GOLF ANYONE?
Tee Time in the RGV features Treasure Hills Golf Club!
UPCOMING EVENTS!
Check out our weekly listings of what’s happening in the RGV!
RECIPE CONNECTION!
Executive Chef Bettina Tolin shares one of her recipes!
Welcome Home See review on page 13.
See calendar on page 7.
VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 2 • October 28, 2015
Try her recipe on page 23.
®
WINTER TEXAN
• • • your official connection to the rio grande valley • • •
WOW! Winter Outdoor Wildlife Expo is back! Special to Welcome Home RGV
Another week has flown by, and it
has been so much fun to see so many of you out and about! While people up north look forward to the leaves changing color, I look forward to seeing license plates from Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Canada, and all of our other northern states. That’s how I know you’ve come home. I look forward to another exciting winter season and participating in events and activities where we are bound to run into each other. The season revolves around a number of things: food (and a lot of it!), entertainment and activities, music, and lots of fun events. But I have to say, the single most important thing is the friendships we create and nurture along the way. Friendships and fellowship are what keep you coming back to our wonderful Valley. This season, we want to foster that friendly spirit and continue to be an important piece of your conversations. If there is something exciting happening or you know of a special person or activity you think your friends need to know about, please share the stories with us! We have been overwhelmed by your kind words about our now weekly publication. We want you to know it is all about YOU--your thoughts, your interests, your events, and your pictures! Drop us a line, and let us know what you’d like to see in future issues. We will do our best to make your wishes our commands! Let’s get the conversations going. Can’t wait to see you all! • We’re just connecting the dots,
Kristi
After
a successful 20-year run under the command of St. Andrew’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Winter Outdoor Wildlife Expo is back and in a new home. South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center is coordinating the 2016 WOWE. South Padre Island’s popular annual event will run January 26 – 30, each day showcasing a special theme. Opening day is about the unique Lower Valley ecology and environment, including Laguna Madre, wetlands, shrimping industry, thorn scrub ecosystem, ocelots, alligators, and turtles. Other days highlight fish and fishing, native plants and their relationship to critters in the Valley, and birds from migration to shore birds to Valley specialty birds. Activities wrap up with a Saturday family day with many hands-on activities, special programs, and learning experiences. Nationally acclaimed Master Falconer and Wildlife Rehabilitator Jonathan Wood returns to WOWE Friday and Saturday, offering three shows daily. This most-requested entertaining and educational show with 20 amazing birds of prey features eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls. Ralph Ayers, former coordinator from St. Andrew’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, helped initiate and develop WOWE. Ayers said the time had come to pass on organizing the event. “After 20 years, the popularity and extent of the expo became more than our congregation felt comfortable managing. This is such an important educational opportunity to Valley visitors, we didn’t want it to
discontinue,” Ayers said. “We took great care finding an appropriate new manager and venue where we felt the tenets of this valuable event would be carried on.” The South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, only six years old, has quickly developed into a favorite stop in the Island’s tourism package. Locals and visitors alike tread the boardwalks daily, searching the wetlands and bay for new arrivals and permanent winged residents. Nature center Manager and Marketing Director Cristin Howard continually seeks activities to wow
visitors. “I was excited when I was approached with the possibility of taking on the WOWE event. The nature center is always looking for ways to increase educational opportunities and keep visitors coming to our facility,” Howard said. Because of space limitations, the center will present the expo in a different style, but the content and original intent of the show will be kept. More than 40 nature presentations will be offered throughout the expo. Nature-related vendors and local nature organizations will exhibit. Nature center volunteers, St. Andrew’s by the Sea Episcopal Church members and members of the Rio Grande Valley Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist are coordinating WOWE with the SPIBNC. Carolyn Cardile, RGVCTMN education director, is chairing the WOWE committee. For more information or to consider presenting a nature workshop, contact choward@spibirding.com. •
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 2015-2016 SEASON SPONSORS