offer bright colors and beautiful floral cuttings, but many local plants bloom well into October. “Fall-ify your blooms by foraging and using interesting vases,” Tam says. Don’t be afraid to exchange your pinks and yellows for earth tones.

OK, FINE, PUT OUT PUMPKINS. But not just pumpkins. Add decorative fall touches by displaying natural, inexpensive collections of pinecones, acorns or gourds. Branches in vases or a centerpiece of apples, collected in a nice bowl, add a classy autumnal touch. (All featured items are available from local retailers at From 6th Collective.)

s p a ce s

W I N TER I S CO M I N G Successfully bringing patio plants indoors for the winter BY GREG LUSK

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

t’s been a plentiful growing season in the Panhandle, but the end is near. As cold weather threatens, it’s time to move many of your patio plants indoors for the winter. Tropical plants, often used outdoors, will only survive the winter inside, protected from freezing temperatures. Here are my tips on which plants to bring inside this fall and how to winterize them.

Which plants do I bring in? You may need to make some choices of which plants to bring in and which to abandon. Ask yourself which are keepsakes—like grandmother’s Christmas cactus or an Amaryllis brought home from a trip—or which are either expensive or difficult to replace. For instance, geraniums bloom great indoors, but they are messy and simple to replace next spring. You’ll have to sweep up under that Boston fern daily, but it also can be replaced. Succulents are easily brought in and require much less attention and fuss. As for annuals (marigolds, petunias, or celosia), don’t bother trying to overwinter them. These plants complete their life cycle in a growing season and will not make viable house plants. Regardless, keep only healthy plants with no insects or disease problems. Plants that experience winter dormancy (canna, dahlia, Calla lilies and elephant ears) may be sheltered in a heated garage or shed. Some tropical plants (ferns, hibiscus, palms and ficus) continue to grow through the winter. Bring those inside the house. When do I bring my plants inside? Keep an eye on the projected nighttime temperatures. When temps approach 45 degrees, it’s time to bring them in. Most tropicals will suffer damage at temps below 40 degrees. It’s much easier to over-winter healthy plants than plants that have been damaged from the cold. Where do I put these plants? Ideally a greenhouse, though most of us don’t have one available. Instead, bring them into your house and find a place with as much natural sunlight as possible. Don’t be afraid to group them together. This helps by creating a makeshift “humid zone.” It’s also a good idea to place plants on a watersaturated pebble tray to increase humidity. Our homes get very dry in the winter, and indoor plants can suffer from the low humidity. A small humidifier or mister will definitely help. Do they need time for transition? Yes! Before moving your plants indoors, first try to acclimate them to a lower light level for a few days. You can do this by moving them into shadier outdoor spaces for several days prior to the indoor move—this will help minimize leaf drop when they come inside. Don’t be afraid to prune them either. This may be necessary to reduce their overall size, as with plants like hibiscus, ficus and bougainvillea. First use a sharp, clean pair of pruners to remove unruly growth, then prune to the desired size. What should I do once they’re inside? First, and most importantly, don’t overwater! Indoor plants don’t need much water in the wintertime. In fact, overwatering is the most common cause of death for indoor plants. Let your plants dry out slightly before

watering. Definitely don’t allow them to sit in water for any length of time. Fertilize little, if any, during the winter months. When spring arrives, slightly increase fertilizer to get them growing again for their time back on the patio. Can I over-winter in-ground plants? Yes—and you don’t have to dig them up! In late summer, take cuttings from in-ground summer plants like coleus, geraniums or ivy. This will help reduce the size of the plant and will be easier to overwinter. Winter is coming. But with some advance planning and an eye on the weather—and by following these simple suggestions—you and your plants can survive it.

GREG LUSK Greg moved to Amarillo 37 years ago, and graduated from West Texas State University with a degree in horticulture. Since then, he has worked as a horticulturist for a multitude of private clients, joining the Amarillo Botanical Gardens 12 years ago and taking over as the Executive Director 2 years ago. You can see Greg’s expert touch at the Gardens throughout the year. Learn more at amarillobotanicalgardens.org.

WHO WILL STEP UP FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T? www.unitedwayama.org

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The A LO O K A T FA I T H , FA M I LY A N D T H E FU T U R E O F A M A R I L LO ’ S H I S TO R I C B A R R I O BY JASON BOYETT PHOTOS BY ANGELINA MARIE, SHORT EARED DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

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“M

y heart is in East Amarillo,” says David Rosas. “That’s my backyard. That’s my playground.” A fixture in the local car business, Rosas works as a salesman at Greg Lair Buick GMC. But by virtue of his heritage, he’s also something of an elder statesman in Amarillo’s Barrio.

Spanish for “neighborhood,” barrio is the loving term Rosas and other families use to refer to the 950-acre, multigenerational neighborhood in East Amarillo, just blocks from downtown. It’s bordered by the railroad to the north and west, Ross and Osage streets to the east, and 27th to the south. It includes the Mirror and Glenwood subdivisions, El Alamo and East parks, and major corridors like Third Avenue, 10th Avenue, and Arthur Street. It’s one of the oldest neighborhoods in Amarillo. In fact, the Hispanic Barrio is as old as Amarillo itself. Amarillo history starts with the railroad. The townsite began at the central Panhandle point where the diagonal paths of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad intersected. That was in 1887. The oldest parts of the Barrio date back to 1889. By the time tracks were being laid across the Panhandle—in fact, across the entire western United States—rail construction had been occurring for decades in Mexico. So the railroad companies hired Mexican rail workers, bringing them legally into the United States to construct and maintain these new lines. Known as traqueros, these Mexican and Mexican-American laborers proved essential to the development of the Texas Panhandle. They represented some of the first residents of Amarillo.

ABOVE, THIS NEW WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER MURAL WAS CREATED BY BLANK SPACES AND PARTIALLY FUNDED BY A GRANT FROM AMARILLO’S BEAUTIFICATION AND PUBLIC ART ADVISORY BOARD.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

FORMER POTTER COUNTY COMMISSIONER MERCY MURGUIA

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CHURCH

40 THE HISTORIC LA FRONTERA RESTAURANT

The Barrio became their home. Located alongside the track, the oldest part of the neighborhood served to house them and their families. “Many of the original settlers lived on the dirt surrounding the tracks. They built shanties and huts until they were able to purchase property,” says Rosas. “The first houses were built from scraps dragged from the railroad.” One of those workers was Rosas’s grandfather, Mateo Lopez, a horse-trainer from Mexico who came to Amarillo to work for the Santa Fe railroad in 1921. “He was told to go back and get family members and bring people willing to work,” Rosas says, relying on stories his grandmother passed down over the years. Mateo Lopez brought countless families to Amarillo. At first he lived in the railroad’s barracks. Later, he was able to build his first home at 1414 S. Cleveland St., and then help other families find jobs, establish homes, and help develop the neighborhood. “Strangers would just show up and my grandmother would feed them,” remembers Rosas. Back then, Lopez and his contemporaries thought bigger than a single lot. Rosas says families would work to acquire a whole section of a city block and then the entire family would build houses there. “My family members still occupy the whole 1400 block of South

Cleveland, on my mother’s side,” he says.

THE RICHNESS OF FAMILY

Like Rosas, many of the Barrio’s residents today can trace their family lineage and their property to those original settlers. Nearly half of Barrio residents own their own homes and many of those homes have been passed down from one generation to another. “Those original families remain in properties that were bought a hundred years ago and that population is getting older. The ones that stay pass their properties along to their children through inheritance or sale,” says Rosas. “Your aunt, uncle, grandmother will live on the same block.” “You knew all your neighbors,” says Manny De Los Santos, lead pastor at Power Church on 10th Avenue. Many congregants of this 1,700-member church still live in the neighborhood or have family in the Barrio. “To this day, I could go up and down these streets and tell you the last name of the family that lives there. If the Garcias lived in that house in the ’80s, then it’s still the same Garcias—just a different generation,” he says. Mercy Murguia also grew up in the neighborhood. A former Potter County Commissioner, she has spent the past ten years

Recently, former Potter County Commissioner Mercy Murguia discovered a hand-written strategic plan written in the early 1970s by founding members of the Wesley Community Center and Los Barrios de Amarillo. The document described neighborhood leaders wrestling back then with the same issues the Barrio faces today. These challenges, Murguia says, “were documented forty-plus years ago and the wheels are just now moving.” Finally, some of that work is starting. According to Murguia, the document highlights the importance of education and warns about high school drop-out rates among minorities. It also advocates for caring for the neighborhood and implementing regular community clean-up days. But most dear to Murguia’s heart, it speaks of the lack of political representation among Hispanic residents across all levels of government. Murguia won office in 2011 because county level positions are elected by precinct. Positions on the Amarillo City Council, by contrast, are elected with at-large voting. “Most people are elected from one side of town,” she explains. Residents of that side of town may not

always venture into the Barrio. “I believe people govern based on their drive route.” In other words, a city leader living in a more advantaged neighborhood may not see problems on their drive to work—like abandoned houses, thrownout mattresses or crumbling sidewalks. Those “out of sight, out of mind” problems might then struggle to gain traction among their priorities. Working with the economically disadvantaged citizens living in the Barrio, Murguia encountered those challenges on a daily basis. The fact that a previous generation of Barrio residents recognized the same problems in the 1970s—only they are just now being addressed in the Barrio Neighborhood Plan—well, that fueled Murguia’s passion for the job. She hopes her replacement at the County Commissioner level will follow in her footsteps. “I could print this out and it would be the exact same plan” as what Barrio leaders are pursuing today, she says. “We all circle back to the same issues. The grassroots work is still necessary. There are foundational pillars that need to shift.”

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SHIFTING THE PILLARS

representing Precinct Two, which includes the Barrio, but is moving this fall to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Her family experience matches those of Rosas and De Los Santos. “My grandfather’s property is on one corner, my mom lives on the other, my aunt lives on the other. You’re in quadrants of families,” she says. But she says the concept of family extends beyond blood relationships and property placement. “The richness of family [in the Barrio] transcends how we think about a spouse or children. All these independent families saw each other as family and would help each other in that space. Whether it was work that needed to be done, a meal, advocating for each other—the richness of that comes from the idea of family,” Murguia explains. Her own grandparents lived in the Barrio and once owned a thriving business there. Abe Garcia drove a taxi—in the Mesa Petroleum days, he often served as a driver for the late T. Boone Pickens—and with his wife, Annie, also owned Annie’s Drive-In. This traditional, carhop-style restaurant was one of the first popular places to serve authentic Mexican food in the city. Famous for its gorditas, Annie’s stood across 10th Avenue from the Tri-State Fairgrounds. (The building is now a used car lot.) Murguia grew up in the restaurant, working as a carhop throughout high school.

Abe passed away in 1997, the year Murguia graduated from Caprock High School, and Annie died a few years later. Like Mateo Lopez, they were pillars of the community, and when Murguia ran for commissioner the Barrio knew her already. “I would go knocking on doors saying, ‘I need your vote,’ and they would ask, ‘Are you even old enough to vote?’” She even lived with her grandparents for several years, growing up in a multigenerational household. That close-knit family structure is not uncommon in the Barrio. “A lot of these families all worked together in this neighborhood, raised children together, were small business owners together. You just can imagine this tapestry of life and how vibrant it was at that time. Now, we’re the fruits of a lot of that labor,” she says. As a political leader representing the neighborhood, Murguia felt driven to represent the older generations well.

FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH

Family ties the Barrio together over the generations, but so does faith. As Amarillo grew and the railroad brought a Mexican and Roman Catholic workforce to town, the city’s Spanish-speaking residents wanted a place to worship. Every payday, two women—

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70 YEARS OF THE WESLEY In institution within the Barrio, the Wesley Community Center dates back to 1951 when a group of volunteer women from Polk Street United Methodist Church recognized several needs in this underserved neighborhood. A local family, the Cliffords, donated a large home and other land across from Alamo Park. From that home, the Methodist women began offering sewing classes, youth activities, daycare services and English as a Second Language courses. Since then, the organization has served multiple generations of Barrio residents, adding summer camps, afterschool programs, senior citizens’ activities, youth mentoring, mental health programming and a nationally recognized wrestling club to its list of social services. The Wesley added its current building in 1981 under the longtime leadership of Rev. Jacinto Alderrette, who served as its executive director for 32 years. Today, it’s guided by Liz Rascón-Alaniz. “The Wesley serves children from 6 weeks old to senior citizens who are 100 years old,” she says. “Our daycare is one of the most affordable in Amarillo and has a waiting list. Our summer programs help out parents who may be working two or three jobs. It keeps kids off the streets and helps them avoid risky behaviors.” This summer, around 90 kids participated in the summer camp and other activities, with a third of them attending on scholarship because of special fundraising. Now that the school year has resumed, structured afterschool programs allow kids a place to complete their homework, with close to 100 students participating several days a week in the Wesley Wrestling Club. Meanwhile, the senior citizen program offers social and recreational activities on weekdays to as many as 80 adults.

MARY BRALLEY, BOARD PRESIDENT OF LOS BARRIOS DE AMARILLO AND LIZ RASCÓN-ALANIZ, DIRECTOR OF THE WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER

Doña Maria Vasquez and Susan Morris (known as “la mis Susana”)—would visit the railroad camps and solicit donations for a church building. By 1916, those donations were enough to start construction of Sacred Heart Cathedral at Ninth and Tyler streets downtown. In those days, Amarillo fell under the authority of the Diocese of Dallas, and in 1918 the diocese decided to move the church building to 11th and Arthur, in the heart of the Barrio. Catholic leaders renamed the church Our Lady of Guadalupe, dedicating it for the use of the city’s Spanish-speaking population. Guided by Father Cesario Gutierrez and new Amarillo Bishop Rudolf A. Gerken, the church moved again in 1927 to a full block on Houston and 11th, where the diocese also constructed a parochial school. The landmark church and school still serve the community today. Generations of residents attended school at Our Lady and continue to worship there. “My whole family attended the Catholic school,” says Rosas, who heard stories about his grandfather’s generation pitching in to build the current structure, brick by brick. “I give a lot of thanks and praise that I was raised in that school.” Helen Burton feels the same way. She grew up on Garfield, two blocks from the church. Her parents, Bennie and Irma Lucero, met in an agricultural labor camp in Hereford, married in their late teens, and came to Amarillo to find better work and new opportunities. That brought them to the Barrio and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Her father worked as a machinist and served the church as a musician. Her mom took care of the family. “She was like most typical Hispanic women and stayed home, made sure she tended to the house and the kids,” says Burton, who now owns Burton Insurance Agency. “Then I remember when we started

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DAVID ROSAS

going to Our Lady, it was expensive to go to private school, so she started working in the cafeteria to supplement [income] and be close to her kids.” The family would walk to church together on weekends and walk to school together on weekdays. “Faith was so important,” says Burton. “It all just really instilled the importance of those traditions and rituals. It was important to them that we had that foundation.”

LIFELONG LANDMARKS

Other locations in the Barrio have been just as important as Our Lady. The city established El Alamo Park in 1945 and it quickly became a gathering place for the neighborhood. David Coronado, the uncle of Manny De Los Santos, won a $25 savings bond for naming the park in a city-wide contest. “Every person who lives here visits that park at some point,” says De Los Santos. “Every festival, every community event happens there. I would call it the epicenter of what happens here in our community.” The Wesley Community Center, which sits right across Roberts street on the park’s northeast corner, should be included in that epicenter. Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year (see sidebar), the Wesley provides community services for residents from infants to senior adults. Burton remembers taking sewing classes at the

Wesley when it was located in a three-bedroom home across from El Alamo (see sidebar). “I’m a product of the Wesley,” says De Los Santos. “I spent countless summers there.” Rosas’s grandfather, Mateo Lopez, gathered other mid-century community leaders to found and build the El Alamo Community Center at 15th and Cleveland—and that historic building is now overseen by the Wesley. Food has always been central to the Hispanic and MexicanAmerican culture, and that meant the Cuellar Grocery Store played a prominent role in the early days of the Barrio. Juan and Teresa Cuellar opened the grocery at 14th and Arthur in 1934. Twenty years later, it became Cuellar Grocery & Tortilla Company—the first corn tortilla business in the city. That original structure is now located by the popular restaurant La Frontera, owned by the Martinez family. La Frontera pays homage to the building’s history on its interior walls. Another grocery store, Scivally’s, served the community on East 10th, before Bob Copheranham bought it in the late 1970s. That company is part of the heritage of Fiesta Foods, a grocery chain now owned by Bob’s son, Ken Copheranham, and grandson, Jarrett. Representing another multi-generational legacy in the Barrio, this bilingual business has catered to neighborhood residents for nearly

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THIS MURAL, BY ARTIST JOEY MARTINEZ, TELLS THE HISTORY OF THE BARRIO ALONG BOTH SIDES OF 10TH AVENUE AS IT PASSES BENEATH THE RAILROAD TRACKS.

THE STUNNING STAINED GLASS WINDOW AT POWER CHURCH DATES BACK TO WHEN THE BUILDING BELONGED TO TENTH AVENUE METHODIST. (THE STAINED GLASS IS EVEN OLDER THAN THE BUILDING, WHICH WAS BUILT IN 1928.)

half a century, right down to playing Hispanic music and selling what many consider the best tortillas in the city.

INFLUENCE BEYOND THE BARRIO

But the history and impact of the Barrio are not confined merely to the neighborhood. The city of Amarillo itself is a product of the Barrio, starting with the railroad and the traqueros who built it. The city exists because of the railroad, and the railroad exists because of the Mexican workers who moved here—into the Barrio—to build it. That’s not all. “Residents that didn’t work for the railroad were laborers who worked for the city. They worked for the county. They worked for road-building companies and the construction companies that built housing or schools,” explains David Rosas. They laid the brick streets that gave definition to early Amarillo and they helped build the stately homes that housed the city’s earliest ranching families and bank presidents and mayors. “All

the employers of Amarillo have benefited from the MexicanAmerican labor force,” Rosas adds. “Concrete companies, roofers, skilled labor—they have touched every quadrant of the city with those trades and their work ethic. It brings me a sense of pride to see that.” Pastor De Los Santos shares that perspective. “You can drive up and down the streets of Amarillo, go to the Greenways or any place getting a house built, and the people building it are from here,” he says of the Barrio. “The hotels built downtown, the streets being paved, that’s getting done by the majority of residents in and around this area.” When Hodgetown opened in 2019—a pivotal moment for the city and downtown revitalization—Murguia participated in the ribbon-cutting. As the festivities died down, she walked around the outside of the building, where work crews completed some of the finishing details. Speaking in English and Spanish, she thanked them

PASTOR MANNY DE LOS SANTOS, POWER CHURCH

In 1971, a small group of volunteers and community leaders—including Rev. Jacinto Alderrette of the Wesley Community Center—became concerned with the high dropout rate of Hispanic males at Caprock High School. They established this youth leadership organization to address the cultural, educational or socioeconomic hurdles that prevent these young Barrio residents from thriving. Eventually, the focus of the organization expanded out of the neighborhood. Los Barrios now works to help all students in Region 16 achieve educational and career goals. Los Barrios board president Mary Bralley says the organization provides scholarships and mentorship programs for students but is best known for its Step Up 2.0 job shadowing program and its Epic Success Career Conferences for middle and high school students, all of which involve rely on professionals in the community giving hands-on, one-on-one introductions to potential careers. Other volunteers mentor scholarship students as they pursue postsecondary degrees. Dylan Lara Perez is one of those scholarship recipients. A recent graduate of Palo Duro High School, he’s now attending West Texas A&M University to study graphic design, and represents one of the first in his family to attend college. “I think it will better benefit me in the future. I want a good career,” Perez says of his college plans. His scholarship was sponsored by the Amarillo Police Department. Other local businesses, including Tyson, Amarillo National Bank and Atmos Energy, also fund scholarships through Los Barrios. “It’s just grown and grown and grown,” says Bralley of the program, noting that past scholarship beneficiaries have gone on to start businesses and lead nonprofits throughout the Texas Panhandle. “Our goal is to help these students. We’re trying to remove barriers.”

DYLAN LARA PEREZ, 2021 LOS BARRIOS SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

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50 YEARS OF LOS BARRIOS DE AMARILLO

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A MONUMENT TO A HISTORIC REGION In 2010, the City of Amarillo adopted its Amarillo Comprehensive Plan, a framework for guiding “future development, redevelopment, and community enhancement,” specifically in underserved communities like the Barrio, North Heights and San Jacinto. That framework included adoption of the Barrio Neighborhood Plan in 2018, which was put together with the help of an advisory committee. That committee included Teresa Kenedy, a retired drug and violence prevention educator with AISD and the author of the book Amarillo Barrio Historical District: Past, Present & Future. Kenedy continues to work on behalf of the neighborhood as the leader of the Barrio Neighborhood Planning Committee. Next month, on Oct. 13, the committee unveils a new monument to the Barrio at a prominent location at 10th and Arthur. Including a historical map of the neighborhood, the monument highlights local sponsors of the Barrio’s efforts to create an enhanced streetscape down 10th Avenue.

“We know that 10th Avenue is one of the main corridors coming into the Barrio neighborhood,” says Kenedy, who worked with Caprock cluster schools including Sanborn and Glenwood elementaries. “Just like your home needs renovating sometimes, this neighborhood needs a makeover. We decided to focus on corridors because that’s how people come into and out of the neighborhood.” The proposed streetscape is part of a $3 million renovation potentially funded by grants and private donations. It includes a shaded plaza across from Fiesta Foods and 192 cedar elm trees lining 10th, plus benches, crosswalks and well-lit, ADA-accessible sidewalks. “We have eight or nine projects in motion right now, but 10th Avenue is number one,” says Kenedy. She points out that more than 30 small businesses are located along this thoroughfare in the Barrio. “We just want a place that’s functional, safe and secure, a place that’s beautiful where people want to get out more in the evening.”

A NEW MONUMENT NEAR FIESTA FOODS WILL BE THE FIRST FEATURE OF A STREETSCAPE RENOVATION PROJECT ALONG 10TH AVENUE.

TERESA KENEDY, BARRIO NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COMMITTEE

that the neighborhood has declined because it was ignored for so long. But now the wheels are in motion for some improvements,” Burton says. Murguia turns to the same metaphor. While her efforts on behalf of the neighborhood are coming to an end, she hopes the momentum continues. “The wheels are turning in the right direction,” she says. “We are trying to move forward generations upon generations of work. We are trying to catch up.” “Right now my big concern and goal in life is to improve the looks of the original heart of the Barrio,” says David Rosas. “It’s a diverse community that touches the whole city through its work.” Some may look at a map of Amarillo and assume the downtown district represents the beating heart of the city. Maybe that’s true. But just a few blocks east, down arteries like Arthur or 10th or under the shade of elm trees at El Alamo Park, a multigenerational neighborhood has been part of Amarillo’s story from the beginning—and will play a critical role in the city’s health and infrastructure moving forward. “I just want to wave a flag that says, ‘We’re here,’” says De Los Santos. “The people coming up out of the Barrio are accomplishing great things. All these businesses are being birthed out of this community. You can walk through the neighborhood and see the work ethic and the drive in every person here. I think that’s worth celebrating.”

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for their work. “I knew some of them lived in our neighborhood, and I knew they don’t always get the attention they deserve,” she says. “I wanted them to be aware that we appreciate all they’re doing.” She points out that the Barrio residents who work in Amarillo’s service and construction industries have learned to remain lowkey, to stay behind the scenes, or to “serve behind the curtains,” as Murguia describes it. That makes the collective voice of the Barrio quieter than that of other neighborhoods. “We have to be more intentional. We need to recognize these invisible workers, these lost workers” for who they are and how they’ve impacted the city, she says. And, of course, we can’t overlook the neighborhood that binds them together. Over the past decade, the city of Amarillo has recognized that historic, lower-income neighborhoods like the Barrio, the North Heights and San Jacinto had been neglected over the decades—the result of a complex set of economic, racial and political factors, including a lack of political representation (see sidebar)—but new initiatives like the Barrio Neighborhood Plan have been designed to address these challenges. Community leaders like Burton, Rosas, De Los Santos are making sure that progress continues. All serve on nonprofit boards, advisory groups and other partnerships focused on improving quality of life in this influential neighborhood. “The larger story is

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H AV E YO U H E A R D A B O U T T H E A M A R I L LO B A R R I O N E I G H B O R H O O D M A K E O V E R S TA RT I N G AT 1 0 T H F R O M G A R F I E L D TO R O S S S T R E E T ? I M A G I N E WA L K I N G U N D E R S H A D E T R E E S , S I T T I N G O N T H E C O LO R F U L PA R K B E N C H E S , WA L K I N G O N A D A - A C C E S S I B L E S I D E WA L K S W I T H YO U R FA M I LY. S E E T H E N E W M O N U M E N T A N D H I S TO R I C A L M A P W I T H N U M E R O U S S P O N S O R S AT T H E S O U T H E A S T C O R N E R O F 1 0 T H A N D S O U T H A RT H U R . T H E S E A R E J U S T S O M E O F T H E U P D AT E S C O M I N G A N D W E W O U L D L I K E YO U TO B E A PA RT O F I T. L E A R N M O R E AT A M A R I L LO B A R R I O N E I G H B O R H O O D . CO M .

7 0 YE A R S I N THE BARRIO Amarillo Wesley Community Center (AWCC) is celebrating 70 years in the Texas Panhandle. Established in 1951, the Center was founded on a calling to see lives changed and to serve the Barrio neighborhood. AWCC has stood the test of time, tackling issues on social justice, mental health, education, elderly needs, and more. PR O G R A MS AT AW C C I N CLU D E : > Low-cost childcare for children 6 weeks to Pre-K. > After School Program for children ages 5 to 12 > Summer Camp Program for children ages 5 to 12 > Texas USA Wrestling > ”Behind the Scenes” Modeling & Mentoring Program > Senior Citizens Center > Mental Health Counseling & Play Therapy Services AWCC is celebrating 70 years by launching its first documentary, which will feature the Center’s past, present and future. The documentary will be available to watch in place of its Una Gran Cena fundraising event on Thursday, Sept. 23. AWCC will also be expanding its ministry with a new location—Amarillo Wesley Community Center South Campus located at 4801 S. Austin.

For more information contact Executive Director Liz Rascón Alaniz at (806)372-7960 or Liz@wesleycc.com.

ACRES OF HISTORY

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PHOTOS BY ANGELINA MARIE, SHORT EARED DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

BY JASON BOYETT

am haunted by cemeteries. Let me rephrase that, since Halloween is approaching and I don’t want to mislead. I am consistently drawn to cemeteries. When I travel to new places, local cemeteries are always on my “things to do” list. I’ve enjoyed seeing the green, moss-covered gravestones on Bainbridge Island, Washington; the colorful above-ground tombs of Isla Mujeres, Mexico; the dragon trinkets and heartfelt notes left at J.R.R. Tolkien’s grave in Oxford, England. Here in Amarillo, my own grandparents are interred in Memorial Park Cemetery—amazingly (and unintentionally) just a few steps away from my wife’s grandparents. Still, out of the 50,000 graveyards across the state of Texas, Amarillo’s historic Llano Cemetery captures my imagination most. The reasons for this are as numerous as the grave markers spread across this nearly 200-acre property. It’s the oldest cemetery in Amarillo, chartered as a nonprofit in 1921 by the Texas Legislature, and with a history of burials dating back to 1888. It’s home to the remains of the city’s most storied residents, from historical figures like Cal Farley and Bones Hooks to, more recently, American astronaut

Rick Husband. The grave markers across these sprawling grounds are as diverse as the people who have inhabited this area. Llano’s memorials identify prosperous city leaders and cattlemen, prominent religious leaders, veterans of world wars and unnamed infants. It’s also a testament to the ways our city has changed for the better, with formerly segregated sections dedicated to the graves of Mexican-Americans, Jewish residents, Black residents and even the traveling Romani people (often known as “gypsies”). Some gravestones have Chinese calligraphy carved into them, or epitaphs in Vietnamese. There are Confederate soldiers buried there. A section called “Babyland” contains the remains of infants, many who lived only a day or two.

THE STORY OF AMARILLO

“It tells the story of Amarillo in so many ways,” Carol Lovelady tells me. The former director of Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Lovelady also spent years volunteering at Llano, producing its newsletter and even serving a stint as president of the cemetery’s board of directors. “It becomes a link between the past and the present. There are stories you can see by looking at [headstones] that

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IS LLANO HAUNTED?

This is our October issue, so we’ll go there: More than a few online message boards and social media posts tell spooky stories about Llano Cemetery. So we asked the question directly to Joe Alonzo, who has spent the past 50 years on every acre of the cemetery, at every time of day, in all kinds of weather. Is Llano haunted? He chuckles. “I’ve never seen anything,” he says. Others are less certain. “We’ve never been disappointed when we go there,” says Caroline Garcia Lister. She’s the founder and lead investigator of 806 Paranormal Investigations. “There’s always something we catch, voice-wise or on our phones.” She’s photographed what she believes to be a spectral face between the limbs of a tree and claims to have seen black mist coming out of a grave. A friend once recorded a disembodied voice in the Mausoleum. “No one else was in there, but she asked if anyone was there and a voice said, ‘Yes,’” says Garcia Lister. Another time, in Section 8 and 9 near one of the Romani graves, she heard a giggle. “That one was the creepiest. I always feel like I’m being watched in that place,” she says. A maintenance worker once told her he didn’t like being in that section alone, even in the daytime. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that place is haunted,” she adds. Tonya Trimble has had very similar experiences. The lead investigator for the nonprofit Palo Duro Paranormal, she says 80 percent of the places she investigates for supernatural activity show no evidence of it at all. And in her experience, most cemeteries aren’t haunted anyway. “It’s usually homes or hospitals, places where a death occured, especially if it’s tragic or unexpected,” Trimble explains. Though filled with death, cemeteries don’t tend to be places where death actually takes place. But she and a friend once were taking photos on the stairs in the Llano Mausoleum. Though alone in the building, they heard a woman’s voice, followed by footsteps in the basement. “We weren’t expecting anything like that. We looked everywhere, but literally there was no one there,” she says. “While we were on the bottom floor, we heard the heavy metal door upstairs slam.” They rushed back upstairs and out the door, but saw no one. Trimble also has a spooky story about the ethnic Romani graves. During the same photoshoot, her model posed near a husband-and-wife burial site when she felt her leg being caressed by an unseen hand. “[The model] jumped up and said, ‘I’m done,’” Trimble says. “I have no explanation for that.”

you might not know. Did they have children who passed away? Did a spouse precede them in death? Did they remarry? You can see how Amarillo families have married one another over the generations.” The dash between the year of birth and year of death contains so many stories, and a cemetery like Llano is where those stories come to a close. “If you’ve lived in Amarillo for 20 or 25 years, you probably know someone who’s buried at Llano Cemetery,” Lovelady says. I wanted to see if that was true. So I reached out to Joe Alonzo, the interim executive director at Llano Cemetery, for a tour of the grounds. If anyone knows the local impact and history of this place, it’s Alonzo. He meets me in the Llano administration building, which was built during the Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps using bricks from the original Potter County Courthouse. On the way to his office, Alonzo points out carved wooden beams and an interior mural by Margaret Seewald Roberts, a former student of Georgia O’Keeffe when the artist lived in the Panhandle. Alonzo wears a crisp white dress shirt and tie. That hasn’t always been his uniform. He started working for the cemetery in 1970 as a groundskeeper, making $2.10 an hour. As he tells it, he loved the pay but didn’t exactly enjoy his first day on the job. In addition to mowing the grass and trimming around headstones, the young Alonzo had to set up tent canopies for several burial services. “I was 17 and full of energy, but everyone was crying and sad,” he remembers. “I was just standing and watching. It was a lot of death. I thought, ‘This is not for me.’” But he stuck it out. Alonzo came back the next day. Then a week had passed. As the months and years stacked up, he earned promotions. He managed other groundskeepers, learned to operate heavy equipment, and worked in the on-site mechanical shop. Eventually, he was named grounds foreman. Then one day, when the rest of the staff was unavailable, Alonzo got called into the office to help a grieving family needing to select a gravesite. “They paged me and said, ‘You know the maps, right?’” he says. “I knew the cemetery as well as anybody.” He quickly made himself presentable and ended up meeting with a mother in her 40s with two young boys. The father had passed away, unexpectedly. “That was my first experience waiting on a family. I’ll never forget it,” he says. Alonzo helped them select a burial site that day. He still remembers where it was.

50 YEARS AND SECTION 66

After that, Alonzo began dividing his time between manual labor on the grounds and meeting with families in the front office. By 2000, he had become Llano’s general manager and knew every aspect of the cemetery’s operations, from trimming around grave markers to selling plots. “That first week turned out to be 50 years,” he says. Then last fall—when COVID infections skyrocketed in Amarillo— Llano’s executive director, Mark N. Blankenship, passed away from complications related to the disease. “I talked to [Mark] on a Friday, heard he was in the hospital on Sunday, and then got another call that he didn’t make it,” Alonzo says. Joe looks at his hands, weathered and tan against the white shirt cuffs. It’s clear the former groundskeeper and cemetery GM didn’t

LILLIAN MORROW’S GRAVE MARKER

A SIMPLE GRAVESTONE IN SECTION 66, WHERE SPANISH FLU VICTIMS ARE BURIED.

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expect to be in this position. “We barely had time to grieve the loss of our director because so many families were coming in. It’s something I’ve never been through, ever,” he says. Maybe Llano employees hadn’t dealt with a situation like that before, but the city and cemetery had. Alonzo says he spent most of last year thinking of the cemetery’s Section 66, located along 34th Avenue. It’s one of the oldest parts of Llano, back when the property was mostly a treeless grid. “There’s a section in the cemetery from the 1918-1919 flu epidemic, so we have some kind of understanding of what the people went through during that time,” he says. Those were the years when the Spanish flu pandemic—one of the deadliest in human history—hit the United States, centered in the Midwest. Llano holds many of Amarillo’s victims in a series of mass graves. The city dug trenches so residents could bury the dead as quickly as possible. “They didn’t even have markers. They didn’t have the time to do that,” Lovelady explains to me a few days later. A few simple markers do exist—some with only a last name and the year, 1918—serving as a stark reminder of the tragedy.

ONE OF THE HUSBAND-ANDWIFE ROMANI GRAVES.

20 ACRES AND 400 DOLLARS

As bleak as it may be, that kind of history is one thing I appreciate about cemeteries. Section 66 specifically links the past with the pandemic present, just like Lovelady described. Llano is more than just the oldest cemetery in Amarillo. In 1987, Llano became the first cemetery in Texas to be approved as an official Texas Historical Commission site. In 1992, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The actual origins of Llano Cemetery, however, are murky. The first known burial on these grounds took place in 1888, when the Morrow family was traveling west through early Amarillo only to be hit with tragedy: their daughter, Lillian, passed away. With permission, they buried her on a treeless 20-acre plot of land southeast of the upstart city. The land was owned by T.B. and Hattie Clisbee. A handsome, white marble headstone marks Marrow’s remains beneath the shade of a tree in the cemetery’s Section 36. It’s not the oldest part of the cemetery and likely not her original place of burial. The marker says she was born in 1864, which would have made Morrow 24 years old at the time of her death. Other local stories, however, insist she was a child when she died. It’s likely she wasn’t even the first burial. The Texas Historical Commission signage near the administration building admits “a number of burials had already taken place” by the time of Morrow’s death. Regardless of the circumstances, her burial was the first recorded by the city. Other burials followed, probably in proximity to her. Three years later, Potter County bought the

AN OLDER SECTION DEDICATED TO HISPANIC RESIDENTS.

THE GUY CARLANDERDESIGNED PUMP HOUSE.

Clisbee’s 20 acres for $400 and named it Amarillo Cemetery. Soon after, a group of local women formed a cemetery association to maintain the small graveyard. The city continued to flourish and the cemetery’s population grew. Needing to expand, the city had local Judge James Nathan Browning, a former Texas Lieutenant Governor, draw up a charter for the nonprofit Llano Cemetery Association. Browning completed the papers and mailed them to Austin on Nov. 10, 1921. That evening, the judge died in his sleep. The Texas Legislature approved the charter two days later, on Nov. 12, which happened to be the same day Judge Browning was buried in Section 3 of Llano Cemetery. That charter still matters. “We kept it a nonprofit association,” Alonzo says. That’s something he and the current staff remain proud of. It’s not just a living monument to Amarillo’s history. It’s also the city’s only nonprofit cemetery. Llano belongs exclusively to its property owners, supported by income from a dedicated trust fund.

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A CALLING AND A COMFORT

Despite the air-conditioning of his office, I ask Alonzo if he can show me some of the cemetery’s highlights. We walk outside into the sunlight, climb into his truck and cruise to a few of its bestknown locations: the “Christ praying” statue, the gypsy graves, the headstone of Lillian Morrow, and the Garden of the Four Chaplains memorial, which honors the World War II clergymen on the torpedoed Dorchester who gave up their flotation devices to save others. Alonzo drives, slowly, with the windows rolled down, completely at home on the sprawling campus and its twisting, narrow pathways. He points out one section after another. He tells me how gravediggers measure every grave down to the inch, how the entirely aboveground irrigation system works, how New Deal programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps gave work to unemployed locals and produced several buildings at Llano during the Depression, and how the former caretaker’s cottage and visually striking pump house were designed by notable Amarillo architect Guy Carlander, who is also buried at Llano. The interim director’s demeanor is quiet and confident. I ask him what he likes most about working here. “When you come inside the cemetery, you’re away from everything else,” he says. “My office is here. I don’t have an office on Soncy or Coulter surrounded by traffic. It’s here, surrounded by outside. You go outside and it’s like walking in a park, a huge park.” We end up at the Llano Pantheon Mausoleum in the center of the property. It was built and financed in the late 1920s, designed by Chicago architect Sidney Lowell and supervised by Amarillo architect Joseph Champ Berry. (Berry’s own projects include the Firestone Building at 1000 S. Tyler.) To raise funds for the marble structure, Llano made advance sales of rooms and crypts inside the mausoleum to the city’s pioneers, including Colonel C.T. Herring and M.D. Oliver-Eakle. Llano expanded the mausoleum in 1949 and added an underground portion in 1964. Alonzo unlocks the door and guides me through the mostly dark building, turning on lights to supplement the sunlight streaming through stained glass windows. Our footsteps echo off the marble floor and walls until we reach the wide, carpeted steps leading to the basement. “There’s no elevator,” Alonzo says. “When we have an entombment

down here, we carry the casket all the way down these steps. It’s all by hand. Thirty-four steps.” I count them as we descend. With very few spaces left in the mausoleum, those indoor properties that remain are priced in the high five figures. But there’s plenty of space remaining in the outdoor portion of the cemetery, which means there’s plenty of history still to be made at Llano. Joe Alonzo intends to be part of it. “I think it’s a calling,” he says of his job. “There are times I’ve wanted to leave and do something different, but something keeps drawing me back. You’re able to help so many families that have lost somebody. It’s a good feeling to be able to help them out during the most difficult time in their life.” After that period of difficulty, Llano remains part of these families’ lives. That’s one of the unique things about cemeteries all over the world. “It becomes a place of great comfort to [families],” explains Lovelady. “They go all the time. They tend the graves for their family. They just like to be there. It’s such a beautiful place.” A beautiful place, where a long walk through its history becomes a walk through the history of our city.

INSIDE THE LLANO PANTHEON MAUSOLEUM

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Rodgers and Hammerstein’s

(COMEDY) (COMEDY)

July 29-Aug. 8, 2021

July 29-Aug. 8, 2021 July 29-Aug. 8, 2021

11-21, 2021 Nov.Nov. 11-21, 2021 Nov. 11-21, 2021

Feb. 3-20, 2022 Feb. 3-20, 2022 Feb. 3-20, 2022

August 19-29, 2021

Sept. 16-Oct. 3, 2021

August 19-29, 2021 August 19-29, 2021

Sept. 16-Oct. 3, 2021 Sept. 16-Oct. 3, 2021

Dec. 2-12, 2021 Dec. 2-12, 2021

Jan. 20-30,2022 Jan. 20-30,2022

(COMEDY)

Dec. 2-12, 2021

Jan. 20-30,2022

April 7-16, 2022 April 7-16, 7-16, 2022 April 2022

May 5-22, 2022 May 5-22, 2022 May 5-22, 2022

2021- 22 S EA SON 2021S EA SON For ticket information, call our22 box office at 806.355.9991

2021-22 SEASON

or information, visit our website www.amarillolittletheatre.org For ticket call our box office at 806.355.9991 or visit our website www.amarillolittletheatre.org For ticket information, call our box office at 806.355.9991

(Plays and Dates are subject to availability) (Plays and Dates are subject to availability)

CLEAN-UP BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

N O R T H H E I G H TS L I N E N S E R V I C E B R I N G S I N D U S T R Y, J O B S A N D H O P E TO A H I S TO R I C N E I G H B O R H O O D

BY JASON BOYETT

inally, Amarillo’s dirty laundry will stay in Amarillo. As the summer wraps up, construction at the North Heights Linen Service has finished, industrial equipment has been installed, and the first employees of this new enterprise are cleaning hospital linens. It represents the culmination of 10 years of dreaming and planning. “It’s been decades since there’s been any significant new movement in the North Heights,” says Bowden Jones Jr., a board member of the North Heights Linen Service (NHLS), which oversees the new business in a partnership with the North Heights Advisory Association and the St. Anthony’s Legacy and Redevelopment Corp. (SALAR). Before its opening in recent weeks, local health care and nursing home facilities were sending their soiled linens off to places like Albuquerque or Oklahoma City. There simply wasn’t a place in Amarillo to handle that kind of volume. The

new business in the North Heights means those jobs and dollars can stay in Amarillo. Specifically, it brings muchneeded development to the historic neighborhood. The new venture is modeled after the Evergreen Laundry in Cleveland, Ohio, a worker-owned cooperative that provides jobs for individuals who have, for whatever reason, struggled to find well-paying, sustainable careers. “Employees will have an opportunity to have ownership,” says Jones. Individual wealth, he says, often begins with ownership. “By creating this laundry as a co-op, it gives employees who have not had the skills or opportunities to have a living-wage job and something they can have ownership over.” As these workers become fully vested at the laundry—making them partial owners of the whole enterprise—the additional income will benefit their families and the entire neighborhood. A partnership with Amarillo College adds an educational component to the work. The new building includes a classroom space equipped with computers and instructional technology. This allows employees to learn financial literacy,

Located at 607 N. Hughes on West Amarillo Boulevard, North Heights Linen Service sits on a lot that once housed the prestigious Inn of Amarillo. Formerly known as the Vic-Mon Hotel and then the Holiday Inn West, this once-luxe destination welcomed travelers along Route 66 in the 1950s and 1960s. Then it fell into decline. NHLS Board Member Bowden Jones grew up in the neighborhood but couldn’t remember the last time it had been in operation. To him, the derelict Inn exemplified the lack of attention given to the North Heights over the years. “It had been kind of forgotten,” he says. A prominent new business in its place feels symbolic of progress.

PHOTOS BY VENICE MINCEY

earn a GED, and become familiar with the ins and outs of business. “As this co-op is implemented, the employees will have opportunities to have input on decisions made at the laundry,” says Jones. “They’ll need basic knowledge to read a profit-andloss statement and understand those decisions. This gives them the best opportunity to be successful.” Currently, the new laundry service operates with a couple dozen employees under the supervision of General Manager Richard Engler and Assistant GM Reuben Morales, both of whom have extensive experience in commercial and health care laundry operations. Eventually the laundry will employ up to 100 workers, allowing it to service 6 million pounds of linens per year. Should the need arise, the building was built with space to expand. Engler and Morales both moved to Amarillo over the summer. The duo had been working in similar capacities in the Metroplex area. While Engler relishes the opportunity to start a laundry service from the ground up, he says the unique ownership model and humanitarian focus at NHLS are the icing on the cake. “I had heard about this and, the more I looked, the more enamored I

became with the ideas behind this project and the leadership’s vision,” Engler says. “The deeper I got, the more gratitude I feel to be a part of it. It’s such a gift. This is an unexpected pleasure.” Creating sustainable, life-enriching careers is one of the laundry’s goals. “A huge detractor for people is having to work long hours,” Engler says. For instance, a typical 8-to-5 workday is not always convenient for single parents who need to pick up kids from school. While many similar facilities run 24 hours a day, the board’s desire to create “liveable jobs” means limited hours. On most weekdays, the machines run from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., in staggered shifts for the convenience of employees who need to keep early mornings or late afternoons open. A few days before the business officially opened—on the cusp of receiving the first laundry deliveries from customers—the management team gave Brick & Elm an exclusive tour of the new facility. The impressively automated washing tunnel, dryer and folding machines are now humming, and being managed by a workforce of employees on a smooth pathway to business ownership and success.

North Heights Laundry Service General Manager Richard Engler (left) has worked in the hospital linens industry for decades, most recently as the textile processing manager for JPS Health Network in Fort Worth. “I’ve been running health care laundries for 25 or 30 years,” he says. Reuben Morales has been in the business for five years. Arriving this summer, both expressed how impressed they were not just with the North Heights Laundry Service mission and focus, but also with the city of Amarillo itself. “It has continued to exceed my expectations,” Engler says.

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OPERATION 57

Once sorted, dirty linens ride a conveyor into a segmented wash tunnel. More than 50 feet long, these fully automated batch washers serve as an assembly line, with linens passing from compartment into compartment as they are cleaned. Each of the 10 chambers douses the linens in clean water and a fresh dose of sterilization agents. Computer displays reveal what type of linen is running through each chamber, along with the weight of the products and even the customer.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Newly cleaned laundry passes out of the final washing chamber and into an enormous press, which squeezes the batch of linens into what Morales calls a “cake.” Think of it as a 100-pound pile of sterilized hospital gowns, compressed into the shape of a giant hockey puck. “That gets all the excess moisture out and then it goes into our dryer system,” he says.

“

BY C R E AT I N G T H I S L A U N D R Y A S A C O - O P, I T G I V E S E M P LOY E E S W H O H AV E N OT H A D T H E S K I L L S O R O P P O R T U N I T I E S TO H AV E A L I V I N G -WA G E J O B A N D S O M E T H I N G T H E Y C A N H AV E O W N E R S H I P O V E R .

”

— BOWDEN JONES JR.

The linens are then tumble-dried with heated air before dropping into carts at the end. Two pocket loads from the washer can be dried at a time. Like everything else at the laundry, this process is fully automated and can be customized based on the category of linens.

By far the most visually impressive process in the laundry, these folding machines take loose pieces of clean linen—from a hand towel to a bedsheet—and run them through a system of components before dropping a perfectly folded product onto a conveyor belt. These crisp, clean linens then travel down the conveyor until they are packed back up for the client. Programmed to handle specific items, the machines can iron, fold and stack each linen in a number of seconds. “You’ve got to love automation,” Reuben Morales says. “The machines take the majority of the hard labor out of it. That’s the great thing about the laundry and linen industry: There’s so much automation to it.”

BY JASON BOYETT | PHOTOS COURTESY OF WTAMU AG COMMUNICATIONS STUDENTS

everal years ago, Toni Ruiz took her young grandson, Tyzavien Cleveland, to a local rodeo. Tyzavien had always been into cowboys and Western movies, and the spectacle of that event—with its roping, riding and athleticism—captured his attention.

“That’s all he could talk about” when the rodeo was over, Ruiz says of the days following the event. “He talked about how he wanted to be a cowboy and how he wanted to do [rodeo].” But Tyzavien has cerebral palsy. Now 11 years old, Tyzavien’s motor disabilities require him to use a walker to get around. Ruiz wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to see him overcome that hurdle in his path toward his rodeo dreams. Enter the Exceptional Rodeo. The Amarillo Tri-State Exposition introduced the event in 2018 as a supplement to the annual Tri-State Fair & Rodeo. Scheduled a few days prior to the Fair and located within the Bill Cody Arena, the Exceptional Rodeo is designed to give children with special needs and/or disabilities the opportunity to participate in rodeo opportunities. It’s co-hosted by the Turn Center, a local nonprofit that provides therapy services to children with special needs across the Texas Panhandle. Though the 2020 Exceptional Rodeo was cancelled, it’s back this year, taking place Sept. 9 at 6 p.m., and open to the public.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Exceptionally Fun

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entry and national anthem,” she says, followed by an official introduction of each participant. Some participants, like Tyzavien, get around with walkers. Others may be on the autism spectrum or have Down syndrome. A few may be in wheelchairs. But at the start of the Exceptional Rodeo, all of them are escorted out onto the packed dirt of the Bill Cody Arena, accompanied by youth volunteers from the 4H or FFA (Future Farmers of America), West Texas A&M Ag students, and members of the Junior Board of the Amarillo Tri-State Exposition. Once the introductions and pageantry are complete, the participants and their helpers disperse among seven different rodeo stations. One of those stations is roping. “They learn how to throw a rope if they’re capable,” Ragland says. “If not, they can walk up and put it around the [practice] steer’s head, pull back on the rope and get a feel of what that’s like.” Other events, like goat petting, aren’t typical rodeo events but offer students a safe, hands-on experience with animals.

Smiles, Laughs and Rodeo “What the Cowboys Do”

Tyzavien participated in 2019’s Exceptional Rodeo and was able to try out events like roping, horseback riding, stick horse barrel racing, simulated bucking bronc riding and more. “He got to go out there and ride a horse,” Ruiz remembers. “He had so much fun out there ‘getting to do what the cowboys do,’ as he described it.” According to Angela Ragland, sponsorship and marketing director at the Tri-State Expo, the Exceptional Rodeo treats its 30 or so contestants just like competitors at any other rodeo. “There’s a grand

Carolina Walden, director of development at the Turn Center, says the inclusive program gives participants a chance to do something truly unique—especially for kids who haven’t necessarily grown up in an agricultural setting. But there are other benefits, as well. Being horseback, she says, can be therapeutic and calming for children with sensory needs. The various activities also help them engage their core strength and balance. Then there’s the confidence they gain from doing new things. “This particular event is really geared toward the social aspect,” Walden says. “Children get the opportunity to engage with their [volunteer] partner and participate in the activity. For children on the autism spectrum, to be able to participate with a volunteer and have their parents

instilling newfound confidence. “Disabled children don’t always think they can do what other kids can do,” explains Ruiz, Tyzavien’s grandmother. “But here they are able to do those things and feel normal.” Tyzavien wants to be a cowboy and has been looking forward to the Exceptional Rodeo now for two long years. He’s excited about it. And for a kid like him—in fact, for any kid—that kind of childhood anticipation is exceptionally normal.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

in the stands—that’s huge. The child has a sense of independence and accomplishment and the parents get to spectate and cheer their child on. That’s a really, really cool thing to see.” Barrett Bradshaw is a senior at Canyon High School and has served on the Fair’s Junior Board for four years. He volunteered for the 2019 Exceptional Rodeo, accompanying a 7-year-old, non-verbal participant. “Even though he couldn’t talk, we had a lot of fun and our own ways of communication. He had a total blast,” says Bradshaw. “His dad and siblings were there, and the dad came up [after the event] and said, ‘Thank you so much for including my kid. He doesn’t get a lot of experiences like this.’ That was really cool.” Walden says positive, patient youth volunteers like Bradshaw are critical to the experience. “They’re just incredible to step up and say, ‘Yes, I’ll do what it takes,’” she says. “We don’t always know how each child will react. There’s a lot of sensory input going on. It’s a lot to process. It keeps everyone on our toes.” But the end result is beneficial for everyone involved, from the families who get to see their children doing something new to the teenagers who assist them. “The volunteers’ eyes are opened to a whole other world. They walk away from it feeling so good about being able to give children opportunities to rodeo. The smiles and laughs are so heart-warming,” Walden explains. It warms the hearts of the Tri-State Expo team as well. “It’s a great opportunity to involve more of the community and show them what rodeo and the Western lifestyle are about,” Ragland adds. But most importantly, it benefits the rodeo participants, introducing them to unforgettable new experiences, fostering new friendships, and

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

PHOTO BY ANGELINA MARIE, SHORT EARED DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

RANGE WRITER

How Taylor Moore brought international intrigue to the Texas Panhandle

BY JONATHAN BAKER

here’s a new Panhandle author who appears to have taken the publishing world by storm. If you’ve been into a local bookstore this month, odds are you’ve come across Taylor Moore’s thriller, Down Range, the first in a series featuring DEA agent and Panhandle resident Garrett Kohl. Taylor grew up on a farm and ranch northwest of Houston but now lives in the Texas Panhandle with his wife and two children, where he’s a full-time author, screenwriter and speaker. He spoke with B&E’s Jonathan Baker about his sudden fame—and about the importance of local writing groups in the Panhandle. Jonathan Baker: First, let’s start with the thing that everybody’s going to want to know about, which is your background in the CIA.

Taylor Moore: I had a little bit more experience than your

average person who works there because I worked in both analysis and in operations. I was hired right out of graduate school, brought in to be just an analyst. I did that for a couple of years and liked it, went through all the training programs, and then I had this neat opportunity to work in the CIA’s operation center, which is on the seventh floor [of the George Bush Center for Intelligence], up there

with the director, helping to support the president’s briefer. It’s a 24/7, 365 day a year [ job]. You’re at the pulse of everything. It might be in the middle of the night, weekend, and something happened, and you’re the one that’s there. [After that], I ended up moving over to operations. They were looking for people to be what they call targeters—if you think of the Jessica Chastain character in Zero Dark Thirty, who’s on the hunt for Bin Laden, that’s an operational person. In some ways, you’re an analyst, putting those puzzle pieces together, but you’re [also] out in the field, meeting with assets, meeting with detainees. It gave me a really good insight as a writer because I saw both sides of the house. [I got to] brief executive-level leadership— but I also got to sneak around and meet assets. You’re a sixth generation Texan, but you’re not from the Panhandle. How does a CIA agent end up in the Texas Panhandle? My wife was originally from Hereford, and once we started having kids, we made this family decision that we’re going to get closer to her family. Obviously, there’s not a whole lot of jobs involving intelligence up here, other than Pantex, but I’d grown up in Central Texas on a farm and ranch, and we had oil and gas, and so I knew that world pretty well. I’d been on the other end of a table with a land man.

The first time we met was at the Long Wooden Spoon Brewery, at a monthly writers’ group they used to host over there. The brewery is gone now; sad to see it go. Yeah. But there were so many good writers at that group, so many connections made there. I feel like your career maybe was launched from the community that was built around that group. I would say absolutely it was, and it was all pure happenstance. I was at Palace one day having coffee, and I met a guy named J.J. Scott. He was sitting at a table across from me, and I just happened to comment on the book [he was reading]. He invited me to that writer’s group at the Long Wooden Spoon. J.J. ended up moving to Lubbock, but I stayed as part of that group. Through that group, I met a guy named Bruce Edwards. And Bruce read such crazy stuff, I was like, “I’ve got to meet this guy.” So I went and introduced myself, and we became friends. And lo and behold, he introduced me to Jodi Thomas and Linda Broday, who really have taken me under their wing and mentored me and helped me along the way. I mean, I owe them everything for where I am now, but it was that writer’s group at Long Wooden Spoon that really connected me. I think we should talk a little about the importance of groups like that, and how hard they are to keep going in the Texas Panhandle. There has been a major national—and probably international—push by your publisher, William Morrow, for your long-term success. Your books will bring a lot of attention to this area. And all of that success will stem from you going to a local writing group in Amarillo. I think it’s important to note that, the more we can keep that sort of thing going, the more the region benefits. I say this all the time, when people ask what you need to do as a writer to get published: “Writing, despite what you may hear, is a team sport.” There are so few books set in the Texas Panhandle, I think we all get really excited when we see our home depicted in any kind of art. What do you think is special about the Texas Panhandle? Are the future books going to be set in the Panhandle? Every book throughout this series will be set in the Texas Panhandle. The High Plains wasn’t always a magical place for me because I wasn’t from here. To me, it was a place you pass through on I-40, on your church ski trip as a kid. But once I moved here, I found out how magical it was. To me, it was stepping back in time, back into the Wild West. As a person with an imagination, there was just no place better to be because the Texas High Plains was, to me, a time machine. I could go back and imagine what it was like 150, 200 years ago, and think about the settlers that came here, the indigenous people that were here before us. It was as frightening as

it was beautiful, because of the remoteness and how far you can see. It’s a wonderful place to set a novel. I totally agree. I’m surprised there aren’t more novels set in the Texas Panhandle. And we’re all grateful to you for doing something about that. How long did it take you to write Down Range? The process was a strange one because I started out with a completely different novel. Garrett Kohl, the main character, was a secondary character in the novel that I got my agent with. I was writing more of a traditional, Brad Thor, Vince Flynn kind of spy novel, and Garrett stole the show. My agent said, “That’s your protagonist right there.” Then he said, “What about bringing this guy back to the Texas High Plains?” At first I was resistant. The idea of starting from scratch wasn’t very appealing. But it was the right call. I think it was about four years from that to get to this point of publishing [the novel]. There were multiple, multiple rewrites, multiple books that ultimately became Down Range. It’s a long process, that’s for sure. It’s an exercise in patience and bullheadedness. How’s the next book coming? Book two is with the editor! I haven’t heard back from him yet. I just submitted it in July, but my agent’s read it and he really enjoyed it. I feel really good about it. I’m getting ready to start on book three. How many books do you think will be in this series? I’ll write them as long as they can go. Do you have ideas for other series or side projects you’re going to do? Somebody said the other day, “You should go back and do the backstory to Garrett Kohl, because he has an interesting backstory where he was a Green Beret. He was over in Afghanistan. He was one of these horse soldiers that was riding over the Hindu Kush, and of course, he has an interest in ranching and horse background. It’s a consideration for sure. And this book starts in Afghanistan. So— That’s exactly right. Yeah. I loved how much Texas there is in this book. There’s just so much stuff that people in Texas love, but people outside of Texas may not recognize. You’re dog whistling to Texans. Absolutely! It’s just things that I’m passionate about. If I love Robert Earl Keen, and Still Austin Whiskey, and Shiner Bock beer, and Lone Star, other people have to too. I’m proud of the state, I’m proud of what we have. I think others will be proud of it, too. Well, we’re proud of you, man. Thanks for bringing us into the rare spotlight. It’s my pleasure to do it. I’m proud of West Texas. Hopefully it’ll be a hit, and everybody will know about us.

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And I thought, “Well, I can do that job. I know it from the landowner side, the mineral-owner side. So let me see if I can do this on the oilcompany side.” So that’s what I did.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AMARILLO PUBLIC LIBRARY

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Watch This Space BY JASON BOYETT

Visit the second floor of that location today, however, and you may hear a symphony of new sounds. The rhythmic patter of a sewing machine. The clatter of metal tools and snips of scissors. Maybe even the soft tapping of leatherwork. Over the past year, the Amarillo Public Library has added a new, dedicated MakerSpace to its array of services, offering free tools and equipment across a dizzying list of hobbies and art projects, including sewing, quilting, embroidery, scrapbooking, metal fabrication,leatherwork, stained glass, and more. The MakerSpace—a library addition totalling around $100,000—came about thanks to grants from the Amarillo Area Foundation, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the local Friends of the Amarillo Public Library, along with capital improvement funds from the City of Amarillo. After months of construction and equipment gathering, the project opened to the public this summer. Though new to Amarillo’s library system, these collaborative craft labs represent a growing trend among libraries. “We’re certainly not the first library to make a maker space,” says Stacy Clopton, the public relations coordinator for the Amarillo Public Library. “But the truth is that libraries have always been about helping people learn new things. This is just a new and innovative way of doing what libraries have always done.” The idea had been brewing for years and the library system had made plans to launch it in 2020 until COVID delayed the project. But once the timing was right and the funds in place, Amarillo’s facilities department started construction and library staff began soliciting for donations of equipment and supplies. The new lab offers a myriad of options for anyone with a current library card. On a recent weekday afternoon, the MakerSpace hosted a grandmother who used a serger to finish edges on a sewing project. Another patron made repairs to the leather straps of a dog muzzle. One of the librarians and MakerSpace staff helped a library member hem a pair of jeans and told of a teenager who spent the previous evening there learning to sew a patch onto a leather jacket. “We have people coming in to construct quilts that are these big, amazing creations, and we have people coming in to make simple repairs,” Clopton says. “One gentleman needed to fix the strap on his backpack.

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n past visits to Amarillo’s downtown public library, you may have expected to hear only the typically soft, familiar whispers of the library: pages being turned, books being filed, hushed conversations between librarians and patrons.

SARAH PINGRY SEWS CROCHETED PIECES TOGETHER WHILE CYNDI HOFFMAN PREPARES QUILT SQUARES.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

JENNIFER CROUCH FINISHES A QUILT ON THE LONG-ARM QUILTING MACHINE.

A family came in to repair a beanbag chair. There’s a lot of variety to the way people are using the space.” All the equipment and tools are available for free for patrons with an up-to-date library card. (Cardholders younger than 16 need parental accompaniment.) While small materials like thread or grommets are available for free, each tool must be checked out individually—staff members inside the MakerSpace will scan a user’s library card and a code on the equipment—and can be used within the lab any time the downtown library is open. Best of all, experience isn’t required. The five employees on the library’s MakerSpace team have each learned to use the available equipment and can walk any patron through the process. One of them is Cindy Wallace, an avid quilter, artist and photographer. She’s checked out equipment to experienced fashion designers working on projects. She’s also instructed patrons who have never used a sewing machine before. “This gives makers a comfortable place to learn and work and make things, but without having to make a substantial investment” in equipment or supplies, Wallace says. That’s very much “a library thing,” as Clopton describes it. Libraries allow researchers to access information without having to make the huge financial investment of acquiring books or accessing files. The MakerSpace plays a similar role. It allows crafters to use expensive sewing or jewelry-making equipment without having to invest hundreds of dollars in a sewing machine—or a longarm quilting machine that could cost thousands. “Our mission at the Amarillo Public Library has always been to help people expand their education and improve their quality of life and we have always done things that help people learn, beyond just the books on the shelf,” says Clopton. “What

the MakerSpace does is give us the tools so people can try something new.” It also allows the staff to learn new things. “We are getting paid to do something we love,” says Wallace, who has worked the library’s reference desk for a decade and was thrilled to join the MakerSpace team. “We get excited every time a new piece of equipment comes in.” That excitement will continue into the future, because today’s iteration of the space is only the first stage in a larger dream. It’s not finished. A section for painting and airbrushing is still expanding and supplies are being gathered. Donations of yarn, thread, fabric, leather and other materials are still coming in (and desperately needed). And as the public continues to utilize the existing MakerSpace, the library hopes funding will eventually allow it to grow further, expanding into activities like 3D printing, large-scale woodworking or a “memory lab” offering digital conversion of slides, photos and home movies. “We are so excited to see people come in and do things. We are excited to have it opened and the public using it, and are so grateful to the members of the public who have made contributions,” Clopton says. For her part, Wallace loves showing patrons around the new MakerSpace, enjoys introducing them to new skills, and uses the equipment herself on a regular basis. “This is the public’s space. We want them to be here,” she says. From library patrons learning new skills for free to experienced crafters taking advantage of otherwise inaccessible equipment, the MakerSpace is already transforming how locals use the library. Next time you visit, don’t be surprised if the familiar library whispers are accompanied by a few extra taps, whirs and clatters. Those are the sounds of creativity, and the second floor of the Amarillo Public Library is definitely humming.

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e l e va t e y o u r p l a t e WITH RUTHIE LANDELIUS

et’s be honest. We’ve all found forgotten carrots at the back of our refrigerator’s crisper drawer. You know … the drawer where good intentions go to die. “I’ll make a gorgeous carrot soufﬂé on Sunday,” or “These will go great in a sheet pan recipe I found on Pinterest!” Then, weeks later, you find them so shriveled and bendable you could tie them into knots. If those carrots could speak, they’d say, “If you carrot all, you’ll remember me next time. And you’ll use me from root-to-stem.” I hear you, carrots … I hear you loud and clear.

A ROOT-TO-STEM APPROACH: SALAD MADE FROM CAULIFLOWER STALKS, ITS LEAVES AND GOLDEN BEET

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

According to the most recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, 42.8 million tons of food waste ended up in landfills in 2018. We can reduce that number at a collective scale by making a few mindful changes at home. • Don’t ask yourself what you’d like for dinner. Ask what you have for dinner: Using what you already have not only saves the food, it also saves you money at the grocery store. Take inventory of your food stores and create a weekly menu around those items. • Give your leftovers some love: When restaurants give you a “Texas-sized” portion, take half home to eat later. • Compost your scraps: Tomato or cucumber seeds, apple cores, carrot peels—if you compost, all of it can go back into the soil for a flourishing vegetable garden. • Make sure your veggies are visible: Don’t forget about those carrots that get pushed to the back of your crisper. Keep your fresh produce where you can see it and remember to use it. • Make a plan for larger food club purchases: Buying in bulk is a great way to save money, but sometimes it leads to food waste. Try freezing half the container of grapes for smoothies. Consider making three different recipes using that enormous bag of broccoli florets. • And my favorite way to reduce food waste is through conscious eating: root-to-stem or head-to-tail cooking. To cook and eat consciously is to use the entire plant or animal. If you’ve ever broken down a large head of cauliflower or broccoli, chances are you’ve thrown away the stalks and leaves, am I right? Many times before, I’ve tossed it in the trash without a second thought. But after learning more about conscious eating, I’ve found ways to honor the entire vegetable or animal. Food waste not, want not! • Skip peeling your veggies: Peels are edible and packed with fiber. Go ahead and eat the skin on your baked potato. Or toss the peels into a pot for a delicious stock. • Animal protein parts, skin, and bones: Two words … bone broth! • Cauliflower and broccoli stalks: Chop into small cubes and toss in soups, salads or stir-fries. They also make an excellent snack for dipping in hummus.

• Watermelon rinds: ‘Tis the season for yummy watermelon! But did you know you can eat its rind too? Toss a little watermelon flesh, rind, lime juice and mint into a high-speed blender for a tasty agua fresca. Or for an after 5 p.m. treat, give it a splash of vodka ( just sayin’). • Leaves and greens: » Beet greens, Swiss chard, and kale stems can taste bitter. To sweeten, lightly sauté in a bit of oil and add to stir-fries or a wilted salad. » Massage kale with avocado and season with salt and pepper for a gorgeous side salad. Or toss the leaves with olive oil and bake for kale chips. » Throw celery leaves into homemade salsa or soups. Fall is just around the corner! » Use carrot tops for a batch of pesto. Add into a processor with arugula, basil, or spinach, a few garlic cloves, and olive oil. Pasta tossed with fresh pesto is the best thing ever! » If you’re a marinara fan, chop Italian parsley and its stems and add to bubbling tomato goodness for spaghetti night. • Bread from juice: If you like to juice, use the pulp from beets, carrots and apples to make pulp bread. • Donate canned goods to your local food bank. • Additional tips: If you don’t have a garden for composting, toss cucumber seeds into a morning smoothie. And the next time you eat an apple, eat the core. It’s all edible except the seeds and stem. So, give root-to-stem cooking a try. You just might find a new favorite dish amidst your creations. And as for the five cans of pumpkin purée in the back of your pantry from last year’s Thanksgiving, show it some love. You’ve got this!

R U T H I E L AN D E L I U S Ruthie owns Black Fig Food catering and is proprietor of the online cooking platform Elevated Plant Plate. Learn more at elevatedplantplate.com and blackfigfood.com.

The Vegetable Course

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

he ongoing Savor the Goods event series at Panhandle PBS has given a platform to some of the area’s best chefs and food producers, creating dinner events in which these men and women create stunning, multi-course meals for guests. When 2020 forced the series to pause, Panhandle PBS modified these events into “Savor the Goods at Home,” a video series featuring our own columnist Ruthie Landelius of Black Fig Food. (Watch her short, instructional videos at panhandlepbs.org/savorthegoodsathome.) Unfortunately, this month’s planned return of the dinner series had to be canceled due to increasing local COVID numbers. But when it does resume—at a yet-to-bedetermined date—it will feature Landelius for a gorgeous and delicious plant-based meal. Ruthie was kind enough to preview her dishes for us. Recognizing these may be a little too complex for most home chefs, she provided detailed recipes for a few of the individual components of these dishes. “It’s a mainly raw, plant-forward menu,” she says of the dinner she designed. “I want to show that there’s a lot more to salad than lettuce. You can prepare vegetables in a much more interesting way.” When Savor the Goods does resume, Landelius will present a roasted roots-and-shoots salad with tempeh bacon, a vegan cheese course, raw lasagna as the main course, and blackberry cheesecake for dessert. Every part of these dishes is plant-based, including cheeses made from cashews. But Landelius is interested in more than just the components of her dishes. “Cooking, for me, is a form of meditation,” she says. “You can use it as a type of self-care. Presentation can be a therapeutic exercise.” For these kinds of upscale events, she pays close attention not only to the flavors of each dish, but also its overall appearance along with the creative construction of every plate—as these photos make clear. “I like the ‘wow’ factor,” says Landelius. “It’s all about the colors and textures. This is my art. Food is my medium.” Watch PanhandlePBS.org/savorthegoods for announcements about the next event. Learn more about Ruthie Landelius at elevatedplantplate.com and blackfigfood.com.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

kitch

PHOTOS AND STYLING BY ANGELINA MARIE, SHORT EARED DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Raw Lasagna

Adapted from and inspired by Matthew Kenney.

2 cups sun-dried tomatoes, soaked overnight 1 ¼ cups fresh tomato, roughly chopped ½ cup fresh basil 1 shallot, roughly chopped 1 large red bell pepper, roughly chopped 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup 1 teaspoon kosher salt ¼ cup olive oil After soaking sun-dried tomatoes, squeeze out any excess water into a bowl and reserve. In a blender, add all ingredients except olive oil. Blend until smooth; use a tamper to create a vortex to keep blade from grinding the product. If you find your product too stiff to handle, add reserved tomato water a little at a time to loosen. You want a thick consistency, not a watery one. Next, drizzle in olive oil to emulsify. Once smooth, reserve in refrigerator. If your marinara is too watery, let it sit overnight in a nut milk bag or cheesecloth over a fine mesh strainer or bowl, and allow any extra moisture to drain. Store leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 5 days. Makes 1 ½ cups

Pistachio Pesto 2 cups fresh basil 2 cups fresh arugula 2 cups fresh spinach 1 ½ cups pistachios ½ lemon, zested 1 lemon, juiced ½ teaspoon salt ¾ cup olive oil Add the basil, arugula, spinach, pistachio, lemon and zest, and salt to a food processor and pulse until broken down. Next, with the food processor on, drizzle in olive oil through the chute until fully incorporated. Transfer pesto to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to assemble. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Makes 1 ½ cups

Macadamia Ricotta 2 cups macadamia nuts, previously soaked ⅓ cup water ½ teaspoon kosher salt 2 ½ tablespoons nutritional yeast ¼ cup lemon juice 1 tablespoon olive oil

In a food processor, blend the macadamia, water, and salt until smooth. Add the nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and olive oil. Pulse to combine. Transfer ricotta to a container and refrigerate until ready to assemble. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Makes 1 ½ cups

Herb Oil 1 cup fresh parsley 1 cup fresh basil ½ cup fresh spinach 1 ½ cups olive oil Blend herbs in a high-speed blender with olive oil until smooth for about 5 minutes. Then, pass through a fine-mesh strainer lined with a cheesecloth and reserve the oil. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Makes 1 ½ cups 4 zucchini, medium size (approximately 6 inches) 1 heirloom tomato, medium size Kosher salt Pepper To assemble, trim the top and bottom from the zucchini. Working longways, shave nine pieces from the zucchini about 2 mm thick on a mandoline, being careful not to cut your fingers. Then, trim the zucchini so they are all the same size. Shingle the zucchini and divide it into groups of three. These will serve as your lasagna “noodles.” Cut two thick slices from the part of your tomato that most closely resembles the size of your shingled zucchini layers. Place the base layer of zucchini shingles directly onto a plate. Spoon a large dollop of ricotta onto the zucchini. Place two half-moon slices of tomato on top. Spoon a large dollop of marinara on top of the tomato, then follow with a dollop of pesto. Place the next set of zucchini shingles over the first layer facing the opposite direction and repeat the directions to stack one more layer. Place the last set of zucchini shingles over the sauces. Garnish the zucchini with a bit of each sauce, salt pepper, and a sprig of basil. Drizzle the herb oil directly onto the plate around the lasagna and serve. Makes 8 servings

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Sun-Dried Tomato Marinara

Blackberry Cheesecake

Crust

Filling

1 cup golden Oreos (cookie only), processed 1 cup pecans, processed ⅓ cup plant-based butter 3 tablespoons coconut sugar ½ teaspoon spirulina powder

1 ⅓ cup blackberries 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice 1 ¼ cups raw cashews, soaked overnight ¼ cup agave nectar ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine processed Oreos, pecans, melted butter, sugar and spirulina powder in medium mixing bowl. Transfer crust mixture to 9-inch springform pan.Using your knuckles, press mixture into bottom and up sides of pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until crust is crispy and golden. Remove springform pan from oven; let cool.

Puree cashews, blackberries, lemon juice and agave in blender on high until smooth. Stream in coconut oil to emulsify. Pour over prepared crust and freeze for at least 6 hours, until set. Remove cheesecake from freezer; remove from springform pan. Place cheesecake in refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving. Garnish with frozen blackberries and spirulina powder.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Makes 8 to 12 servings

There‘s more! Learn how to make Ruthie‘s delicious seed crackers and tarragon dressing at brickandelm.com

O C T. 2

S A M H O U S T O N PA R K , A M A R I L L O

FOOD | GAMES | EVENTS PRIZES FOR ALL

R E G I S T E R AT P D SG.O RG

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

RIN AND SCOTT BUCHANAN

PROVIDED PHOTO

kitch

KALEB WEST AND TREVER MARTIN

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

PHOTOS BY SHANNON RICHARDSON

Oktoberfest: Ein Prosit

e think of beer like a social function,” says Kaleb West, who co-owns Pondaseta Brewing Co. with Trever Martin. “After having a couple of beers with friends and family, the next step is food, so we’re constantly thinking of what we would pair any new beer with.” West pauses, waiting a beat. “Also, we like to eat.”

That’s why we asked West to join forces with chef Scott Buchanan of Yellow City Street Food to suggest some Oktoberfest-inspired food pairings. Though unrelated, both businesses serve as inspirations for the other. They’ve even collaborated in the past on beer dinners. “Before we opened, we were looking at the market in Amarillo and saw several businesses with creative, successful menus and an emphasis on craft beer,” West says. One of those was YCSF, and after Pondaseta opened in late 2018, YCSF began serving a few of its craft beers. Pondaseta now has its own on-site food trailer, which serves a pub-style menu including hamburgers and tacos. But West still has a soft spot for local restaurants like Buchanan’s YCSF. “We love his creativity and how often he’ll do a fusion of flavors.” That fusion is on full display with these Pondaseta beer pairings, as Buchanan created dishes that riff on traditional German Oktoberfest food.

German-Style Potato Salad with The Fast & The Hazy

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Scott’s version of this popular dish contains sweet potatoes and pickled apricot mostarda—a heavily textured sauce—along with bacon, red onions and a topping of tobiko, the Japanese term for flying fish roe. Bursting with crunch and texture, the sweet/salty/spicy flavor pairs exquisitely with Pondaseta’s New England-style IPA, which is available year-round. “It’s our most popular beer across the board,” West says. “It’s very approachable. Even people who expect to dislike it based on the IPA category find themselves getting excited about it.” The soft approach and mild bitterness of The Fast & The Hazy make it a good match to almost any dish, and its hints of mango and papaya pair well with the complexity of Buchanan’s potato salad.

GermanStyle Sweet Potato Salad

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced ¼ cup sour cream 2 strips bacon, cooked and diced ½ red onion, diced

Pickled apricot

1 apricot, pitted and halved 3 cups rice wine vinegar ½ cup sugar

Mostardo

1 pickled apricot (see pickling recipe) 1 tablespoon mustard seeds ¼ cup mustard sauce ¼ cup Worcestershire ¼ cup agave syrup Salt/pepper to taste

Tobiko flying fish roe (optional) Prepare pickled apricot a week ahead of time. Cut apricot in half; pickle in rice wine vinegar and sugar mixture for one week. Peel and dice sweet potato. Blanch in salted boiling water until tender, about 3 minutes. Strain and set aside. Prepare mostardo: Blend all ingredients together in food processor. Cook in saucepan. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, until sauce tightens up and becomes syrupy; stir often. Remove from heat; allow to cool. Cook bacon until medium crispy; remove from heat, pat dry. Cut into medium-size dice. Dice red onion. Prepare potato salad: In a bowl, fold together all ingredients. Plate, either in a bowl or use a ring mold. Garnish with tobiko. Makes 1 serving

Creamy Kimchi Spaetzle Kimchi Sauce

1 cup kimchi (housemade or store-bought) 2 cups heavy cream Parmesan cheese, to taste

Spaetzle

2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons salt 4 large eggs ⅔ cup milk Meat of choice (prepare ahead of time or while making recipe)

Make kimchi sauce: Puree kimchi in food processor. Place in pan over medium heat. Add heavy cream. Cook until sauce begins to thicken. Stir often to keep from burning. Make spaetzle: In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and salt. Add flour; stir until well combined. If dough is too runny, add a little more flour. If it is too thick, add a little more milk. In a pot, bring water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Press dough through a spaetzle maker or colander. Let pasta cook for about 1 to 2 minutes (until it floats), stirring occasionally. Strain pasta. Add cooked spaetzle to sauce; stir to coat. Add Parmesan cheese. Remove from heat. Prepare meat of your choice to add. (We used Bulgogi Steak.) Serve in a bowl topped with meat and garnish of your choice.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

Makes 1 serving

Creamy Kimchi Spaetzle with Watermelon Becky German noodles with Korean-style beef? Of course! Buchanan combined his handmade, wide spaetzle and beef dish with micro kale, kimchi sauce and egg yolk pudding. He chose Pondaseta’s new blonde ale release, Watermelon Becky, as the perfect pairing. The brewery introduces multiple “Beckies” throughout the year, and the watermelon version is the second release of the summer. It’s not just locally beloved. It’s extremely local. “All the malt ingredients are grown within the Panhandle area,” West explains. After the initial fermentation, the beer is refermented with watermelon, which adds a bright fruit note to the drink. “It’s super-refreshing with tons of watermelon on the nose and a subtle pink hue from the fruit,” he says. But instead of being overly fruit-forward, the beer and fruit complement one another. “There’s a subtle interplay between them,” says West. It’s enough to entice beer lovers who aren’t particularly interested in fruit beer, along with unabashed fans of fruity beers.

Vegan Chicken Schnitzel with Pondaseta’s Volksbier

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

YCSF is one of the most reliable local restaurants for delicious vegan food, and this schnitzel falls squarely within that category. Buchanan’s dish is made of breaded, fried seitan—a wheat-derived protein alternative—served with a fermented mustard sauce, brazed kimchi and sauerkraut, and mustard-seed caviar. He paired it with Pondaseta’s Volksbier, a traditional malt-forward, Oktoberfest-style lager. “It’s very easy to drink, with a little drier finish than some of the really big Oktoberfest beers you’ll see,” West says. Often, those are served in enormous 1-liter mugs, which can be incredibly filling. The Volksbier was created to be less heavy and more drinkable. “You can enjoy it but drink a couple more.”

Vegan Chicken Schnitzel Vegan chicken seitan (say-taan): Make your own or order it. Seitan is best made ahead of time, at least 1 day before. It needs to rest in the refrigerator overnight after preparing.

Mason jar Cheesecloth 2 tablespoons sugar

Breading

Sauerkraut is best prepared at least 1 week in advance (better after 1 month). Core and shred cabbage. Place in plastic or glass container. Sprinkle salt and pepper over cabbage; massage into leaves, mixing well. Add more salt and pepper as needed. Cabbage should start to feel wet, breaking down because of the salt. Add in caraway seeds. Pack tightly into a Mason jar. Cover with cheesecloth. Check after 1 day. If cabbage isn’t releasing enough liquid to submerge it fully, make a 2 percent salt brine and pour on top of cabbage. Monitor daily. Start tasting after 1 week to see if it’s ready. Caramelize sauerkraut when ready to make schnitzel recipe. Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add completed sauerkraut and sugar. Cook until caramelized, about 5 minutes.

1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup panko combine with 2 teaspoons salt and pepper 1 cup all-purpose flour whisked into 1 cup water and 1 tablespoon dry or wet mustard (or use egg alternative mix) About 1 cup oil for frying Prepare seitan 1 day ahead of time. Bread seitan by dredging in dry flour mix, then wet mix, then panko dry mix; set aside. Double bread crumbs for more crunch.

Sauerkraut

1 small head of cabbage About 1 to 2 cups salt/pepper mixture 2 tablespoons caraway seeds

Mustard Seed Caviar

1 small package mustard seeds ¼ cup rice wine vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar Place mustard seeds in small saucepan; cover with rice wine vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until seeds are softened and sauce becomes thicker. Heat oil in a shallow pan, to about 350 degrees. Fry seitan on each side, about 4 to 5 minutes. Breading should be golden brown; seitan should be heated well. Remember, this is not chicken, so no need to worry about a lengthy cook time. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Season with salt and pepper. To serve, plate on a bed of sauerkraut; garnish with mustard seeds, parsley and lemon wedge. Makes 1 serving

LUNCHEON honoring the

featuring featuring

D n n ifne rifAershtAsh on t Dr . r.J eJen Chief medical correspondent for ABC News and Good Morning America

Chief medical correspondent for ABC News and Good Morning A

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SPE B1E 2 .9 , 2 0 2 U RP S ET A UE C TM ION 0 : 3R 0 A.M LUNCHEON 11:30 A.M.

PURSE AUCTION 10:30 A.M. A M ALRU I LN LO C C C CHI VEIO NE N1T1E: 3R0 A . M . heritage ballroom

AMARILLO CIVIC CENTER heritage ballroom

EXPERTS W

ord of mouth plays a major role in how locals find their service providers. Broken lawnmower? “I know a guy.” Selling your home? “I’ll introduce you to my Realtor.” We all like to keep the names of various experts in our back pockets, using this knowledge not just to help out a friend or family member, but as a kind of social currency. That’s why we figured, well, it might be a good idea to dedicate a whole section toward local expertise. Regardless of what you need, we’ve got a guy or gal ready to help. We’d love to introduce them to you. Just read the following pages.

[ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

ENERGY EXPERT

U.S. Carbon Capture Solutions Corp.

What is your area of expertise? The capture of carbon dioxide for underground storage/ sequestration and for enhanced oil recovery. How long have you been consulting? We began consulting in carbon capture for enhanced oil recovery in 2013 under one of our other companies, Grammer Land & Exploration Corp. Where/how did you learn your trade? Using carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery has been around since 1972, when it was first implemented in Scurry County, Texas. We were contacted by a client 8 years ago in an attempt to harness the carbon dioxide out of the flue gas of a power plant and use it for a tertiary flood in West Texas. At that time, the price of oil couldn’t sustain the project; however, we spent the next 8 years pouring over well logs, geological data, compression tests and even consulted with other carbon capture projects in Canada and the U.K. What sets you apart from your competition? Carbon capture has become both politically and financially popular in an effort to reverse climate change. That is certainly one result that can arise from carbon capture; however, it’s not necessarily our primary objective. The oil and gas industry and fossil fuel-driven energy systems seem to have become the environmental target of late. We’ve tried to distinguish ourselves by supporting the fossil fuel industry rather than being against them. I think a good way to help the fossil fuel industry sustain its position as the primary energy source for the state is to provide them with realistic solutions to capturing, compressing, transporting and disposing of their carbon emissions. We put together a team from some of the larger oil companies in the state who have amassed years of experience in a science that still continues to develop. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? Carbon dioxide is naturally occurring and necessary for the environment. There are also created volumes of carbon dioxide that arise from fossil fuels. That doesn’t mean we have to eradicate the fuel source. It means we need to find a way to utilize the emissions and preserve the energy provided. This can be done by merely creating the means of extracting the surplus carbon dioxide and using it for enhanced oil recovery, which not only produces more oil without initiating new drilling, but also leaves the carbon dioxide sequestered in the ground permanently. With the introduction of U.S. Senate Bill 986 at the federal level, which modifies the existing IRS Code regarding carbon tax credits and the passage of House Bill 1284 in the State of Texas transferring jurisdiction of injection wells used for carbon sequestration to the Texas Railroad Commission, the landscape is beginning to change with respect to the carbon capture industry. What do you love most about what you do? Fossil fuels are the foundation of the global economy. They provide more than $300 million dollars a year to both the University of Texas and Texas A&M Universities, almost $8 billion dollars a year to public education and have helped push the Texas Teachers Retirement Fund to rank among the top 25 public pension plans in the world. They are also necessary for safe and reliable energy for the State of Texas. We get to be a part of helping the use of coal and natural gas for electrical generation, oil for a fuel source, and petrochemicals by assisting all categories of energy providers with ways to reduce, eliminate and store their carbon emissions. J O N AT H A N G RA M M E R [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

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RESIDENTIAL AND INVESTMENT PROPERTY EXPERTS

Sabre Cofer,

Living Texas Style Real Estate Group brokered by eXp Realty, LLC

What is your area of expertise? We specialize in Residential and Investment Property. Whether teaching you how to build your real estate portfolio for wealth building and retirement, or advising a seasoned investor who’s building an investment portfolio, we can help! Need help improving your credit score and finances so you can buy a home? We can help with that, too, and connect you with the right lenders to make your dream of buying a home a reality. How long have you been a Realtor? We bring more than 10 years of licensed experience to help you in your home-buying decisions. We’ve been intently studying the market since 2008, and are poised to assist whether you need a starter home, want to up-size or down-size, or expand with an investment property. How did you learn your trade? Experience is the best teacher, and it’s no different in real estate. We believe in always growing and learning as professional Realtors so we can ensure you have the best experience possible when working with us. What sets you apart from your competition? Our team is the best of the best, working tirelessly with the utmost integrity, always putting our clients’ needs first. We understand the stress of buying and selling, and we work to make this easier for you. It’s a huge decision—the largest purchase most will make—so we take this seriously. Our care and focus on building relationships is evident in every interaction with us. Our legacy is built on excellence, integrity and creating renewed freedom for families. We rise by lifting others up and helping them reach their dreams! What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? Real estate is a tough business. We take on the burden of long hours and problem-solving so our clients can focus on their other needs. We get the honor of helping our clients in highs and lows alike. We share in the joy when our clients walk into their first home or dream home, and we are there to help them when a house needs to be sold quickly—to help save a seller from a pending foreclosure and even when a loved one has passed. We understand the weight of these decisions and we take our clients’ needs very seriously. What do you love most about what you do? We’re here for our clients— getting to serve others in this way and build relationships is our top priority. God has blessed us with the opportunity to build a legacy for generations to come. Real estate is our passion. We partner with Sell a Home, Save a Child to give back and make a difference in the lives of others—this is truly what it’s all about. 806.683.7026 | LIVINGTEXASSTYLE.COM [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

EXPERTS

HOME LOAN EXPERT

Hillary Schaben

What is your area of expertise? Mortgage Loan Officer How long have you been in the mortgage loan business? 13 years in the Mortgage Loan Department (16 ½ years with ANB). How did you learn your trade? At ANB, I started as an Audit Assistant, moved to Mortgage Servicing then to Mortgage Loan Processor, and then I was promoted to Mortgage Loan officer. I learned everything from coworkers; we have a great mortgage team with many years of experience. What sets you apart from your competition? ANB is very competitive in the market with rates and fees. We offer a variety of loan products and we have fast, local customer service. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? We sometimes have to be personal and financial advisors and credit counselors for our customers. What do you love most about working in Mortgage Loans? I love being able to help people get into their dream homes, especially first-time homebuyers. During my time with ANB, I have been able to build many strong friendships and relationships with area realtors and customers.

A M A R I L LO N AT I O N A L B A N K 806.378.8000 | ANB.COM

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SMALL BUSINESS LOAN EXPERT

EXPERTS

Amy Henderson

What is your area of expertise? Vice President/Business Loan Officer at ANB How long have you been at ANB? More than 20 years. How did you learn your trade? My education includes a BA degree in Finance and a master’s in General Business. Higher education developed the basic foundation for banking, but working at Amarillo National Bank has developed me as a lender and a leader in my trade. I have been mentored by the best lenders in town. ANB has a team culture—we all work together and help each other. What sets you apart from your competition? I put my customers first! Running a business can be tough. I listen to my clients and together, we develop a plan of action that is custom-made for their business. In addition, I try to be my business customer’s personal banker and be a one-stop shop for them. This way, my customers can focus on running their business and not banking. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? I have a great team put together at Summit Financial Center, located at 34th and Coulter. We can take care of all of the business banking needs of any business. My team can open business accounts, cash checks and take deposits. AND my team at Summit is knowledgeable about ANB’s experts that can help business owners set-up business online banking, RDC machines, merchant processing and new business services coming soon. In addition, Summit has fabulous mortgage lenders and a Raymond James financial advisor. We truly can take the best care of a business and their employees. What do you love most about working at ANB? I love my customers! I now have had customers for more than 14 years and consider them my friends. Because ANB is family owned, I can focus on my customers and not shareholders. This allows me to be able to make quick decisions and put the needs of my customers first. I love working at ANB! ANB has an authentic and fun culture. I love what I do! A M A R I L LO N AT I O N A L B A N K 806.378.8000 | ANB.COM [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

EXPERTS

PERSONAL TRUST EXPERT

Lexa Craddock

What is your area of expertise? Personal Trust How long have you been offering trust services? 7 ½ years How did you learn your trade? I have a Business degree from Baylor and had some standard Trust schooling. But most valuable in the educational process was the group of amazing mentors in the Asset Management Division at ANB. Not only did they coach and guide me, but they also instilled a sense of confidence that allowed me to grow into my current position. What sets you apart from your competition? Our customers are our primary focus. Always. We take pride in our personal relationships with them and their family members to make sure we understand their needs, goals and risk tolerances. We are fiduciaries who are charged with maintaining and protecting family legacies, and we consider that responsibility with every decision we make. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? Hiring a corporate trustee or executor can actually save individuals and families a lot of heartache and can make their lives much easier. Not only are we held to the highest ethical standard, and often have to make hard decisions by following the trust document and/or will to the letter, but we like to believe that we keep family members together at Thanksgiving! What do you love most about being a fiduciary? My favorite part of my job is building great relationships with our customers and knowing that we have the ability to truly make a difference in their financial wellbeing, and often in their lives overall. A M A R I L LO N AT I O N A L B A N K 806.378.8000 | ANB.COM

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HOME FURNISHINGS EXPERT

EXPERTS

Rockwood Furniture Co. What is your area of expertise? At Rockwood, our area of expertise is solid wood, handcrafted furniture. We specialize in customization, enabling the customer to choose their style, wood species and stain color. This enables us to adapt any of our furniture items to be the showcase of any home and style. How long have you been offering handcrafted furniture? This year we are celebrating 14 years of being in business. We have been in our current location on I-27 for almost nine years. Building a larger showroom nine years ago has enabled us to show more pieces and styles. Last year, we closed in our patios, making a more enjoyable shopping experience. We are currently in the process of finishing up our mattress showroom. How did you learn your trade? At Rockwood, we have personal relationships with our Amish craftsmen and their families. Throughout the years, we have forged friendships and business relationships with each of them. We make a trip to visit them at least once a year, where they are happy to share their skills with us. They are committed to expanding their artisan skills and creativity into evolving styles. What sets you apart from your competition? We began by connecting people with authentic Amish furniture. Along the way, we have been committed to providing not only the best quality furniture, but also exceptional customer service. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? A lot of people have misconceptions about Rockwood Furniture Co. For starters, people have a certain idea of what “Amish” furniture is. However, Amish furniture is not a style, it is a standard of excellence. It is furniture that has evolved into styles for today and remains timeless for generations to come. We carry furniture for every room in your home, as well as outdoor living spaces. We strive to have every style available in multiple price ranges as well. We truly want to have something for every home and budget. What do you love most about the handcrafted furniture business? Meeting with the Amish, picking out new styles for the showroom, and meeting new people from all walks of life are at the top of the list. But our absolute favorite is when we have a customer that is so happy they share photos with us of their homes and new furniture. It’s a pleasure knowing we have contributed to enhancing their lives and living spaces.

HENRY REMPEL AND JAKE AND STEPHANIE REMPEL

11570 I-27 | 806.358.8778 ROCKWOODFURNITURECO.COM [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

EXPERTS

S E X U A L H E A LT H EXPERT

Dr. Patrick Proffer

What is your area of expertise? Plastic and reconstructive surgery of the face and body; Matrix Age Management for sexual wellness. How long have you been doing it? I’ve been a physician for 22 years, and practicing plastic surgery for 16 years. I developed a comprehensive sexual regeneration program, Matrix Age Management, in 2013. Where did you learn your trade? I trained in General Surgery and Plastic Surgery at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1999 to 2005. I also trained with Age Management Medicine Group (AMMG). What sets you apart from your competition? I try my hardest to deliver the results my patients expect, but also to really make them feel comfortable in the process. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? How diverse the field of plastic surgery is. Training involves cosmetic plastic surgery, reconstructive surgery, hand surgery, facial injuries and fractures, microvascular surgery, congenital pediatric surgery, burns, hair transplantations, wound care, regenerative medicine and more. It is literally a head-to-toe specialty. As far as sexual wellness, the comprehensive approach that we apply results in a paradigm shift for your overall health, vitality and fitness. What do you love most about providing plastic and reconstructive surgery/sexual wellness program? I love providing surgery that makes people happy or restores their confidence. We’re all our own worst critics and I like helping to make that better. P RO F F E R S U RG I CA L A S S O C I AT E S 1 61 1 WA L L A C E B LV D. 806.354.4900 DRPROFFER.COM [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

AESTHETIC/ R E J U V E N AT I O N S PA E X P E R T

EXPERTS

Dr. Paul Proffer

What is your area of expertise? Oculofacial cosmetic and reconstructive surgery; Medical Spa Director How long have you been a cosmetic surgeon? I’ve been a surgeon for 15 years and have operated our medical spa as its director for 8 years. How did you learn your trade? I completed an Oculofacial Plastic Surgery Fellowship in Columbus, Ohio, in conjunction with Ohio State University (2004-2006). There are very few fellowships for this highly specialized plastics subspecialty, with 15 to 18 fellowship graduates each year in the U.S. What sets you apart from your competition? Patients can be assured that their doctor and our facility will provide extensive training, attention to details, state-of-the-art technology and latest cutting-edge treatments. Each treatment plan for each patient will be customized, and they will enjoy a friendly and caring environment. What do you love most about what you do? I love the creativity this specialty offers. Helping people look and feel their best, thus improving their confidence, is so rewarding. My highest satisfaction comes from performing procedures to help reconstruct patients after skin cancer removals.

P RO F F E R S U RG I CA L A S S O C I AT E S 1 61 1 WA L L A C E B LV D. 806.354.4900 DRPROFFER.COM [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

EXPERTS

GRILLING EXPERT

Boyd’s Equipment What is your area of expertise? Grilling and outdoor space outfitting. This can range anywhere from a fire pit to sit by or a plan for Christmas’ prime rib, to the appliances for an outdoor kitchen and making sure they are adequately fueled. How long have you been providing grilling supplies? I’ve been sweeping the floors at Boyd’s since I was 6, so I’ve been around everything for going on 30 years. But I’ve been here full time for 12 years. Where did you learn your trade? First-hand experience has been my main teacher over the years. As for the fueling side of things, I’m certified through the Texas Railroad Commission for all things propane. What sets you apart from your competition? I do my best to be intentional with what clients are looking for. Want to do something that will ‘wow’ the neighbors but not overwhelm your day? You got it. Want to shoot for the next cookoff rolling through town? I’ll tell you everything I know to help you succeed. No secrets kept here. Tried something I told you and didn’t like it? I’ll pay you back. Want to design the outdoor kitchen of your dreams? Let’s get down to work. Just want a little charcoal grill? Come chat—I’m always excited you came in, no matter how big or small your purchase winds up being. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? My abilities extend well beyond the backyard when it comes to propane. I can lay out a system for a backup generator or a new heater in a shop. Anything you want to do with propane, I can help you get there. What do you love most about the grilling and outdoor furnishing business? Sharing what I know with others. Giving customers confidence in what they are doing is by far the most rewarding part of my day! BEAU GABERT 7154 CANYON DRIVE | 806.356.9102 BOYDSEQUIPMENT.COM [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

C R E AT I V E MARKETING EXPERT

EXPERTS

Walcot Studio Deidre Dixon What is your area of expertise? We’re a comprehensive brand design studio, offering lifestyle-focused branding and modern growth strategies for small businesses. Our goal is to design unforgettable brand identities and intuitive experiences for our clients that engage their customers at every touch point for genuine influence. How long have you been a creative director? I started the consulting aspect of my company in 2015, because I believed small business marketing needed design and strategy elevated, not one without the other. I also saw the process of designing a brand and building a website to be a stressful obstacle for business owners instead of the fuel behind making a profit. That positioned me to learn what my clients really needed. I began to grow my business from just consulting to branding and web design. Over the years, I’ve grown from a solopreneur with a handful of local clients, to a fully remote team serving clients across the U.S., Canada, Australia and the UK. How did you learn your trade? I have a BBA in Marketing that was outdated as soon as I graduated, so I contribute everything I’ve learned to hands-on experience. I’ve always had a deep curiosity of business strategy, an intuitive eye for design, an empathic gift for understanding customer experience and a stubborn attitude when told something can’t be done. Over the years, I’ve built my team with people who share the same core values but have specific skill sets that support our clients as technology and their needs evolve. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? Branding shouldn’t be seen as another cost counted against your marketing budget. There’s a time and a place for DIY; your brand is not one of them. Branding is an investment—do it with purpose the first time. What do you love most about what you do? The vulnerable connection that’s created with bringing an idea to life, blending strategy and intuition into each design, and the freedom to run my business and lead my team from anywhere. WALCOTSTUDIO.COM IG @WALCOTSTUDIO [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

EXPERTS

JEWELRY DESIGN EXPERT

Goodin’s Jewelry What is your area of expertise? We specialize in custom jewelry and repair. We have a certified watch repairman and master jeweler on staff. How long have you been an expert jeweler? We have been doing jewelry repair since the early 1980s. We are family-owned and operated with more than 30 years combined experience. Where/how did you learn your trade? Paul Goodin learned by apprenticing under another jeweler. Our other jewelers went to a specialty school for this trade. They became masters in their craft. What sets you apart from your competition? We have a staff of jewelers to help us accomplish our unique craft. We offer full custom design using CAD. We provide 3-D images to our customers so they can see every detail before the piece is made. They can trust us to design just about any piece of jewelry. We can update an heirloom piece or create a new one. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? Our designs are not limited to just rings. We can design bracelets, necklaces and earrings. We can also match lost earrings to make the pair whole again. We make wedding bands for hard-to-find designs. We can make links to repair tennis bracelets. What do you love most about being an expert jeweler? Our favorite part of the design process is presenting it to the customer. The smile on their faces is unforgettable. It is what makes doing business in Amarillo wonderful—the customers.

PAUL GOODIN AND GWEN MERRILL

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37 0 1 O L S E N B LV D. , S U I T E I | 3 51 . 2 6 3 4 G O O D I N S J E W E L RYA M A R I L LO.CO M

FA R M & R A N C H R E A L E S TAT E EXPERT

EXPERTS

Taylor Wellborn

What is your area of expertise? Farm, ranch and commercial real estate. How long have you been in the real estate business? 7 years How did you learn your trade? I got my start in the advertising and marketing industries, which included experience in design, photography, video, technology and much more. As I learned to use those skills in real-world applications, I built on those talents and strategies. Then around 20 years ago, I had the opportunity to jump into real estate investing. I’d always heard that real estate was one of the best investments a person can make, and once I took that leap, I discovered it was absolutely true. I really enjoyed it, so eventually I decided to earn my license so I could help others buy and sell homes. Farm and ranch real estate developed from that. What sets you apart from your competition? I know the Amarillo market, the neighborhoods, and the surrounding area, of course. But a lot of other real estate agents can say that. Very few, however, have the communications background I have. They may not always understand the importance of marketing or how to stay on the cutting edge of advertising outlets and new technologies. Drawing from that deep marketing background allows me to use my passion and creativity to market a property and get it sold quickly. Our team is dedicated to making every real estate experience as stress-free and enjoyable as possible. What do most people not realize about farm and ranch real estate? It presents different challenges from sales of singlefamily homes. Selling farms and ranches is far more complex. It requires knowledge of details like soil, vegetation, wells and drainage. My clients can trust me with a listing because I’ve taken the time to do my research and become educated on those details. The more land I sell in the Texas Panhandle, the more I learn. I am always learning and growing. What do you love most about what you do? It is a passion, not merely an occupation. Land is such a meaningful and historic part of this area. I love seeing the land itself, protecting its value and understanding how people make a living off of it. W E L L B O R N R E A L E STAT E 2766 DUNIVEN CIRCLE 8 0 6 .41 4 . 8 0 0 0 | W E L L B O R N L A N D.CO M [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

EXPERTS

A U T O/ H O M E INSURANCE EXPERT

Leslie Massey What is your area of expertise? Explaining not only auto and home insurance, but also life and business insurance in everyday language so my clients can make an informed decision on their coverage options. How long have you been in the insurance industry? 13 years How did you learn your trade? The most valuable lessons have been learned through my experience as an agent and agency owner. Farmers Insurance has a huge support system of agents and company representatives that we learn from on a regular basis. What sets you apart from your competition? Everyone in my agency puts the needs of the customer above their own. We take the time to explain coverage options so our clients understand the policy. We recommend coverages designed to give them the best protection in case something terrible happens. We reach out to our clients each renewal to review the coverage and address any changes that need to be made. We are focused on service and have three dedicated team members to help our current clients as well as a dedicated sales team. We value the relationships we have with our customers and business partners, and understand they have many options when it comes to insurance agencies. What do most people not realize about the insurance industry? Insurance is so much more than the policy documents that come in the mail or the ID card that is in your glove box. Not having the right coverage can ruin you financially. It is important to be with an agency that will slow down and take the time to discuss your coverage options. What do you love most about owning your own agency? I love getting to know our clients on a personal level. Having a successful agency and a strong team has allowed me to spend time volunteering and learning more about our community. Our businesses are only as strong as our community, and I want to spend my time making a positive impact for the future. L E S L I E M A S S E Y FA R M E R S I N S U RA N C E 2700 S. WESTERN ST., SUITE 700 806.352.7388 FA R M E R S A G E N T. C O M/ M M A S S E Y [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

AUTO EXPERIENCE EXPERT

EXPERTS

Street Volkswagen of Amarillo What is your area of expertise? We are a fullservice dealership for ALL your vehicle needs. How long have you been in the automotive business? I have been in the automotive business since 1980, and I am now the owner and general manager of Street Volkswagen of Amarillo. I started out as a lot porter in El Paso, Texas, and have moved my way up, having worked in every department during my career in various cities throughout the USA. Where/how did you learn your trade? In the School of Hard Knocks. Most of my experience has been gained through on-the-job training. The industry will teach you quickly. It’s the most fun you can have in a job—no two days are the same. What sets you apart from your competition? We put our community and employees first. We know that without them, we wouldn’t be in business. We are your one-stop dealer for the best Auto Experience in the Panhandle, having the largest selection of new and used vehicles and a state-of-the-art Service Department. Our service technicians will work on anything! What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? Our Service Department is one of the best in the country, and we’ll work on anything. We also have the Car Catcher Program, where we’ll search the country for your dream car. So just because we don’t have it, doesn’t mean we can’t get it, and many times have it delivered right to your front door. What do you love most about the automotive business? The people, both employees and the customers. There is never a dull moment. Making people happy is our goal. And we want to have fun doing it. JOHN LUCIANO OWNER & GENERAL MANAGER 8707 PILGRIM DRIVE | 806.350.8999 STREETVW.COM [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

EXPERTS

FINANCIAL PLANNING

Mariner Wealth Advisors

SUZANNE WHEELER Mariner Wealth Advisors (“MWA”) is an SEC registered investment adviser with its principal place of business in the State of Kansas. Registration of an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. For additional information about MWA, including fees and services, please contact MWA or refer to the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website (www.adviserinfo.sec.gov). Please read the disclosure statement carefully before you invest or send money.

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What is your area of experience? Being a thinking partner to those looking for independent advice with their investments, tax, insurance and estate planning. I am a Certified Financial Planner professional as well as a Certified Financial Transitionist, which pair nicely in helping clients reach their goals and navigate life events, such as divorce or the loss of a loved one. How long have you been a financial planner? I began in the financial industry more than 20 years ago with eight years of prior accounting and tax experience. How did you learn your trade? Prior to becoming a wealth advisor, I worked for an accounting firm. I enjoy numbers and providing solutions. One of the partners at the accounting firm took me under her wing and provided continual opportunities to learn and grow. I joined her as a partner in one of the first investment advisory firms in Tulsa at a time when you heard more about stockbrokers and when there were certainly not many women in the industry! What sets you apart from your competition? Service and investment opportunities! We limit the number of clients we serve so we can have an in-depth relationship with them and extend the relationship to other family members when appropriate. I have often said, ‘If we aren’t one of the top five calls during a significant life event, we haven’t done a good enough job in cultivating our relationship.’ In addition to traditional stocks, alternatives, indexes and bonds, we offer internal strategies with no additional costs to our clients, as well as opportunities to invest in various private equity pieces for qualified investors. What do most people not realize about your area of experience? Our clients aren’t account numbers—they are clients who become friends, and we treat them like family. We focus on one thing—partnering with them to create a financial strategy for today and beyond that’s flexible enough to change along with their goals. The ultimate goal is to help them identify what is important to help them achieve those goals. We don’t just pick a few investments and forget about them. Our services are long term. What do you love most about financial planning? Every day is different! You may have your day planned out, and it is totally changed with the first email or phone call. Not only do we create customized portfolios to meet the individual needs and goals of our clients, but we also help clients in challenging transitions, such as retirement, divorce, health challenges and, unfortunately, loss of a loved one. With proper planning, our clients can grieve their loss while we are taking care of the business of a loss. This is an area that we find most rewarding— knowing that we can offer comfort to a client, that we have their back during a difficult time. They have the support of a team that cares about both their emotional and financial wellbeing; that can make a difference. 7 9 71 S W 4 5 T H AV E . , S U I T E 1 0 0 | 8 0 6 . 51 3 .1 1 2 0 M A R I N E R W E A LT H A D V I S O R S . C O M

ORTHODONTIST EXPERT

Sparkman Orthodontics

EXPERTS KYLE SPARKMAN, LINDSEY LYONS AND CORBIN CLIFTON

Sparkman Orthodontics is a faith-based practice and we start every day in prayer. The heart of our office is shown in our three core values: Listen, Love, and Exceed Expectations. We serve the communities we were raised in. Dr. Sparkman grew up in Pampa, Texas, where he started Sparkman Orthodontics in his father’s general dental office. Dr. Clifton is also from Pampa and was the first patient of Sparkman Orthodontics. Dr. Lyons is from Canyon, Texas, and loves being back in the Panhandle and close to family. Conservative treatment philosophy. Our goal for our patients is to do the least amount of treatment in the shortest amount of time possible. If our patients are not ready for treatment, we will see them every six months (FOR FREE) until they are ready! High technology. No goopy impressions at Sparkman Orthodontics! No headgear at Sparkman Orthodontics! We will give you an amazing “Sparkman Smile” using the cutting edge of orthodontic technology. Each of our three locations (Amarillo, Pampa, and Clovis) is equipped with a CBCT unit to provide ultimate success in dental diagnosis. We use this 3D scanning technology to initiate treatment with the best of braces or the latest technology in clear aligners. Award-winning office. We have won 25 individual “Best Orthodontist” awards voted on by Channel 10 News, Amarillo Globe-News, and the Pampa News! Giving back. Sparkman Orthodontics supports youth sports more than any other Panhandle business. This includes backing organizations such as Hoop 10 Basketball, Kids Inc., Palo Duro Soccer Association, Amarillo Soccer Association, and Pampa Soccer Association. We also support organizations such as the Amarillo Symphony, the Amarillo Little Theatre, 24 hours in the Canyon, Hope Choice, and Little Mended Hearts. In addition, Dr. Sparkman is the director of the dental initiative of the Ryan Palmer Foundation. 7701 SW 45TH AVE. | 806.355.9732 S PA R K M A N O R T H O D O N T I C S .C O M [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

PHYSICAL THERAPY EXPERT

EXPERTS (L-R) RYLEY RODRIQUES, SARAH RUBIO, ANDREW HOMEN AND ROBERT MAYER

iPOW Physical Therapy & Wellness

What is your area of expertise? iPOW Physical Therapy & Wellness is an outpatient physical therapy clinic specializing in the natural resolution of physical pain and mobility impairment. Our most popular therapies include Pelvic Floor Therapy, Redcord Therapy, Laser Therapy, and our Knee-Hab Program. How long have you been providing physical therapy? iPOW was founded in Amarillo in 2015 by Derek Neill, who is originally from Canyon. Derek recognized a need locally for a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to helping the body heal through natural, non-invasive means. How did you learn your trade? Our team of physical therapists are doctorate-level specialists who completed their training at accredited universities. Their areas of expertise include musculoskeletal pain, physical impairment, postoperative rehabilitation, and performance enhancement. Additionally, iPOW offers the region’s only board certified geriatric specialist. What sets you apart from your competition? iPOW has an unparalleled focus on creating an extraordinary client experience. We champion non-invasive treatment strategies, performance improvement regardless of age, and personal responsibility for health and wellness. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? Many people suffering from pain or mobility issues believe their only options for treatment are drugs, injections or surgery. We believe in the human body’s capacity for healing without drugs or invasive surgery and strive to facilitate the healing process through education, corrective exercise and natural treatment strategies. What do you love most about physical therapy? Every day, we have the privilege of helping our clients overcome pain or physical impairment. We restore hope for those who are close to giving up, and that’s what we love most about what we do. It is particularly gratifying when a client regains the ability to perform an activity once considered lost forever. 3501 S. SONCY ROAD, SUITE 137 806 .803. 9165 | IPOWPT.COM [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

CREDIT UNION EXPERT

EXPERTS

Adrian Alejandre

What is your area of expertise? Helping others. My first ‘real’ job in college was working at a municipal golf course. I remember my boss warning me on my first day. He said, “You’re going to be working with the public. You’ll have people come in when they are having a good day and people coming in on a bad day. Treat everyone the same every time and you’ll be fine.” How long have you been in the banking business? I started working for a bank when my schedule at WTAMU no longer accommodated my schedule at the golf course. My boss called his friend (a regular golfer) and told him I had given my two weeks’ notice. The friend told him that school was much more important. That friend was a banker, who picked up the phone and called to offer me a job. Where did you learn your trade? I learned banking while going to school at WT. I worked every hour I wasn’t in class. Every semester, my schedule would change, so I’d go to our CEO and present my schedule, and each semester he would offer to let me learn about a different department in the bank. In March 2015, I joined the credit union movement and immediately went to work looking for ways to streamline the lending process, increase efficiency and better serve the membership for Hereford Texas Federal Credit Union. In August of this year, I began my career with Education Credit Union. What sets you apart from your competition? My servant mentality. You can’t grow as a leader if you aren’t developing others along the way. What do most people not realize about your area of expertise? Leadership often takes you down the path of difficult or uncomfortable situations. These situations can always be viewed as growth opportunities. What do you love most about working at Education Credit Union? I love seeing growth and development in others, whether it’s coworkers or my family. I find great satisfaction in knowing I had a small part of their development. E D U CAT I O N C R E D I T U N I O N 8 0 6 . 35 8 .7 7 7 7 | E D U CAT I O N C U.CO M [ SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ]

C U T T I N G - E D G E D E C O R , LO C A L A RT A N D F I N E J E W E L R Y

2614 WOLFLIN VILL AGE | 367.5567 RESERVEA M ARILLO.COM VISIT OUR NE W SHOP INSIDE FR OM 6TH COLLECTIVE IN BUSHL AND!

S TO P I N TO L E A R N M O R E A B O U T O U R N E W B R I D A L R E G I S T R Y ! #FUNHAPPENS

f+d GOLDEN WAFFLE COMPANY

PHOTO BY SHANNON RICHARDSON

The Golden Waffle Company is the result, offering creative sweet-and-savory waffle dishes built around Belgian, American and liege waffles. Our photo shows the incredible Mama Migas with eggs, housemade chorizo, and tomatillo salsa wrapped in a Belgian waffle. But customers also love the breakfast tacos, which are served on tortillas made at Gomez Tortilleria in Dumas, which Ortega’s father owns. (Also don’t miss The GLC, which is simply the iconic Golden Light Cafe cheeseburger served between two waffles.) The drinks tantalized us along with the food. The Sunset takes a refreshing raspberry-andorange spin on a traditional mimosa, and the Mean Green includes everything from tomatillos to green hot sauce to a slowly melting pickle pop from Purple Flamingo Pops. It’s one of the most unique Bloody Marys we’ve ever had. Don’t try to imagine the taste. Just go get one. 6017 Hillside Road, Suite 250 367-8141 Visit goldenwafflecompany.com and follow @goldenwafflecompany on Instagram.

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

wners Rosario Ortega and Angela Corpening met while traveling together as club baseball parents. That meant a lot of breakfasts on road trips to Oklahoma City and Dallas. The friends began wondering why Amarillo didn’t have many cool breakfast spots. Both women had restaurant backgrounds—Corpening owns the legendary Golden Light Cafe and Ortega’s mom owned El Matador in Dumas—so eventually the conversation turned from “we wish” to “What if?”

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AM AR I L L O

1887 SOCIAL HOUSE

The name refers to the year Amarillo was founded, but the atmosphere is way more modern than that. This dinner-only spot inside the downtown Embassy Suites specializes in small bites. There’s a full restaurant setting, but the spacious, trendy bar area gets the most traffic. 550 S. Buchanan St., 803.5504, hilton.com $$

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

575 PIZZERIA

108

Owned by an Amarillo native, the two 575 locations serve the best pizza in the city. Locals rave about the incomparably thin crust, the way the thin-sliced pepperoni crisps up in the oven, and the fresh ingredients. Their easy to-go ordering includes craft beer and wine by the bottle. 2803 Civic Circle/7710 Hillside Road, Suite 700322.5575, 575pizzeria.com $$

THE 806 COFFEE + LOUNGE

Art meets coffee—and a surprisingly delicious vegetarian and vegan menu—at this locally owned, atmospheric shop on Sixth. (The brunch is especially good.) Time it right and you’ll catch live music or an art show. If you’re ready to ditch the minimalist coffee scene, start here. 2812 SW Sixth Ave., 322.1806, the806.com $

ABUELO’S

This longtime chain has its roots in Amarillo and an incredibly dedicated local clientele. The Tex-Mex is flavorful but the true draw is nostalgia. Also: margaritas. As a bonus, Abuelo’s offers some of the best event room and catering deals in the city. 3501 W. 45th Ave., 354.8294, abuelos.com $$

THE AÇAÍ BAR

Don’t worry about how to say it. Just order one of these fruity, flavorful bowls or smoothies. They’re perfect for postworkout refueling or a light, nutritious lunch. The ingredients are mostly organic and the owners are local. Pro tip: It’s pronounced “ah-saw-ee.” 7306 SW 34th Ave., Suite 9, 367.9724, theacaibaramarillo.com $

ALDACO’S TACOS

ASPEN CREEK GRILL

Look, if your name rhymes with “taco,” then it’s pretty much just fate. Tucked away on Sixth street in one of those iconic, recognizable old Toot-n-Totum buildings, this is the spot for affordable, authentic tacos and tamales. 3623 SW Sixth Ave., 374.4945 $$

This comfort casual chain has very few locations, but ours on I-40 is constantly busy. The appetizers are great for sharing and the popular Happy Hour is ridiculously affordable. Each location offers a signature menu. Try a Black Angus steak or the pizza. 4110 I-40 West, 398.2776, aspencreekgrill.com/amarillo $$

AMARILLO’S STOCKYARD GRILL

THE BAGEL PLACE

Open since 1904 inside the Amarillo Livestock Auction building, this historic restaurant feels like stepping back in time. The down-home breakfast is legendary, but so are the steaks, burgers, and famous chicken-fried steak. It’s open MondayFriday, but on Mondays you can watch the auctions. 100 S. Manhattan St., 220.0484, amarillostockyardgrill.com $

AMERICAN MADE COFFEE HOUSE

It may be out of the way for a majority of locals, but they don’t know what they’re missing. American Made is River Road’s best-kept secret. The owner is known to offer free coffee to first responders, and the handmade sandwiches are belly busters. Don’t miss the fresh-made sweets. 6402 River Road, 236.0005 $

APPLEBEE’S GRILL + BAR

Look, it’s Applebee’s. You don’t need an introduction. You already know about the inexpensive family meals and daily lunch specials. You know it’s got a full bar and a “drink of the month.” You know it’s a decent spot for dates. But you may not know it now has food to-go and delivery. 2810 Soncy Road, 351.2810, applebees.com $$

ASIAN BUFFET

Everyone was worried about buffets during 2020, but this diverse 34th and Bell buffet pivoted to offer pickup, delivery and extra sanitization practices. Not interested in a buffet? The Mongolian Barbecue feature— prepared fresh, right in front of you—is unique to Amarillo. 3347 Bell St., 803.9588, amarillobuffet.wixsite.com/asianbuffet $

This is not a comprehensive list of local restaurants. From issue to issue, we will try to include a wide variety of dining options based on the space available. If you notice an error, please email mm@brickandelm.com.

This beloved breakfast and lunch spot introduced bagels to the Panhandle years ago, and locals have been grateful ever since. Grab a fresh bagel to go and choose from a variety of cream cheese flavors. Or try the oversized homemade sweets. (Look, everything here is delicious.) 3301 Bell St., 353.5985, bagelplace.net $

BANGKOK RESTAURANT

In a city known for its Thai food, Bangkok is truly authentic—and a legit Amarillo Boulevard dive. Take it from patrons with experience: If they say it’s “spicy,” they mean it. Get ready, and make sure you’ve got plenty of water. 5901 Amarillo Blvd. East, 383.9008 $

BANGKOK-TOKYO

The name should give you an idea of the Asian fusion available here. The dining area is very small—thanks, weird triangle roofline!—but you can get fantastic Thai food combined with even better sushi. Takeout orders are quick, and it also now offers an expanded gluten-free menu. 2413 S. Western St., Suite A, 353.4777 $$

BAR 3

This out-of-the-way spot is located south of town at Preston West Golf Course, but it’s got a loyal patronage. We might even say it’s worth the, um, long drive. Hit it on Taco Tuesday, or grab traditional bar/grill food the rest of the week. Regular drink specials quench your thirst. 9101 S. Coulter St., 353.7003 $

BEEF BURGER BARREL

Hands-down this is the most unique restaurant design in Amarillo, and this classic walk-up joint has held down the

$ $$ $$$

Most entrees under $10 Most entrees $11 to $20 Most entrees over $21

f+d same spot since 1952. You can’t miss it. Because, y’all, it’s a giant white barrel. Not in the mood for beef and/or burgers? Try a fish, ham or grilled cheese sandwich. 3102 Plains Blvd., 374.0101 $

BEEF ‘O’BRADY’S

Amarillo is not exactly a haven for Irish food or drinks. But this family-friendly chain offers the closest thing to it—at Beef ‘O’Brady’s, the pub food is “Irish-inflected”—all wrapped up in a sports bar atmosphere. There’s a sizable party room, too. 7306 SW 34th Ave., 358.0997, beefobradys.com $$

BELMAR BAKERY

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This family-owned bakery is known across the city for its cookies and cakes, but the restaurant side has a passionate clientele of its own. Grab an enormous breakfast burrito with Roasters coffee. For lunch, try the soup or a panini. Belmar also has great box lunches and party trays. 3325 Bell St., 355.0141, belmarbakery.com $

BENJAMIN’S DONUTS & BAKERY

Local folks are serious about donuts, and there is definitely a “Benjamin’s donuts or no donuts at all” camp. Benjamin’s is familyowned and -operated, and you won’t find a bad option on the menu—from donuts to the pastries, kolaches, breakfast sandwiches and burritos. 7003 Bell St., 353.1100/ 1800 Western St., 803.1133 $

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THE BIG TEXAN STEAK RANCH & BREWERY

This tourist destination is packed at all hours of the day. Everyone talks about the 72-ounce steak challenge, but other standouts include the popular “Mountain Oysters,” normalsized steaks, chicken-fried steak and ribs. The onsite brewery recently added a hard seltzer to its menu. 7701 I-40 East, 372.6000, bigtexan.com $$

BITI PIES

Take your favorite traditional pie, like buttermilk or chocolate, then make it ittybitty and bite-sized. That’s the concept. And yes, tiny pies are just as delicious as normal-sized pies. Order yours to-go directly from Biti or get them from a variety of local retailers. 604 S. Maryland St., 367.6413, bitipies.com $

BLUE CRANE BAKERY

This locally owned breakfast-and-lunch spot has a frequently changing menu, welcoming staff, and a reputation as one of the best keto-

2611 Wolflin Village (806) 331-2002 | marcellas.com

friendly bakeries in town. The homemade poptarts are incredibly popular. Or, grab a cookie, pie or cake—all served with coffee from The 806. 3223 SW Sixth Ave., 322.3233 $

BLUE SKY

Burgers are big here, and locals almost always rate these the best in town, which is why Blue Sky’s two locations are always busy. We also love the homemade shakes, the fried anaheim chile sticks and the cheese fries. Families love the casual setting and outdoor dining. 4201 I-40 West, 355.8100/5060 S. Coulter St., 322.3888, blueskytexas.com $$

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BUTTERLOVE BISCUITS

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Yes, the entire restaurant concept is built around biscuits and isn’t that all you really need to know? Biscuits are the ultimate comfort food and these are heavenly, with savory and sweet options and brunch cocktails in a fun environment—owned by the sweethearts behind Ruffled Cup. 3440 S. Bell, Suite 130, 418.8966, butterlove.com $$

CADA VEZ COMIDA MEXICANA

This relatively new Town Square restaurant is already getting raves for its classic Tex-Mex fare. The savory birria tacos are wonderful, and so are the salsa selections— with 22 beers on tap and excellent margaritas to wash it all down. Try the weekend brunch! 9200 Town Square Blvd., Suite 1000, 418.6976, cadavezamarillo.com $$

CALICO COUNTY RESTAURANT

This Amarillo favorite isn’t fancy—the rusty farm tools on the cabin-style walls make that clear—but the homestyle food is always good, from breakfast fare to chicken-fried steak. This is the kind of friendly place where you always order the same thing (and you’re happy you did). 2410 Paramount Blvd., 358.7664, calicocountyrestaurant.com $$

CARNICERIA Y TAQUERIA LA POPULAR

You can’t go wrong at an eatery tucked into the back of a family-owned supermarket. Do your shopping, then hit the counter for a lunch of barbacoa tacos and tamales. On the way back, grab traditional Mexican sweetbreads like conchas and marranitos. 1505 SE Third Ave., 374.6451 $

CASK & CORK

The rooftop patio in southwest Amarillo offers unparalleled views of Panhandle

sunsets. It’s also a great spot for live music and cocktails. And while we love the shareable apps, we’re most impressed by the attentive service here. Every employee seems eager to please. 5461 McKenna Square, Suite 101, 410.1113, caskncorkamarillo.com $$

THE CATCH

Newly open on 45th in the old Carl’s Jr. building, this fast casual franchise offers Cajun-style seafood like shrimp boils, fish tacos, catfish, etouffee, seafood and fries baskets. The Texas franchise has locations throughout the state. 5900 SW 45th Ave., 803.2925 thecatchhouston.com

CHOP CHOP RICE CO.

This long-standing fast-casual Asian restaurant is Amarillo-owned, with two locations here and three in Lubbock. It’s a favorite of high school and college students, who appreciate its generous portions and reasonable prices. 3300 S. Coulter St., Suite 1, 457.0700/2818 Wolflin Ave., 731.4499, chopchoprice.com $

CITY CAFÉ AND ESPRESSO

“Wanna eat at the PD?” Don’t be surprised at the question. This basement location at the Amarillo Police Department offers a full breakfast—it’s very affordable—and lunch menu with an espresso bar. The daily specials are popular, along with sandwiches, wraps, flat bread, burgers and salads. Call-in and to-go orders welcome. 200 SE Third Ave., Level B, 378.6104 $

CRAZY LARRY’S FINE TEXAS BBQ On the Hey Amarillo podcast, Brick & Elm cofounder Jason Boyett once named this his favorite restaurant. It’s famous for its Frito pie, delicious beans, and nostalgic chopped beef sandwiches, all made from scratch by husband-and-wife owners. 4315 Teckla Blvd., 359.3176, crazylarrysbbq.com $$

DELVIN’S RESTAURANT & CATERING

Drunken Oyster feels like you’ve stepped out of the Panhandle and into the heart of the bayou. The Louisiana-style cuisine never disappoints, from the fresh oysters to the jambalaya and crawfish étouffée. It’s also a great spot for live music. 7606 SW 45th Ave., Suite 100, 418.6668, drunkenoysteramarillo.com $$

THE EATERY ON ROUTE 66

Located in the same building as Two Loons, this small cafe is just as delicious as it is quirky. We can’t get enough of the 50/50, an enormous beef-and-bacon-blended meatloaf sandwich. For a lighter option, order the Strawberry Fields Forever salad or a quiche. 3208 SW Sixth Ave., 322.0828, eateryonroute66.com $

EAT-RITE HEALTH FOOD & RESTAURANT

This legendary cafe is nestled inside a longtime health food store in Wolflin Square, so you can feel good about everything on the menu. Its owner pioneered serving organic food in Amarillo. We’ve always loved the marinated carrots and enchiladas. Thirsty? Try the juice bar. 2425 I-40 West, 353.7476, eat-rite.com $$

EL GIRO

A small, under-the-radar favorite for authentic Mexican food—not Tex-Mex—in west Amarillo. El Giro is well-known for its inexpensive tacos, including a huge taco box order with a dozen-plus tacos. Very much a go-to order for office meetings and small events. Look for their food truck on the Boulevard. 1800 Bell St., 318.3859 $

EL TEJAVAN

Plenty of locals identify El Tejavan as their favorite Mexican food restaurant in Amarillo, especially the original location on east I-40. The guacamole and salsa are fantastic, along with homemade tortillas, tacos and barbacoa made from recipes passed down for generations. 3801 I-40 East, 372.5250/3420 I-40 West, 354.2444 $$

After opening in 2015, this North Heights restaurant quickly gained a diverse, dedicated clientele from across the city thanks to its generous portions and madefrom-scratch flavors. (The buttermilk pie is worth a trip by itself.) The downtown menu is slightly smaller but just as good. 1300 N. Hughes St., 803.9111/701 S. Taylor St., 350.7441, delvinsrestaurant.com $

FLAMINGO’S LATIN BAR & GRILL

THE DRUNKEN OYSTER

FRUTILANDIA

The opulent, moody atmosphere of the

Located in an old Taco Villa building, this locally owned lunch-and-dinner spot offers traditional Mexican dishes with Latin American flair. The birria tacos and barbacoa tacos are customer favorites, as is the dessert menu. Local foodies rave about this place. 701 Amarillo Blvd. East, 367.7304 $

It’s easy to miss this tiny shop located right

behind Fiesta Foods on Southeast 10th. Don’t miss it! Inside you’ll find beautiful ceviche, colorful fruit cups, gazpacho, shrimp cocktail, elote en vaso (corn in a cup), bubble tea and addictive Doritos chili pie. 1010 SE 10th Ave., 670.9054 $

GIRASOL CAFE & BAKERY

We are huge fans of Girasol, where the weekly specials are always creative, filling and delicious. The Saturday brunch never disappoints either, especially in the new outdoor dining area on a sunny morning. Girasol is lunch-only, so grab some baked goods or bread when you leave. 3201 S. Coulter St., 322.0023 $

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GLORIA’S OYSTER BAR

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One of the original Mexican seafood places in Amarillo, Gloria’s is known for its soups, oysters and traditional Mexican dishes like chile rellenos. In a city filled with quality Mexican food, Gloria’s stands out as unique. And the capirotada (Mexcian bread pudding) is incredible. 1300 S. Grand St., 373.2722 $

THE GOLDEN LIGHT CAFE

This doesn’t need an introduction from us, but are you a real Amarilloan if you’ve never dined at this icon? In business since 1946 at the same location, it’s the oldest-operating restaurant in Amarillo and maybe even along Route 66. Fantastic greasy burgers with outdoor dining and a music venue next door. 2908 SW Sixth Ave., 374.9237, goldenlightcafe.com $

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GOLDEN WAFFLE COMPANY

One of the proprietors of this women-owned business also owns the Golden Light, so its local heritage is already strong. This strip-mall spot features sweet and savory waffles with toppings. Its weekend brunch is extremely popular, along with its creative mimosas and micheladas. 6017 Hillside Road, Suite 250, 367.8141, goldenwafflecompany.com $

THE HANDLE BAR AND GRILL

Yes, it’s a biker bar, but don’t let the fact that you drive a Subaru keep you from this Texas-style comfort food. The fried bologna sandwiches are *chef’s kiss* and the gigantic Bloody Mary might as well be a meal. The outdoor dining on Sixth Street really gets our motors running. 3514 SW Sixth Ave., 803.9538 $

IT’S A PUNJABI AFFAIR

Indian food is hard to find in Amarillo, but this hut across from Sam Houston Park takes a friendly, youthful approach to Indian-style street food. Our go-to orders include the butter chicken, lamb curry, and marinated and

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fried tilapia—plus options for vegans and vegetarians. 4201 Bushland Blvd., 414.2114, punjabiamarillo.com $

JOE TACO

This Amarillo stand-by has a solid reputation for fast service and great Tex-Mex, with two Amarillo locations and one in Canyon. The bar and outdoor patio at the Wallace location, near the hospitals, are always hopping with live music on weekends. 7312 Wallace Blvd., 331.8226/600 S. Buchanan St., 350.8226, joetaco.net $$

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Experienced. Fair. Committed to Justice.

The Bara family is iconic in Amarillo because of their long-lasting, family-owned restaurants featuring generational recipes. The family-friendly menu is true Tex-Mex, with lots of fun Happy Hour specials in the bar area. We’ve loved this place since we were kids. 2200 Ross St., 374.3689/7 415 SW 45th Ave., 352.1330, fiestagrande.com $$

LAS PARRILLADAS NORTEÑAS

In Spanish, parrilladas refers to mixed grill items designed to feed more than one person. This is definitely the case here, with northern Mexico cuisine served with impressive presentation, including a lot of seafood. Customers love the buffet with traditional Mexican entrees and sides. 1706 Amarillo Blvd. East, 418.8321 $$

MACARONI JOE’S

Always a popular date-night choice, Mac Joe’s is an Amarillo institution known for elegant ambiance and attentive service. The menu relies on Italian dishes but also offers fantastic steaks—with one of the best wine lists in all of the Texas Panhandle. 1619 S. Kentucky St., Suite D1500, 358.8990, macaronijoes.com $$-$$$

NORTH HEIGHTS DISCOUNT & CAFE

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If you’ve ever thought twice about dining inside a convenience store, this will change your mind. This place serves some of the best soul food in the city. It’s known for huge portions—the nachos probably weigh three pounds—as well as its ribs, pork chops, fried catfish and breakfast items. 1621 NW 18th Ave., 418.6751 $

PHO 84

In a city with few traditional Vietnamese options, Pho 84 is a local favorite. We love the pho, of course, but you also won’t go wrong with the spring rolls, dumplings, curry and

other Asian fusion dishes. Plus: Vietnamese coffee. 5713 SW 34th Ave., 437.1626 $

THE PLAZA RESTAURANT & BAR

If you remember its original strip-mall location with the indoor, lighted fountain, then you’re already a loyal customer of this longtime Tex-Mex favorite. The menu is still affordable, with excellent fajitas, enchiladas and sopapillas—with a full bar. 2101 S. Soncy Road., 358.4897, theplazaarestaurant.com $

PONDASETA BREWING CO.

Already popular for its craft beer, a new mobile trailer enables the brewery to serve a food truck-style menu. The focus is pub-style food like burgers, sandwiches and mac-andcheese bites. Kids meals are available. The adults will want the charcuterie adventure board, with hummus, cheese, meat and crackers. $$ BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

RAIN PREMIER SUSHI BAR & LOUNGE

The sushi is good and the all-day Wednesday Happy Hour specials are even better. Popular with the downtown crowd, this spot is open for lunch and dinner, with a full bar and contemporary Asian cuisine. During Happy Hour, sushi rolls and appetizers are incredibly affordable. 817 S. Polk St., 331.1155, rainamarillo.com $$

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ROCKET BREWS

Seemingly made for Instagram, this Boulevard location quietly built a loyal clientele. Then it got featured in Season 14 of the Texas Bucket List. Head there for to-go micheladas and daiquiris with Jalisco-style snack trays and bowls. Locally owned by Palo Duro grads. 1506 Amarillo Blvd. East, 350.7830, rocketbrews.com $

SHI LEE’S BARBECUE & SOUL FOOD CAFE

We love this place. One of the owners calls his chicken-fried chicken the “comeback kid,” because if you order it, you’re guaranteed to come back. He’s right. But everything on the menu is good, especially for takeout given the small dining area. (The portions are always big, though.) 1213 SW Third Ave., 220.0032 $

SINALOA HOT DOGS AND MEXICAN FOOD

If you’ve never had a Mexican hot dog, then stop reading and head over to the Boulevard right now. This is a small place but the flavor is huge. We also love the fire-grilled chicken, tacos, tortas, carne asada, quesadillas, burritos, and mulitas. But that hot dog! (You’ll

FOOT WEA R TO TR A NSITION INTO FA LL 2636 Wolflin Ave. • 353-2404 • randysshoes.com

need napkins.) 2618 Amarillo Blvd. East, 367.8935 $

SPICY MIKE’S BAR-B-Q HAVEN

The spice is nice at this very popular barbecue joint in west Amarillo, known for chopped brisket sandwiches, tender pork ribs and more. We also love the daily specials—like Saturday’s smoked turkey sandwich—and homemade cobbler for dessert. 6723 S. Western St., 358.8550, spicymikes.mymobisite.us $

C ONVE NIE NT PICKUP AND D E LI VE RY!

SUNDAY’S KITCHEN

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Everyone loves Chef Ron, but they especially love his West Texas twist on Gulf Coast and Cajun cuisine. This downtown dive is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Friday, and lunch only on Saturdays—and don’t miss the Sunday brunch. Try the Pit Master Mac & Cheese. 112 SW Sixth Ave., 418.6477 $$

WE DO IT A L L , W ITH A L IT TL E E XTR A CONVENI ENCE FRO M A N AP P !

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TOOM’S RESTAURANT

Experts know that a lot of “Thai” food actually has origins in Laos, and that fusion is on display at Toom’s, one of our favorite spots on the northeast side. The family owners are super friendly, the space is incredibly clean, and the authentic flavors pop. Get the sticky rice and beef jerky. 3416 NE 24th Ave., 381.2568 $

WONDER WOMENZ BAKERY

Fun name, eye-catching art, amazing all-day breakfast—including CBD baked goods. This drive-up bakery also has a rotating dessert menu featuring cupcakes, sweet crepes, pies, turnovers, and cheesecakes (whole or by the slice). Check Facebook for daily specials and flash sales. 909 S. Madison St., 477.0199 $

YCSF CRAFT

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It started as a “food truck without wheels” and now this street food experiment is one of the city’s favorite restaurants, and one of the only vegan/vegetarian places in town. Definitely try the animal fries and diablo shrimp tacos. The burgers, craft beer and wine list are all wonderful. 2916 Wolflin Ave., 353.9273, yellowcitystreetfood.com $

X– STEAKHOUSE

The name is a play on cattle brands—say “X-Bar”—and this newish Town Square steakhouse definitely knows beef. It’s locally owned, has a full bar, and the prices are extremely reasonable for such a swanky atmosphere. We hear great things about the weekend brunch, too.

9181 Town Square Blvd., Suite 1311, 322.4227, xbarsteakhouse.com $$-$$$

C AN YON

CANYON RANCH STEAKS & SPORTS

BUFF’S

This small, locally owned spot advertises itself as an “old-school diner with a new school touch.” That’s a great description. The college crowd and Canyon families love the homestyle comfort food, including burgers, sandwiches, and daily specials. Try the breakfast burritos. 2201 Fourth Ave., 655.2833 $

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322.0086 3323 SW SIXTH AVE.

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Classic steakhouse fare in what was once home to Imperial Taproom. Locals love the daily promotions and specials at this family-friendly sports bar, as well as its reasonable pricing. There’s a full bar, and we hear rumors live music and karaoke may be happening there soon. 410 15th St., 452.7269, canyonranchsteakandsports.com $$

HUDSPETH HOUSE COFFEE HOUSE

Georgia O’Keeffe once lived in this historic boarding house, and the newly opened coffee house has become a beloved weekday spot for light breakfast items, quiche, baked goods, sandwiches and soup, and even afternoon tea. The scones are almost as amazing as the history here. 1905 Fourth Ave., 655.9800, hudspethhouse.com $

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RANCH HOUSE CAFE

Every bit what you’d expect from a smalltown, home-cooking restaurant. This is comfort food at its best, with all-day breakfast, chicken-fry and steaks, TexMex specialties and desserts made-fromscratch. You didn’t hear it from us, but whole pies are available to order. 810 23rd St., 655.8785, theranchhousecafe.com $

SAYAKOMARN’S RESTAURANT

This traditional Thai and Laotian place is extremely popular with locals, who mostly have given up trying to pronounce the name and instead call it “Soccer Moms.” (It’s … close.) We love the pretty dining area and separate to-go pickup entrance. We also love the Boba tea. 421 16th St., 655.2698, sayakomarns.com $$

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FO OD TR UC KS: AM E R IC AN

DA SPOT 2.0

Stuffed turkey legs. Comfort food like macand-cheese, jalapeño cornbread dressing and greens. 1102 Amarillo Blvd. West, 806.678.9333

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FRY DADDY J’S

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TANK’S BURGERS Classic handmade burgers and more. 6701 S. Washington; other locations

YOLOS

Breakfast and classic American comfort food offerings. 806.626.9813

GLADYS’ RIB SHACK 806.881.6222

PORK N THINGS BBQ 806.433.5666

COFFEE

CADDY SHACK COFFEE STOP

Cajun-style fried fish, shrimp boils and more. 806.310.8034

YUM IN A BUN

Handheld comfort food. 806.420.1969

Specialty coffee, tea, Italian cream sodas, baked goods and more. 806.641.0823

J & L GOOD GRUBS

AS IAN

REVIVIFY COFFEE

Gourmet tacos, burgers and brats. 806.336.6162

HIBACHI KINGDOM

KOUNTRY KITCHEN

BAR BEC UE

Burgers, chicken-fried steak, chicken bites. Washington Street and Old Claude Highway, 806.382.0682

BBQ REVIVAL

Proceeds benefit Life Challenge of Amarillo. Specialty coffee drinks, smoothies, waffles and more. 806.352.0385

ELEMENT CRAFT BBQ

COCINA ON THE GO

Traditional hibachi dishes. 806.316.1487

713.304.5470

806.420.1093

MEXICAN

Tacos, quesadillas, nachos, asada fries

and more. 806.651.9313

TACOS KALIFAS

L.A.-style street tacos and more. I-40 and Grand, 806.410.7216

PIZZA

PIZZA NOMAD

Wood-fired pizza, appetizers and specials. 806.477.2660

REAGAN’S BRICK OVEN

Wood-fired pizza. 806.433.5793

SNACKS

CORN EXPRESS

Corn-in-a-cup, roasted corn, snow cones, lemonade and fruit cups. 812 Amarillo Blvd. East, 373.1900

CORTEZ JERKY

Homemade beef jerky, corn-in-a-cup, clamato and more. 806.433.3694

SWEETS

CHEESECAKE HSTL Choose-your-owntoppings cheesecake. facebook.com/ cheesecakehstl

POOKIE BEAR SMOOTHIES

Smoothies, aguas, tea, bubble waffles and more. 1606 Amarillo Blvd. East, 806.680.7656

PURPLE FLAMINGO POPS

Offers a rotating menu of handmade popsicles. 806.517.2131

f you live in Amarillo, you’ve very likely been to Dallas. Maybe the idea of a road trip to the Big D doesn’t seem particularly inspiring. But that’s because you’ve never been to the “Olympics of Food.” If not, this could be your year.

The annual World Food Championships were cancelled last year but are back this fall. Also known as the “Ultimate Food Fight Experience,” this event is regularly described as one of the top food festivals in the United States. This year, it takes place in Dallas, and its public Flavor Fest programming is set for Nov. 5-7 at Fair Park. From “Grilling Grannies” to exclusive, award-winning VIP tastings, there are plenty of mouthwatering opportunities for foodies of all ages to take a bite out of the event. “It’s exciting to know that we’re only a few months away from the most robust and fun-filled food fest we’ve ever produced,” says Mike McCloud, President and CEO of WFC. “We have already seen an enormous amount of momentum on the competition side with more than 40 states represented in our team count, almost all of our judging positions are already filled, and tickets are selling at a record-breaking rate.” WFC’s multi-day throwdown and Flavor Fest feature more than 20 tasting experiences for attendees, while also hosting more than 1,500 cooks—from celebrity chefs to pro teams to home cooks—in a major “food fight” that rewards the winners with a $300,000 prize purse.

PHOTOS AND TEXT COURTESY OF WORLD FOOD CHAMPIONSHIPS

BRICKANDELM.COM SEPT | OCT 2021

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9TH ANNUAL MAIN EVENT’S FLAVOR FEST, DALLAS, TEXAS

!!!!!

road trip

Watch our social media channels for a chance to win Four (4) General Admission tickets!

BBQ Ranch: Back by popular demand, WFC and its barbecue partners will be serving up free fixins for Texas-sized appetites. Pitmasters and celebrity chefs will fire up thousands of pounds of barbecue in a ranch-style block party, from the hottest grills and barbecue pits on the market for foodies to savor and enjoy..

Beat the Beefer: The inventors of the original Beefer are coming back to WFC to give its steak competitors the chance to win extra cash using a German-based, top-down searing machine that generates a stunning 1,500 degrees of Fahrenheit heat within seconds. This is a sizzling must-see!

Biscuits & Jampionships: WFC has once again partnered with the Dallas-based jam and jelly company, The Jelly Queens, to bring back the “Biscuits and Jampionships” ancillary chef competition. Determined through an online recipe contest months prior, 10 finalists will recreate their recipe submissions in person at WFC for an esteemed panel of judges. This delicious and quirky contest is always full of fun surprises, thanks to the lovable Jelly Queen herself, Donna Collins.

Bourb’N’Que: What do you get when you mix premium bourbon tastings with delicious ribs prepared by the best pitmasters in America? The best barbecue block party in Dallas history. If you’re a foodie who loves barbecue and bourbon, don’t miss this event.

Brunch Bar: Brunch is big in the Lone Star State, and this new foodie experience has attendees sipping mimosas at the Bubble Bar, grabbing coffee from the Cattle Dog Coffee Corner, indulging in savory drinks at the Bloody Mary Bar and more.

Champion’s Table: Feast on exclusive tastings from WFC’s previous champions as you sample $100,000 worth of award-winning dishes, perfectly paired with cocktails to enhance your experience. This luxury tasting event takes place next to the heat of WFC’s live-action culinary competition in Kitchen Arena. It’s available only to VIP patrons. Fire Woman: Ninety minutes. Four award-winning female pitmasters. One challenge. Zero help. Need we say more? Who will rise from the smoke to take home the Fire Woman title and cash prize?

Hall of Taste: WFC attendees will have the opportunity to sample a variety of complimentary food-related products as they enter the gateway to Kitchen Arena. From exclusive Texas bites to hidden gems throughout America and the world, this area will warm up everyone’s palates as the perfect prep for the sights, sounds and smells of WFC.

VIP Lounge: Want to sip and savor in comfort while taking in all the WFC action? Then make the VIP Lounge your destination. Attendees enjoy a separate entrance to the main event, a private cash bar, TV screens to keep up to date on all of the action, complimentary chef demos and sampling, featured cocktails and refreshments, and more. VIP weekend passes start at $185. Learn more at tastewfc.com.

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With general admission tickets starting at $15, the general public also has plenty to tingle their taste buds:

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ur co-publisher and editorial director, Jason Boyett, is also the host of the popular Hey Amarillo podcast, a weekly interview show featuring Amarillo people. If you haven’t yet subscribed, here are a few recent episodes you may have missed.

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SHAWN KENNEDY JULY 5, 2021 A long-time art instructor at Caprock High School, Kennedy is also the founder and executive director of Blank Spaces Murals & Gallery. This mural group composed of high school-aged artists is responsible for 20-plus public murals in and around Amarillo, including the new one at the Wesley Community Center (see page 38 of this issue). “I’ve been able to see first-hand the impact of Shawn and Blank Spaces through my work on the City of Amarillo’s Beautification and Public Arts Advisory Board,” Jason says. “They are one of my favorite stories to tell about Amarillo right now. This city is a better place because of this crew, and I loved hearing Shawn provide background into its short history and process.” JULIAN REESE JULY 12, 2021 “One of my favorite things to do on the podcast is introduce guests who have unique careers, and Julian definitely qualifies,” Jason says. Julian Reese is probably best-known as the head coach of the Amarillo Venom, the local professional indoor football team. But he’s also a funeral director at Golden Gate Mortuary, a business he co-owns. A highly touted football prospect, Reese came to Amarillo after an injury hampered his potential for an NFL career. He’d barely heard of our city at the time, and just hoped for a chance to find his way back into pro football. But Reese ended up staying, getting married, and immersing himself in the community. “Amarillo is better for it. I’m glad he planted roots here,” says Jason. R. TAYLOR MOORE JULY 19, 2021 Featured in this issue on page 64, the novelist Taylor Moore recorded this interview with Jason two years ago, right after finishing the manuscript that became the novel Down Range. “I chose to re-release this episode because I wanted my listeners to be reminded of where Taylor was at that point, and then see where he landed,” Jason says. In the interview,

Moore details his intelligence career with the CIA and how he arrived in the Texas Panhandle “kicking and screaming” before discovering a deep-seated love for the landscape and its people. “Down Range is a fantastic, smart thriller and I really think it’s going to be a huge success for Taylor,” Jason says. “Read it now and get ready. Big things are about to happen.” ABIGAIL RIVERA JULY 26, 2021 Abi Rivera was the first member of her family to graduate from high school. After numerous stops around the state, she and her husband came to Amarillo, where she embarked on a career as a barber. Specializing in men’s cuts, she originally worked out of a shed behind her home. Today she’s the owner of The Society Barbershop, an upscale shop with two locations in Amarillo and an extremely loyal clientele. “I love unconventional career stories, and Abi’s path to entrepreneurship will be an encouragement to everyone who listens,” Jason says. “The business side of things didn’t come naturally for her—she had to forge her own path—but her skill, ambition and commitment to service definitely brought her success.” JIMMY LACKEY AUG. 2, 2021 “SO many people have mentioned this episode to me,” Jason says of this interview with the Kids Inc. President and CEO. “Obviously, Jimmy is a great storyteller and advocate, but I think the real draw is Kids Inc. itself. That organization has impacted multiple generations of Amarillo families, including mine.” Last year, the youth sports organization celebrated its 75th anniversary, a milestone that was overshadowed by a cancelled spring season amid the COVID shutdown. Lackey tells how the organization started, how it fought its way through the pandemic, and how local businesses and donors stepped up to keep it afloat during an incredibly difficult year. Subscribe and listen to Hey Amarillo across a variety of podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher, or visit heyamarillo.com.

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D. MALDONADO

hat started as a desire to create images in the iconic sugar skull style has developed into a deeper journey for artist D. Maldonado. Her original Dia de los Muertos art series has grown not only in size, but also in meaning, giving the artist an opportunity to share, honor and celebrate a beautiful and often misunderstood tradition of Mexican culture. Over the past decade, Maldonado has created portraits in this style, which have been featured at her annual Dia de los Muertos art event since 2011. D. Maldonado’s Day of the Dead art series has been featured in private and public galleries, including a solo show at the XIT Museum in Dalhart and also in art workshops and presentations at schools, museums and libraries. Although Halloween and Day of the Dead are often lumped together, the celebrations couldn’t be more different. Both are offshoots of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, but Halloween emphasizes the spooky, gruesome and macabre. People shudder (if delightfully) at the thought of scary spirits in the living world. However, “Day of the Dead” or “Dia de los Muertos” is observed on Nov. 1 and 2 and focuses on celebrating with one’s family and remembering those who are no longer with us on earth. Food, music, photos and mementos are used to honor and remember loved ones who have passed on. Sugar skulls are common in the celebration—sugar represents the sweetness of life and the skull represents death.

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in focus

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D. M AL D O NAD O To connect or learn more, find the artist on Facebook @ D.Maldonado or Instagram @Dcoolestphotos.

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PHOTO BY WES REEVES

AMARILLO DAILY NEW S

back when WITH WES REEVES

T R I -S TAT E FA I R & R O D E O

The squash in the garden takes on a saffron hue, and maybe there’s a pumpkin that’s grown bigger and rounder than the rest. In the distance, when the wind is right, we might hear marching bands in training, knocking out the fight song. And maybe the distinct growl of a coach goading his squad to settle a score with a cross-town rival. And then fall, riding the drift of fresh morning air, makes a show of its ultimate triumph where the squash and portly pumpkins join with marching bands and Friday night warriors to send summer on its way. For as long as I can remember, the Amarillo Tri-State Fair is fall, a vital cosmic process. According to Panhandle historian Lana Payne Barnett, the first fair in Amarillo took place in 1903 on Llano Cemetery property. Fairs were held sporadically over the next few years until 1913, when the Panhandle State Fair opened at Glenwood Electric Park. Dignitaries from across the region were invited to speak at the opening, including my maternal great-grandfather, Albert Wesley Read of Memphis, sporting his grand champion mustache. The first fair to be known as the Tri-State Fair was held in 1923 on the grounds of the new Municipal Auditorium on Buchanan Street. The following year, Potter County purchased almost 130 acres between Southeast 10th and Southeast Third avenues abutting Grand Street on the east, and through a long-term agreement, the Fair made this east Amarillo setting its permanent home. I grew up with the Fair because my father was a county agent— Texas A&M’s man in the field who brought the latest in agricultural research to far-flung farms and ranches. Some of my earliest memories involved riding with Daddy to gather stalks of milo and dried branches of opened cotton bolls to display at the Collingsworth County exhibit in the old Ag and Arts Building. When that work was done, he would turn his attention to his 4-H kids’ steers across the way in the livestock pavilion, poofing their tails into an Aqua Net delight rivaling any Sunday hairdo sculpted in Wilma’s Beauty Box back home. Daddy’s gone now, and over the years, the Fair has been challenged by all the other amusements we’ve dreamed up. Granted, it can be a bit exhausting wrangling your kids for hours on the Midway, saying things like “you’re gonna puke that up” and being right about it. But we still go and spend our money because there’s nothing else like it. We need this place where all the social strata can spill out into one big stream of sediment, yelling at their kids and reminding them where their food comes from in multiple languages. Because at heart, we’re all pumpkin farmers intent on a September payoff. And the Tri-State Fair is a reflection of where we’ve been and where we hope to go.

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PHOTOS AND POSTER COURTESY OF THE TRI-STATE FAIR

he coming of fall is a gradual revelation—a cooler morning here and there, a certain light and lightness of being we begin to notice with each passing day.

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PHOTO BY VENICE MINCEY

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HAN OWENS MARKETING ADMINISTRATOR, AMARILLO CIVIC CENTER COMPLEX The best advice I ever heard is ... Your life is your responsibility. My three most recommended books are ... Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. To me, success means ... having a happy and peaceful life and raising my child with good values, morals and a kind heart. People who know me might be surprised that I ... can speak and understand Taiwanese. My biggest pet peeve is ... personal space. I love talking and interacting with people. But that doesn’t mean I want someone to be two inches away from me at the grocery store. Everyone in Amarillo needs to experience ... the Yellow City Certified Tour hosted by Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau. It’s such a great experience to see what our city has to offer. If I could change any one local thing it would be ... to add rapid

transit either to get to places locally or have fast trains to/from Dallas, Houston, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs and Oklahoma City in a couple of hours. This city is amazing at ... its hospitality. No matter where you go, the stores, restaurants, attractions and people are always so friendly and have smiles on their face. My favorite place in Amarillo is ... not really in Amarillo, but we love Palo Duro Canyon when we need a staycation or to disconnect from technology. A local organization I love right now ... American Advertising Federation-Amarillo Chapter (AAF-Amarillo). AAF-Amarillo is a diverse group of local advertising professionals who meet twice a month. The club provides professional development education and advancement of the advertising community in the Amarillo area through programs such as public service, internships, advocacy groups, advertising education, and consumer awareness. For more information about the club, visit aafamarillo.org.

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Thursday, October 7, 2021 5pm - 8pm New Location: Tri-State Fairgrounds Join us for the 25th Annual Amarillo Chamber Good Times Celebration Barbecue Cook-Off and enjoy all you can eat, drink, and network from over 80 cooking teams!

All-Inclusive Tickets $30 in Advance | $40 at the Gate Tickets on sale at any Panhandle Tickets outlet including the customer service desk at any area United Supermarket, the Civic Center Box Office, by phone at 806.378.3096 or online at

Amarillo-Chamber.org | 806.373.7800 |

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