FORE! GOLFING IN THE RGV!
This week features the resilient Adobe Wells Golf Course!
UPCOMING EVENTS!
Check out this week’s listings of what’s happening in the RGV!
RECIPE CONNECTION!
Executive Chef Bettina Tolin shares a soul satisfying soup for chilly weather!
Welcome Home See details on page 8.
See calendar on page 28.
VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 11 • January 4, 2017
Try her recipe on page 41.
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WINTER TEXAN
• • • your official connection to the rio grande valley • • •
Leal Montalvo Returns for Santa Maria Bullring Opener January 8 Happy New Year! This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for – peak season! January is, by far, the busiest month of the season, with so many new folks checking in, activities in full force, and lots of extracurricular activities, as well! I hope you are coming to my party January 17-18 at the McAllen Convention Center. For those of you who don’t know, the Winter Texan Expo is my party, created just for you, with tons of vendors, entertainment, and, back by popular demand – dancing!!! Whether you like to square dance, line dance, or classic country and western, we’ll have something for everyone! There will be also be lots of travel adventures incorporated into this show, with vendors from Oklahoma, Amarillo, Eagle Pass, Bandera, San Antonio, and many other fun places! Please don’t miss my party! There is no “cover charge.” In other words, it’s FREE admission! Be prepared for a great South Texas Welcome Home party! See you January 17-18! • We’re just connecting the dots,
Kristi
Photographs by Joel Salcido
Special to Welcome Home RGV
Santa
Maria Bullring opens the 2017 Winter Texan season Sunday, January 8. Leal Montalvo, the 2016 Maximo Triunfador and winner of the Golden Ear Award is slated to return in the opener. The dramatic encounter with Leal’s last bull in the gran finale caught him and tossed him ten feet, at least, in the air, and when he hit the ground, the bull picked him up again, nearly putting a horn in his hip. Leal jumped up, grabbed his cape, and dropped onto both knees and caped the bull around him in a 360-degree pass that made the fans break into a roar. It was so dramatic that they kept it up, and he turned it on for ten more passes. He then limped away from his adversary, returned, and grabbed the rose from the shoulders of the bull in the symbolic kill. The fans kept roaring their approval. The judge, Don Gerado Martinez, awarded
him the symbolic ears and tail and the golden trophy. Matador Montalvo suffered a tremendous hematoma on his right hip that had to be tended to by doctors after his return to Monterrey. Appearing with Leal in the opener is the fantastic young matador Andre Lagravere, who recently returned from a tour of Spanish rings, including the capital in Madrid. He scored high among the Spaniards, appearing in 10 different cities. He is expected to turn it on in La Gloria. The bulls for the first event are from Don Rafael Mendoza and Don Gerardo Martinez. They are large of horn and body, and these two ranches always produce high-quality fighting stock One of the greatest videos made last year can be “googled.” Google Texas Bucket List TV, Bloodless Bullfight, La Gloria, Texas. You will see Leal
Montalvo in action, along with many comments by the fans. It also shows the great singer Alexa Posas in concert. Tickets are available at the following locations: Weslaco Visitors Center 275 Kansas St. in Weslaco, 968-2002, and Border Tire, located at Mayberry and Business 83 in Mission, 585-8473. To make reservations at the bullring, call Fred Renk at 1-956-481-3300. Tickets are $30.00 for the sunny side, $35.00 for the shady side, and $40.00 for covered ringside box seats. There is great food and entertainment prior to the 4:00 p.m. event. Gates open at 1:00 p.m. There is no charge for parking, and food will be served by Lane’s Restaurant of San Isidro. •
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 2016-2017 SEASON SPONSORS