Jeff Jarnagin on Instagram or Facebook, then our cover story theme is no surprise, as Jeff chronicled his torturous plight as official Cold Treats Taster at each of our photo shoots. It was a long, filling, frozen journey as he scarfed to-go cup after to-go cup, all for the cause of excellence and teamwork. He was the consummate professional.
WKayla Morris km@brickandelm.com
Jason Boyett jb@brickandelm.com
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
DESIGNER
Jeff Jarnagin jj@brickandelm.com
Kayla Morris km@brickandelm.com
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
hen I look back over the past few months, it feels like ages since I last wrote an editor’s note, and then at other times the weeks have flown by. In the middle of January, it seemed my days of typing up my last-minute thoughts prior to printing a magazine were over. And then … a miracle.
it’s us
Our summer food-focused issues are always a big hit, and this year, we expect heightened interest in everyone’s favorite summer treat. We feature all the best local shops and food trucks in Amarillo and Canyon in our cover story beginning on page 38. Special thanks to our friends at El Tropico for allowing us to capture our cover image with the perfect backdrop, and to Liz Alaniz and Sandy Godoy for corralling the cutest models to ever grace our pages. I smile every time I look at their sweet faces.
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Kait Bradford Bellmon
Owen Boyett
Angelina Marie
Angelina Marie
Shannon Richardson
Scott Thomas
Shannon Richardson
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
My longtime writing partner Jason Boyett became my new business partner and Brick & Elm was born. This “hyper-local” magazine was created in meetings at our respective homes, and it’s the compilation of everything we’ve ever hoped a Panhandle-focused publication could be. The community outpouring for our new project has been overwhelming in the best way. My friends and local businesses have sent streams of encouraging messages of support. Now I truly know what it means to say my cup overflows
Jonathan Baker
Mason Dudley Gray Gillman
Jon Mark Beilue
Chip Chandler
And we’re excited to announce our first-ever event in conjunction with our fun cold treats feature! We will celebrate local food, local music and a chance to give back with an ice cream fundraiser at Sam Houston Park on Aug. 6. In partnership with the City of Amarillo Parks and Recreation, we will be at the last Starlight Theater concert of the summer—along with most of the ice cream purveyors you see in our pages. Sample exclusive treats from these restaurants, listen to Insufficient Funds, and enjoy a summer evening while we raise money for The 100 Club of the Texas Panhandle. Watch our social media pages for more details and information about our generous sponsors. We can’t wait to see you!
This is the first of many fantastic Amarillo-centric issues created by a true dream team—Jason and the incomparable Kayla Morris. I’m thrilled beyond measure to share Brick & Elm with you. Thanks for reading.
Adidn’t know Randy Keller well, but we definitely grew up together. We roamed the same neighborhood and walked the same halls. From Paramount Terrace in the 1980s through our time at Tascosa, Randy was just a year behind me. His sister, Becca, graduated a year before me, and we got to know each other at Amarillo College. It’s an honor to share Randy’s story in these pages—and to highlight the altruism and legacy behind a truly generous scholarship. I knew many of the young recipients of the scholarship in the 1990s, and more recent recipients are my own kids’ friends. It’s a generational gift.
ll the best parts of my career began in the Amarillo College Journalism Department. There, in the mid1990s, I learned to write fast. I learned to edit. I learned desktop publishing, design and photography. But what I learned most of all is that I really liked magazines. I ended up the editor of AC’s award-winning campus magazine, AC Current, and fell in love with the process of creating a publication, start to finish.
rights reserved. Reproduction in
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Brick & Elm Magazine is published bimonthly by Edgebow Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.
Beyond features like that one, I love that Brick & Elm gives us the opportunity to elevate local voices. We’re excited to introduce two new, ongoing columns in this issue. “The Call” features Melodie Graves, a powerful public speaker, community activist and the current president of the Amarillo NAACP. We’re looking forward to her unique way of thinking and the motivational messaging that is so central to her work.
Here I am again, more than a quarter-century later. For years, Michele and I have worked together telling stories about our city. A few months ago we decided the time was right to launch a new, sophisticated, independent magazine about Amarillo. It feels appropriate that our first issue covers topics like trail-building, business reopenings, creative problem-solving and breathing new life into historic structures. We feel like all of those are metaphors for Brick & Elm, and maybe for print magazines in general.
So here’s to fresh starts and a new way to shine a spotlight on the city we love. Thanks for reading. We’re honored that you’re here with us, at the beginning.
And for something really different, we’re thrilled to introduce “The Dirt,” in which our intrepid (and anonymous) reporter digs into burning questions related to Amarillo. Expect explorations of all kinds of Texas Panhandle mysteries, arguments and issues. We are grateful to our friends at U.S. Cleaners for helping us develop this idea! We definitely want to hear from readers on this one, so send us all your questions.
SAVE THE DATE
Brick & Elm Presents Its First-Ever Ice Cream Fundraiser
COME HELP US RAISE MONEY FOR THE 100 CLUB OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE!
We’re celebrating cold treats in our latest issue. And we’re sharing them with you in a community celebration of local ice cream and frozen treats, local eateries, local music, and local giving.
TUESDAY, AUG. 6
Starlight Theater
Sam Houston Park 4101 Line Ave. 6-9 p.m.
(in partnership with Amarillo Parks & Recreation)
Music by Insufficient Funds
Food trucks and fun activities
Free, family-friendly event!*
Taste homemade ice cream, Mexican helados, paletas, and other frozen treats from these local businesses:
• Blue Sky
• C.O.W. (Cream Over Waffles)
• El Tropico
• Purple Flamingo Pops
• Antojos Ice Cream Shop
• The Paleta Bar
• Fiesta Foods
*Starlight Theater is always free, but we will sell special punch cards for exclusive treats to raise money for The 100 Club!
VIP Sponsor
Sponsored by
KAYLA MORRIS
Kayla has been designing professionally for more than 10 years. She was raised in the Panhandle and graduated with a design degree from West Texas A&M University.
SHANNON RICHARDSON
Shannon has been a commercial/ advertising photographer for almost 35 years. His work can be seen at shannonrichardson.com.
ANGELINA MARIE
Angelina has been a photographer in the Amarillo area for 13 years. She is the editor of the Hey Amarillo podcast. Angelina is co-director of Make Space, an Amarillo nonprofit focused on local artists. See her work at shorteareddog.com or find her on Instagram.
NICK
Nick is Hickman Professor of Marketing at West Texas A&M University, where he has taught since 1989. In his spare time, he travels around the country, including his beloved Route 66, in search of vintage signage and other outdoor advertising. He can be found on Instagram @nickgerlich.
Kait is the owner of Three Feather Photo Co, a local lifestyle and wedding brand that specializes in destination elopements. See her work at threefeatherpho.co and @threefeatherphotoco.
Wes was raised in Wellington and has lived in Amarillo since the early 90s. He serves as chairman of the Potter County Historical Commission and as a member of the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission board of directors.
JON
Jon Mark worked at the Amarillo Globe-News from 1981 until his retirement in 2018. He spent 17 of those years as sports editor, and the last 12 as the newspaper’s general columnist. He received 16 statewide and national awards for his work. Beilue is a native of Groom and graduate of Texas Tech University. He and wife Sandy have two adult sons
Born and raised in Amarillo, Owen is a professional photographer and videographer who specializes in portraits, weddings and other events. He’s a student at Texas A&M University, with plans to graduate with a psychology degree in December 2024. See his work at owenboyett.com.
Matt was born and raised in Amarillo, and his love for the city and roots here are deep. He currently serves several community organizations like Storybridge, Outdoor Amarillo, the Public Arts and Beautification Board and the Friends of the Public Library. Matt is a nonprofit professional in his daily work, but he loves moonlighting as a songwriter, poet and wannabe pickleball professional.
Jonathan’s work has appeared in The Daily Beast, and he has been featured on The Other Stories podcast. Originally from Canyon, he writes crime novels set on the High Plains.
OWEN BOYETT
GERLICH
WES REEVES
MATT MORGAN
KAIT BRADFORD BELLMON
MARK BEILUE
JONATHAN BAKER
Burrowing Owl RECOMMENDS
THE MINISTRY OF TIME BY KALIANE BRADLEY
A time-travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the nature of truth and power and the potential for love to change it. Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.
She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machine,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But he adjusts quickly; he is, after all, an explorer by trade. Soon, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a seriously uncomfortable housemate dynamic, evolves into something much more. Over the course of an unprecedented year, Gore and the bridge fall haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences they never could have imagined.
Supported by a chaotic and charming cast of characters— including a 17th-century cinephile who can’t get enough of Tinder, a painfully shy World War I captain, and a former spy with an everchanging series of cosmetic surgery alterations and a belligerent attitude to HR—the bridge will be forced to confront the past that shaped her choices, and the choices that will shape the future.
An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks the universal question: What happens if you put a disaffected millennial and a Victorian polar explorer in a house together?
The sun is blazing and the fun is boiling over as summer hits its high point in Amarillo. Mark your calendars now for these unmissable entertainment options heading your way over the next two months, including the height of the outdoor concert season, community events, great movie options—even the start of the fall arts season at the tail end of summer. Check out these highlights for July and August, and don’t forget to subscribe to the free Brickly and Flavorillo newsletters for my weekly entertainment picks all summer long.
July
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Go fishin’ in the dark with this iconic country band, hitting town on its farewell tour with a show July 28 in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Buchanan St. Plus, catch Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert tribute acts Carried Away and Gunpowder & Lead on July 6 and Chicago’s Own Piano Man tribute to Billy Joel and Elton John on July 27 at Shark Beach Burgers, 1505 E. FM 1151; the Rio Grande Trio on July 6 and the Kirk House Band on July 12 at Hoots Pub, 2424 Hobbs Road; Tejano superstars La Mafia on July 12 and Reputation, a Taylor Swift tribute act, on July 26 at Starlight Ranch Event Center, 1415 Sunrise Drive; the first Palo Duro Party featuring local favorites on July 13 and the South Austin Moonlighters on July 27 at Golden Light Cantina, 2098 SW Sixth Ave.; Texas country stars Curtis Grimes on July 12 and Bri Bagwell on July 19 at The Western Horseman Club, 2501 I-40 East; rapper Afroman on July 18 at Guitars & Cadillacs, 3601 Olsen Blvd.; Texas country superstar Pat Green on July 19 at The Lumberyard, 850 N. 23rd St. in Canyon; touring indie act Nikki Manos on July 26 at The 806 Coffee + Lounge, 2812 SW Sixth Ave.; and Grammy-nominated rapper Yung Bleu on July 27 at Azteca Music Hall, 500 N. FM 1912. Plus, don’t miss Starlight Theater on Tuesdays through Aug. 6 at Sam Houston Park, Line Avenue and Western Street; High Noon on the Square through July 31 at the Potter County Courthouse, 501 S. Fillmore St., and Music in the Gardens through Aug. 29 at Amarillo Botanical Gardens, 1400 Streit Drive.
29th Annual Original Harley Party: Get your motors running at Family Support Services’ popular fundraiser, set for July 27 at the Amarillo National Center on the Tri-State Fairgrounds, 3301 SE 10th Ave. Included in the fun are food, beverages and music from The Buster Bledsoe Band, Touching Voodoo and The Stray Sons. Other top-flight events to watch for include Amarillo Sod Poodles games against the Midland RockHounds July 1 to 3, versus the Springfield Cardinals from July 19 to 21 and the Wichita Wind Surge from July 23 to 28 at Hodgetown, 715 S. Buchanan St.; Irish dancers Celtic Throne on July 3 in the Globe-News Center; WTC Food Truck War 2024 on July 21 at The Gym @ Contagion Athletics, 8210 Amarillo Blvd. West; the Nazareth German Fest on July 13 in Nazareth; and a “Havana Nights”-themed jazz concert and fundraiser July 19 at Amarillo Botanical Gardens. Keep your eyes open for Fourth of July activities around the Panhandle, including Kickin’ It in Canyon featuring Mike Ryan on July 3 at The Lumberyard and Independence Day + 1 featuring Randall King on July 5 at John Stiff Memorial Park, 4800 S. Bell St.
The Lightning Thief: A Percy Jackson Musical: The popular mythologically-themed YA book series comes to the stage in this production by Amarillo Little Theatre Academy from July 12 to 21 in
the ALT Adventure Space, 2751 Civic Circle. Other arts events to keep on the radar include continuing performances of outdoor musical Texas throughout the month in Pioneer Amphitheatre; Shakespeare in the Park productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on July 9, 16, 23 and 30, also in Pioneer Amphitheatre; the monthly First Friday Art Walk on July 5 at Arts In the Sunset, 3701 Plains Blvd.; and West Texas Drums, featuring top Drum Corps International ensembles from around the country, on July 15 at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium on the West Texas A&M University campus in Canyon.
Maxxxine: Director Ti West’s outstanding horror trilogy comes to a conclusion with this ’80s-set thriller, opening July 5. Also hitting theaters are animated sequel Despicable Me 4 on July 3; sci-fi thriller Lumina, crime drama Longlegs and historical romantic comedy Fly Me to the Moon on July 12; action sequel Twisters and thriller Oddity on July 19; and comic-book mashup Deadpool & Wolverine on July 26. Special engagements include Close Encounters of the Third Kind on July 7 and 10; Princess Mononoke from July 13 to 17; The NeverEnding Story on July 21 and 22; and La Boheme on July 24.
August
Ama-Con: Amarillo Public Library’s pop-culture celebration returns to the Amarillo Civic Center Complex, 401 S. Buchanan St., for a salute to all things geek Aug. 3 and 4. Other can’tmiss arts and events include the XIT Rodeo & Reunion from Aug. 1 to 3 in Dalhart; the monthly First Friday Art Walk on Aug. 2 at Arts in the Sunset; comedian George Lopez on Aug. 2 in the Civic Center Auditorium; the annual Amarillo Margarita Festival on Aug. 3 at Starlight Ranch Event Center; Brick & Elm’s own 2024 Ice Cream Block Party on Aug. 6 for the conclusion of Starlight Theater at Sam Houston Park; more Amarillo Sod Poodles action in Hodgetown against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals from Aug. 6 to 11, the Corpus Christi Hooks from Aug. 20 to 25, and the Arkansas Travelers from Aug. 27 to Sept. 1; and surreal drama The Drowning Girls from Aug. 15 to 25 at the ALT Adventure Space.
Visit brickandelm.com for Chip’s expanded event coverage. Better yet, subscribe to our email newsletters for breaking entertainment news every week!
CHIP CHANDLER
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.
can’t miss WITH CHIP CHANDLER
Ben Folds: The phenomenal pianist and singer offers a banging show Aug. 8 in the GlobeNews Center. Other concerts to make note of include Fleetwood Mac tribute act Fleetwood X on Aug. 3, Led Zeppelin tribute act UnZepped on Aug. 17 and Eagles tribute act Boys of Summer on Aug. 31, all at Shark Beach Burgers; touring folk-rock band The Deltaz on Aug. 9, Hank Weaver on Aug. 10, Cottonwood Crows on Aug. 16, The Tejas Brothers on Aug. 18, Ronnie & The Redwoods on Aug. 30 and Don Stalling & The Divided on Aug. 31, all at Golden Light Cantina; Amarillo-born rocker Cody Jasper on Aug. 9, Texas country favorites The Josh Weathers Band on Aug. 16, Jackson Taylor & The Sinners on Aug. 23 and Brian Odle & The Hillbilly Underground on Aug. 31 at Hoots; Jon Hope and The Jackwagons on Aug. 17 at The Western Horseman; and Linkin Park tribute band In the End on Aug. 23 and iconic Texas rockers The Toadies on Aug. 31 at Starlight Ranch Event Center.
ALIEN: ROMULUS: Director Fede Álvarez is making a big name for himself in horror circles, and now he’s blasting off into space Aug. 16 for a tale set among those nasty xenomorphs. Also scheduled to open are thriller Trap, mystery film Cuckoo and family film Harold and the Purple Crayon on Aug. 2; action-adventure Borderlands and romance It Ends with Us on Aug. 9; family drama My Penguin Friend and Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American SagaChapter 2 on Aug. 16; thriller Blink Twice, drama The Forge, animated feature 200% Wolf and horror reboot The Crow on Aug. 23; and horror film They Listen and biopic Reagan on Aug. 30. Special engagements include Ponyo from Aug. 3 to 7; a “RiffTrax Live” screening of Point Break on Aug. 8 and 13; Lawrence of Arabia on Aug. 11 and 12; Coraline from Aug. 15 to 22; Rear Window on Aug. 25 and 28; Whisper of the Heart on Aug. 25 and 27; and The Cat Returns on Aug. 26 and 28.
2024 FAJITA FESTIVAL
The Amarillo Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Fajita Festival on May 10 at Hodgetown Stadium. VIP tables were available on the field, and guests enjoyed live music from Los Vendavales De Adán Meléndez and Erick y su Grupo Massore. (Provided Photos)
30 YEARS OF MUTTFEST
The Amarillo SPCA celebrated 30 years of its pup-friendly fundraiser on May 19 at Starlight Ranch Event Center. The festival included food, live music, vendors and more. (Provided Photos)
BAD MAGIK MUSIC FEST 2024
The annual Bad Magik Music Fest was held on May 25 in Sam Houston Park. The lineup included Silver Bullet, Grace Errington, The Last Of the Light, Native Crowds, Stealing Handshakes, Gardens Grove, and Sweater Godz, plus DJs miniFalda, Ashmead Stopher and Rip Trippy. Concert goers also enjoyed a park full of vendors, food trucks and more. (Photos by Jared Andrada, courtesy of Bad Magik Music Fest)
2024 JIM LAUGHLIN JUNE JAZZ SERIES
The free outdoor concert series kicked off its 2024 season on June 4 with an appearance by the U.S. Army Jazz Band. Held on the Washington Street Campus, Experimental Theater Patio every Tuesday in June, the series was streamed online and available on FM90.(Provided Photos)
2024 JUNETEENTH PARADE & CELEBRATION
The annual Juneteenth parade was held on June 15 in the North Heights. Celebrants enjoyed food, entertainment, vendors and more at Bones Hooks Park after the parade. (Photos by Jeff Jarnagin)
2024 TEXAS ROUTE 66 FESTIVAL FINALE
The two-week celebration of the Mother Road concluded with a festival on June 15 on Sixth Street. Route 66 enthusiasts took part in a corn dog eating contest, beauty pageant, watched Elvis impersonators, shopped and listened to live music. (Photos by Jeff Jarnagin)
Welcome to The Dirt. In every issue, our anonymous writer will give you the dirt on your burning questions about the Amarillo area. Got something you’re just dying to know? Drop us a line at info@brickandelm.com, and our intrepid writer will dig up the answer.
I’m new to the area, and the mix of indigenous and Mexican names is confusing to my Yankee ears. Can you tell me how to pronounce certain Panhandle words?
This columnist will never forget how a newbie weatherman once pronounced “Quitaque,” the tiny Southeast Panhandle town on the edge of Caprock Canyon. No, dear forecaster, it’s not “Quit-AHHkway.” It’s “KITTY-kway.” While we’re at it, try “My-AM-muh,” not “My-AM-mee.” And heaven forfend you confuse author Alexandre Dumas (that’s “dew-MAH”) with the dogie-filled town of Dumas (DEW-muss).
But be careful: Texanization (believe it or not, we didn’t make that word up) is a fickle beast. For example, it’s the “YAWN-o” Estacado, but “LAWN-o” Cemetery. A linguist could probably tell you why things work this way, though we suspect there’s a mix of privilege and incuriosity and stubbornness at work (which … explains a lot of stuff).
So how do you keep track? Well, for one thing, don’t listen to newbie weatherfolks. But you should listen to anyone who’s been around this area for a while, and follow their example. (No, Zoomer, this isn’t gatekeeping; it’s how language has been passed down since time immemorial.) And don’t be afraid to ask! It’s more polite for us to giggle in your face than laugh behind your back. One last tip: Unless you’re a native Spanish speaker, you should probably avoid “ah-mah-REE-o” when referring to your new hometown. It’s “am-uh-RILL-oh.” Or “am-uh-RILLA” if you’re feeling particularly cowpokey.
Why aren’t there more concerts at Pioneer Amphitheater in Palo Duro Canyon State Park?
Have you been down there? Do you like the feeling of sitting on molten tar for three hours? We kid, we kid. Yet, in the hottest months of the year in the statistically proven hottest location in the region, folks do head down to the canyon to see the outdoor musical “TEXAS.” With it showing six nights a week, plus nightly rehearsals for a few weeks before that, other folks have dibs on the spot for a solid three months. (Sure, “TEXAS” doesn’t run on Mondays, but this summer, at least, the producers are doing a month of Mondays’ worth of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”)
What about the nine other months of empty stage? Ah yes, but that’s nine months of unpredictable, though largely still dispiritingly hot, weather. In an outdoor venue that can be beset by thunderstorms and hail and giant bugs and rain and sometimes even snow. And even if you luck into a night of temperate weather, you still have to sell tickets. That’s a challenge when: 1) the weather is insanely unpredictable; 2) folks around here love to wait until the last minute to decide; and 3) Amarillo people are notoriously less than willing to drive across town to see a show, much less 30-some miles out to the canyon. That’s a rough combination for most promoters to overcome.
Now, there has been a history of great concerts in that gorgeous hole in the ground, like Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, or Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel. (Legend has it Benson once flipped his gourd when a fireworks show started at the end of his set; to be fair, there was a drought going on.) These days, the amphitheater falls under the umbrella of the Cultural Foundation of the Texas Panhandle, which also oversees Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. CFTP officials let us know that plans are under discussion to bring “exceptional entertainment opportunities” to the amphitheater in the future. So … get ready.
Produced in partnership with U.S. Cleaners, who know a thing or two about dirt.
RECEIVE A 20% DISCOUNT WHEN YOU MENTION THIS COLUMN AT YOUR NEXT VISIT.
The anonymous writer behind ‘The Dirt’ is a sharp observer of the Amarillo-Canyon metropolitan area. If they don’t know the answer, they know where to get it and who to ask.
H.A.R.T. AMARILLO
When Jennifer Drone was born, her mother wasn’t equipped to raise her, so she spent her earliest years living with her grandfather. But when Drone was 12, her grandfather died—and her mom still didn’t want her. “I’ve been on my own since I was 12, homeless, in and out of the juvenile and adult system,” she says.
By the time she turned 18, she had three children of her own and was headed to prison. She’d been forced into prostitution, sold drugs to survive, and couldn’t see a way out. “Life was not fair to me, so I was just gonna hurt everybody in my path,” Drone remembers.
Those teenage years launched her into an adulthood that spiraled through the criminal justice system. Decades later, having served her time, she’s intent on steering today’s homeless teens away from that path and the kinds of situations they might spend the rest of their lives trying to escape.
Since her release, Drone has become the founder of a new nonprofit, H.A.R.T. Amarillo, which stands for Homeless and At-Risk Teens. The mentorship program is intended to help teenagers get their G.E.D. and eventually transition into programs at Amarillo College. Drone and her board are working to transform an unused downtown building at the intersection of Southest 10th Avenue and Lincoln Street (above) into a peer-led community center and living facility for homeless teenagers.
A critical part of her journey was the Prisoner Re-Entry Program, or PREP, at Randall County Jail, which offers support for inmates who have a long history of criminal activity but hope to become productive citizens once released. Drone was mentored by pastor and program coordinator Lyndal Waldrip of More Church. “He believed so much in me, let me go to nonprofit classes and speak to teens while I was incarcerated,” she says. “My whole life changed.”
Amarillo offers few resources for homeless teens. Drone points out that most homeless teenagers aren’t living on the streets by choice, but simply because they have no other options. They bounce around the homes of friends, sleeping on couches or the floor, trying to avoid abuse, parental drug use, or an otherwise bad situation at home.
“This organization is extremely important,” says H.A.R.T. board member Melodie Graves. “With so many things already up against kids these days, we need to make sure that we all do our part to make the journey easier for them. This organization will fill a void that is needed to make Amarillo better.”
While Drone applies for grants and plans an October fundraiser, H.A.R.T. is in need of remodeling and construction volunteers— “plumbing, walls, framing, services to help get the building together,” she says—as well as financial donors.
Learn more about H.A.R.T. Amarillo by contacting Drone at 806-673-7018.
PHOTO BY JASON BOYETT
An initiative of Amarillo Economic Development
MEET TOM FRANKLIN
Territory Manager of SRS Building Products
Are you originally from Amarillo? If so, where did you attend high school/college?
“Yes, born & raised. I went to Canyon High School and decided to stick around and go to West Texas A&M University where I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Ag Business.”
What was your motivation for moving back to Amarillo?
“My goal was always to move back to the area, but we just needed the right opportunity. My wife got a job offer here in Amarillo in 2021, which allowed us to move back and be closer to family and I was able to transfer with SRS as a Territory Manager for the Amarillo location.”
What are some of your favorite things about Amarillo, and what would you like to see in the future?
“Some of my favorite things about Amarillo is the small town feel and no traffic! There is something to be said for no rush hour traffic. I would like to see stores like Cabela’s, an Outlet Mall and HEB make their way to Amarillo. I also think it would be cool to see more entertainment options like Top Golf, or something similar that all ages would enjoy!”
Do you know someone interested in returning to Amarillo? We would love to send them a gift to remind them of the great things happening in our community. Provide their info below and we will get in touch!
Michael McBroom, director of athletics at West Texas A&M University, has been named to the same position at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches.
Dr. Bo A. Brock, owner of Brock Veterinary Clinic, received an outstanding alumni award from the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences for his contributions to the field of veterinary medicine.
Dr. Maxine De Butte is the new Twanna M. Powell Fellow at WTAMU in the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Social Work in the Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences.
Dr. Janet Hindman of WTAMU has been named the Dyke Rogers Professor of Educational Leadership in recognition of her success in the classroom and her key role in shepherding WT’s doctoral program in educational leadership.
Dr. Jessica Mallard, leader of West Texas A&M University’s Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities, retired at the end of the 20232024 academic year.
Dr. Bridget Guerrero has been named the Paul Engler Professor of Agriculture. Guerrero joined WT in 2013 after earning her doctoral degree in agricultural and applied economics from Texas Tech University.
Dr. Carolyn Bouma has been named the Paul Engler Professor of Microbiology. Bouma joined WT in 2005 after earning degrees from McDaniel College and Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Dave Howe has been named the Paul Engler Professor of Entrepreneurship. Howe joined WT in 2017 after earning degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah.
Dr. Carl Zhang has been named the Paul Engler Professor of Business Innovation. Zhang joined WT in 2020 after earning degrees from George Washington University. He was the recipient of the Paul & Virginia Engler College of Business Teaching Excellence Award in 2023.
WT’s former Department of Communication Disorders is now the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences in the University’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences
The Amarillo EnterPrize Challenge awarded grants in May to Amarillo Legacy Monument, Hi-Plains Civil Engineers and Slicks Fabworks
J. Rich Sparks of Amarillo has been named a key account manager working with Xcel Energy’s large commercial and industrial customers in the company’s Texas and New Mexico service area.
Amarillo Family Physicians broke ground on a cutting-edge medical facility in May at 7561 Outlook Dr. in the Harrington Regional Medical Center Complex. The expansion will help the practice meet a growing demand for health care services in the area.
Amarillo ISD announced its Teachers of the Year: Kristi Leff of Humphrey’s Highland Elementary School, and Larry Martin of Amarillo High School.
BSA Health System and BSA Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic announced the opening of the BSA Center for Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy at BSA Hospital The state-of-the-art facility specializes in diagnosing and treating digestive system disorders.
BSA Health System announced the successful completion of the first surgeries in West Texas using the state-of-the-art da Vinci 5 robotic-assisted surgical system. BSA is the only hospital in West Texas to acquire and perform procedures with this advanced technology.
Center City of Amarillo has achieved accredited Main Street America program status for a 22nd consecutive year. Center City became a Main Street city in 2002.
Madison Harrison, a City of Amarillo employee in the Environmental Health Department’s Recreational Water Program, has earned her second nationally recognized certification from the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance.
Twelve full-time TTUHSC Researchers were named to the latest World’s Top 2% of Scientists Rankings by Stanford University/Elsevier.
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center has been recognized with a Gold Award Designation and ranked sixth in the nation as a top military friendly graduate schools by Viqtory Media, publisher of G.I. Jobs magazine.
Canyon Independent School District announced the creation of the Paul Blake Legacy Foundation, a scholarship program dedicated to supporting students pursuing careers in the trades.
The RANGE has been awarded a $35,000 grant from the Amarillo Area Foundation as part of the “Panhandle Connected” development initiative, a partnership with Region 16 and other entities designed to improve connectivity throughout the Texas Panhandle.
Physicians Surgical Hospitals announced it has been selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the 2024 Best Places to Work in Healthcare
Texas Medical Association has elected Rodney Young, M.D., to the TMA Board of Trustees.
Rene’e Stovall has joined The Alex O’Brien Tennis Foundation as its executive director.
Raul Rodarte-Suto has joined the Amarillo Area Foundation as its grant program officer.
KAMR Local 4 News and Fox 14 News
Operations Manager Dan Morgan has been named the 2024 Broadcaster of the Year by the Texas Association of Broadcasters. He is celebrating his 40th anniversary with KAMR and FOX 14.
Dr. Jonathan Jenkins, assistant professor of biology, and Catherine Stout, instructor of nursing, have been named recipients of Amarillo College’s John F. Mead Faculty Excellence Award
Naïma Moustaïd-Moussa has been named the inaugural executive director of the Institute for One Health Innovation. Her duties began on July 1.
To highlight your business briefs, promotions or awards in this section, email a press release or your information to mm@brickandelm.com.
RIBBON-CUTTINGS
AMARILLO ANGELS
Relax, recharge, and connect with fellow leaders every month during Elevate Happy Hour!
Join us in raising a glass to leadership, collaboration, and our incredible Amarillo community!
EVERY THIRD THURSDAY, 5 P.M.
The Rooftop at Six Car Pub & Brewery 625 S. Polk St.
Elevate Amarillo is an organization of emerging leaders rooted in Amarillo and rooting for Amarillo. Our community of young professionals, ages 20 to 40, are the future leaders of Amarillo. We enjoy unique experiences, grow professionally and personally, and make a difference in the community. Our members are involved in a wide variety of Amarillo’s business, civic and service endeavors. For more information or to join, visit elevateamarillo.org .
CARING STARTS HERE
Laura and
Joe
Street School of Nursing
SCAMMERS ARE EVERYWHERE. BBB’S PREVENTION & RECOVERY TOOLS CAN HELP.
BY JANNA KIEHL
Scams are everywhere these days—and they don’t discriminate. That’s why local residents depend on the Better Business Bureau. The online BBB Scam Tracker allows you to file a report on a scam, even if you haven’t lost money or become a victim of it yourself. With Scam Tracker, you can explore user experiences, learn about scammers’ techniques, and discover where scams are occurring across the country. You can even find scams by zip code or city.
Now Scam Tracker offers a Scam Prevention Guide and a Scam Survival Tool Kit.
Scam Prevention Guide
Dive into this resource to find out how to protect yourself and help lower your risk. In the Scam Prevention Guide, you’ll find a library of documents, a risk calculator and videos on topics like employment scams and crypto scams. You can even sign up for BBB Scam Alerts, so you can stay ahead of the scammers. You will get weekly updates on a specific scam, how scams work, and tips to avoid similar scams. The email will include links to helpful tips you can use and share.
Scam Survival Kit
Beyond prevention, this resource helps victims who want more information about what to do after becoming a victim of a scam, offering guidance for individuals and businesses alike. In this step-by-step tool, you’ll tell us what happened and the results will link to articles and information including resources to take action, to warn others, and most importantly, to recover from the scam.
You can also read stories of other scam survivors, so you will know you’re not alone in your experience. FAQs will explain other details, including the difference between fraud and scams, and the difference between a credit lock and a credit freeze.
You can even learn more about how to spot the subtle markers of common scams, including fake social media accounts, a fake utility messaging, lookalike websites and AI-generated photos and videos.
You’re Not Alone
More than anything, the BBB knows that scams can be convincing and impact anyone. That’s why we want to help you safely navigate unsolicited contacts. If you do fall victim to a scam, we don’t want you to feel ashamed or alone. Remember: If you’re willing to talk to someone by responding to an unfamiliar email or text message or answering an unknown call, you are opening yourself up to being targeted. Our prevention and recovery tools help take the stress out of being a victim of a scam.
Share Your Story
Scammers will always be out there, trying to get you to cooperate by providing personal information. Whether you talk to them once and share personally identifiable information, or whether they have engaged with you over a period of time, we encourage you to share your story. Report your experience to BBB Scam Tracker, including these types of scams:
• You’ve given money to a sweepstake scam.
• You’ve allowed a scammer to access your computer.
• You’ve sent money to a (fake) friend or relative “in trouble.”
• You’ve fallen for a fake job scam.
• You’ve responded to someone selling an item on social media.
• You’ve tried to purchase a pet online.
When you report a scam experience to BBB Scam Tracker, you will be asked for your name, phone number and email address, but we won’t publish that information. We will publish your scam on BBB Scam Tracker to help others, to help BBB and lawenforcement to track scam activity. BBB scam tracker is sponsored by Amazon, Capital One and BBB‘s Institute for Marketplace Trust.
Don’t let the scammers outsmart you, your friends or your family. Be scam aware, exercise caution with unknown contacts, and use our resources to stay in the know about how these scams work.
Learn more at bbb.org/scamtracker.
Janna is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Better Business Bureau of Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle.
JANNA KIEHL
THINK BACK AND THANK A TEACHER
ost of us have heroes. Some are parents, athletes, firemen, soldiers or big-screen actors. Probably, some are the people who excel at what their admirer wants to do for a living.
Think about your own heroes. Chances are you won’t be thinking too long before you land on the name of (at least) one of your former teachers.
I was blessed to be born to two parents who were totally supportive of everything I wanted to do. Of course, some of those things I wanted to do they weren’t so aware of, but that story will have to wait for another day.
Point is, with that kind of parent, a kid has a lot of freedom to look for his or her path, as they say. This is where caring, nurturing teachers are so crucial.
I fell, or bounced, pretty far from the tree. Some in our family were hobbyists in the arts. A piano player here, a doodling sketch artist there. However, at one point or another, everybody grew up and decided to go after “normal people” jobs. But nobody was certifiably crazy about the arts. Except, well, me. And Mom. Man, she could sing. Beautiful alto. But she chose to raise us kids.
God bless her.
In kindergarten, I had a teacher who knew I was unique. Her name was Mrs. Klotz. She didn’t mind when I spent a couple of extra seconds on my drawing after the others were finished. She was kind, gentle and soft-spoken. She sort of reminded me of Mom. Years later, my daughter, Jessi, also had a great kindergarten teacher at Wolflin Elementary: Mrs. Matthews. I remember those days, partially because that Thanksgiving, I was probably the only 6-foot-tall guitar-playing turkey with an audience of 3-foot-tall Native Americans and Pilgrims in the city of Amarillo, though I wouldn’t put folding money on it. Jessi’s teacher treated her, and all the kids, the way I thought kids should be treated. It was fun to visit the class!
Back to my original story—after a few elementary school years being buffeted around for my abject ignorance of algebra, I found myself in Mr. Thomas Kelly’s sixth-grade class in Ankara, Turkey. A breath of fresh air! He had been one of the original Hanna-Barbera Banana Splits. If you don’t know who that is, Google it! He played one of the characters on a ’60s kids’ TV show that was, to me, more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Mr. Kelly was also an artist, known to say, “It’s a beautiful day. Put away all your books, we are going to paint!” My heart would leap halfway out of my chest and my art supplies would be out on my desk before you could say “Andy Warhol.” I understand it was a different day and time, but I wish it could still be that way for today’s kids.
So many years passed, so many teachers who taught me that my outside-the-box personality was OK. Some were adventurous Department of Defense teachers that wanted to see the world and shared their sense of intrepidity with me. Mr. Glaisyer, my overseas junior high drama and English teacher, wrote a stage play for our three-minute production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I found out years later that he has taught for decades in Gallup, New Mexico, on the reservation, and loves it.
I attended Eastern New Mexico University in the ’70s. I also had trouble there with some classes, though I had skated through high school with honors. I didn’t even like my art teachers at ENMU, and they didn’t like me back. That was when I met Dr. Greg Lyne, a master vocal coach. He told me during a choral audition that my voice could “just fly.” He was a huge influence—reminding me, once again, of my mother’s encouragement.
My visual arts endeavors then began to reach the most nourishing of years, because I moved back to Kentucky to attend the school where my parents went. Campbellsville College (now University) had two of the most outstanding art teachers of my life. Tommy Clark was a clay-throwing, oil-andacrylic-painting, charcoal-sketching, water-coloring artist/teacher who belonged to at least four or five national guilds and was a best friend to all the art majors, whether we knew it or not. The other was Cathy Downing, a master at so many mediums it was beyond belief. She was my primary influence in art history. Hours and years of studying, absorbing beautiful art. To this day, I am much better at art history than algebra.
When I think of my life in terms of riches, I think of these and so many other teachers. I am eternally grateful.
Andy is an artist, singersongwriter, music producer and musician. In every issue, his column explores the parts of his life that don’t always make it into his songs, accompanied by his own illustration.
ANDY CHASE CUNDIFF
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A MOMENT OF CRISIS
Recognizing and Treating Severe Mental Health
s a clinician at an inpatient psychiatric hospital unit, I am often asked by clients, “How can I prevent this from happening again?” That is exactly what we aim to do after stabilization: Provide our clients and their loved ones with education, resources and follow-up to prevent another mental health crisis that leads to hospitalization.
Seeking inpatient behavioral health services is difficult and frightening. Folks are often entering a facility on what they consider to be the worst day of their lives. Many clients have not been receiving any type of mental health treatment and do not know where to start to connect to behavioral health services, understanding that the services available in the Amarillo community can help people navigate or prevent a mental health crisis. Different levels of care address the diverse needs of individuals, and understanding them can help people make informed decisions about the type of treatment that is best for them.
Traditional outpatient behavioral health services are the most common form of mental health treatment. These involve individual sessions with a licensed therapist on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, typically lasting from 45 minutes to an hour. This level of care is ideal for individuals who can function in their daily lives but may need support to manage symptoms of mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety or PTSD.
Intensive outpatient behavioral health services provide a higher level of care, and involve more frequent group therapy sessions, ranging from nine to 15 hours per week. These services may even be increased to a partial hospitalization program, which provides around 20 hours of therapy per week. These programs are designed for individuals who require more intensive support in managing their mental health symptoms but do not require round-the-clock supervision or care. These programs also include medication management, case management and individual therapy, and are often recommended for individuals transitioning from inpatient care or who may not be progressing in traditional outpatient services.
Inpatient behavioral health services, also known as psychiatric
Conditions
hospitalization, offer the highest level of care for individuals experiencing mental health crises. These involve round-the-clock supervision and care for individuals who are a danger to themselves or others, or who require intensive treatment and stabilization. Inpatient programs include a combination of individual therapy, group therapy, medication management, and other interventions. The goal is to stabilize individuals in crisis, provide a safe and supportive environment for recovery, and develop a comprehensive treatment plan for ongoing care. Inpatient programs typically last for a few days to a few weeks, depending on needs and progress in treatment.
The key differences between these three levels of care lie in the frequency of therapy sessions and the intensity of treatment. Traditional outpatient services offer flexibility and convenience for individuals who need ongoing support in managing mental health symptoms. Intensive outpatient programs provide a higher level of care for those who could benefit from increased treatment and support. Inpatient services offer the highest level of care for those experiencing mental health crises or severe mental health conditions. Ultimately, the type of behavioral health services that are best for someone will depend on their specific needs, symptoms and goals for treatment.
Recognizing when to seek a higher level of behavioral health services can be crucial in keeping yourself or your loved ones safe and maintaining quality of life. I advise families to pay attention to signs and indicators that may suggest the need for a higher level of care, and reach out for help when the time comes.
EMILY PERMENTER, LCSW
Emily is the Director of Clinical Services at Oceans Behavioral Hospital Amarillo, a psychiatric hospital focused on helping individuals experiencing depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, behavioral changes related to dementia, medication management or substance abuse, and other mental health issues. Emily has been a social worker for more than seven years and completed graduate school in Denver, while working with foster and at-risk youth. Emily is an Amarillo native and takes pride in providing affirming, compassionate and quality care to people in this community.
Signs that you or someone you know may be in crisis and need to seek a higher level of care include:
• Increase of mental health symptoms such as persistent sadness, excessive worry, irritability, or mood swings
• Impairment of usual functioning (completion of daily tasks, socialization, work)
• Isolation
• Thoughts of death, suicide or self-harm
• Increase or decrease in sleep, appetite and/ or weight
• Trouble concentrating
• Change in energy level
• Slowed thoughts, speech or movements
• False beliefs and paranoia
• Seeing or hearing things that others do not
• Withdrawal from alcohol or other substances
• Feeling lonely, sad, worthless, hopeless, helpless or suddenly and abnormally unwell
If you or someone you know is struggling, get immediate help from these resources:
• National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988
• Texas Panhandle Centers 24-hour Crisis Hotline: 806-359-6699 (crisis services and traditional outpatient services)
• Family Support Services: 806-374-5433 (crisis services and traditional outpatient services)
Last year, I attended the Courageous Conversations Conference in Austin, Texas, a conference focused on being bold when addressing important issues. As a speaker myself, I gained a great deal of insight and have implemented an exercise to use when introducing myself to a new audience. The presenters started every session with questions for each attendee: What is your name, place and intention?
This seemingly simple exercise is a great way to ensure that people know who you are, where you come from, and what you plan to accomplish in the time you will share together.
To that end, my name is Melodie Graves. Melodie because my mom said I was a sweet melody in her heart, choosing to end my name with an “ie” so I would be destined to stand out. My surname, Graves, has German and Irish roots that somehow got tangled up in the Transatlantic slave trade.
My place is Amarillo, Texas, born and raised. I grew up in the North Heights and was bused to Lamar Elementary School and Fannin Middle School before graduating in 1998 from Amarillo High School.
My intention, as I begin to share my thoughts in this column, will be to encourage and inspire you, remind you to stop and smell the roses, and help you not be afraid to learn about our differences so we may become a more inclusive society. I hope you will be motivated to put fear aside and live your best life—knowing that you deserve it. Over the time we spend together, we will discuss issues with the goal of finding common ground to help us grow in our understanding. We don’t always have to agree, but we will always respect each other and promise to always love each other.
When love is the foundation, beautiful things can be built and hearts and minds can be changed.
As an influencer, I want to have a trademark. For me, that trademark is the diamond. Not because it is a beautiful stone, but because of the transformation it goes through to achieve such beauty. The diamond begins as a rock, but when pressure is applied, it becomes desirable and valuable. Many of us start out like a diamond,
WITH MELODIE GRAVES
and then life starts to throw things at us. While we often want to give up, we continue to push through, hoping that our time to be beautiful and sought after will come.
The pressure can seem unbearable. But if we stand and believe that something greater is coming, it will indeed come, and we will shine brighter through every challenge.
That’s a good message to remember as another school year begins. As we prepare to send our kids back to school, we must remember that they are nothing like we were growing up. They are inquisitive and unconditionally accepting. They love technology but can’t write in cursive, and they are going to be the ones who will make this world a better place. Since there is no manual to being a good parent, today The Call is for you to give yourself grace as you attempt to raise children to be leaders, better than we are.
Whatever your morning routine, remember that you set the stage for your child’s day. If you are angry and yelling, they will start their day off poorly. If you are rushing and demanding, you are not only ruining your own day, but also your child’s. As a single parent, I must consistently remind myself that how I leave my son is how his day will end. I wake up early enough to not rush, prepare everything the night before, and when my boy gets out of the car, I tell him “Have a good day, I love you.”
Some days, things don’t go as planned, but I have learned to give myself the same grace I give others—the same grace you deserve on this journey we call life.
MELODIE GRAVES
Raised in the North Heights, Melodie is dedicated to service that goes above and beyond her career in higher education. She has worked at Amarillo College since 2010, currently serving as the Associate Director of Academic Advising, Foster Care Liaison and Justice-Involved Advocate. Melodie shares her thoughts about inclusivity, inspiration and answering The Call.
A Century of Care
Opened on March 22, 1924, the hospital has been meeting the healthcare needs of our community for 100 years. Today, Northwest Texas Healthcare System offers advanced technology and award-winning specialized care for a variety of health issues. Visit nwths.com to learn more!
PHOTOS BY SHANNON RICHARDSON
CAMILA ALANIZ
SUMMER
BRICK & ELM EMBARKS ON A FROZEN FIESTA WITH A TOUR OF THE LOCAL ICE CREAM SCENE
BY JASON BOYETT
The summer of 2024 is supposed to be one of the hottest on record. To beat the heat, we decided to embark on something of an ice cream crawl—a quest to find the most delicious, most unique, and most visually stunning frozen treats available in Amarillo and Canyon. Our quest for cool confections carried us across the city, from tiny storefronts on the Boulevard to the Square in Canyon to food trucks parked on blistering lots. Here are 10 of this area’s sweetest ways to beat the heat.
COW: Cream Over Waffles
FOOD TRUCK
Before moving to the area, husband and wife Kolby and Amanda Gilleland lived in the Colorado ski country, where they had been exposed to—and fallen in love with—sugary liege waffles. When life brought the couple to the Texas Panhandle, they saw an opportunity for an ice cream-focused food truck, and decided warm waffles would be the perfect complement to the cold treat. Amanda started building a trailer from the ground up in 2022.
“Canyon watched us build the entire thing,” she says of Amarillo’s sister city. As a result, the COW trailer is almost always set up in Canyon on Sundays. Amanda pairs her ice cream with liege waffles or shareable, Asian-influenced bubble waffles. The waffles are delicious, but the real stars are her artisanal ice cream flavors. “Nothing’s artificial,” she says. “I’m really focused on making everything all natural.” That means no pink dye in the strawberry ice cream—and always, absolutely real vanilla.
Amanda’s ice cream is incredibly dense. Even paired with a hot waffle, the melting is minimal. Commercial ice cream “whips in more air” during production, she says, but her process results in a more gelato-like density for flavors like espresso chocolate chip, peach cobbler, butter pecan or honey lavender, all prepared with a Carpigiani batch freezer. “It’s my baby,” she says of the Italian-made appliance.
B&E Recommends: incredible peach cobbler ice cream make for a uniquely
PEACH COBBLER ICE CREAM IN A BUBBLE WAFFLE
ESPRESSO CHOCOLATE CHIP
Antojos Ice Cream Shop FOOD
TRUCK
Eunice Trejo’s sister owns and operates a popular paleteria and ice cream shop in Perryton, so when Eunice decided to launch her own entrepreneurial endeavor in Amarillo, she knew exactly where to start. “Antojos means ‘cravings,’” she explains. She opened her spring/summer food trailer in 2018 and has built up a dedicated
“Everything is homemade,” Eunice says. The handcrafted ice cream comes from the shop in Perryton, but Eunice takes a hands-on approach for everything else. “We don’t have any artificial colors and I choose all my fruit,” she says.
Those fresh fruit flavors are essential to her fresas con crema (strawberries and cream, sweetened with a scoop of her popular Superman ice cream), fruit cups, or aguas frescas. “It sells out no matter what,” she says of the sweet drink.
B&E Recommends: We caught up with Antojos in the parking lot of Conn’s HomePlus and sampled a spectacular mango frappe, upgraded with Tajín seasoning for a spicy kick.
A legendary Amarillo burger joint, Blue Sky boasts an intensely loyal clientele. But they aren’t just there for the burgers.
“I used to always stop at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard,” says Robert Cady, who has managed the I-40 location for 19 years. “But after working here, I don’t go there anymore.” That’s because the shakes at Blue Sky are nearly Blizzard-dense and as popular as anything else on the menu.
Blue Sky began in Amarillo and has since spread to Abilene, Lubbock and Midland. Every shake is blended with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream— there’s a neon Blue Bell sign prominently displayed above the kitchen— into flavors including chocolate, mocha, peppermint, coffee and oreo cookie, with occasional seasonal specialties. Cady says the shake recipe comes directly from the specifications of the Vermillion family, who own the restaurants.
“We go through around 20 five-gallon tubs of vanilla ice cream” on a weekly basis, Cady adds. “It’s the perfect texture for shakes.” B&E Recommends: All the shakes are good—pick your flavor based on your personal preference—but there’s something about the cookiesand-cream Oreo shake, which is Robert’s favorite.
FRESAS CON CREMA
MANGO FRAPPE
OREO SHAKE
oceanside state in southern Mexico—began making ice pops using mangoes, strawberries and other fruits. Called juices and ice cream. Today, Michoacán is still known for its countless and many families have passed down their recipes through generations.
Some of the best frozen treats in Amarillo tie back to that authentic Mexican heritage, including La Mega Michoacana, a small Amarillo Boulevard storefront near North Grant. Bursting with colorful other delights, it brings those tastes and history to Amarillo. (The prices are very reasonable and the selection is varied enough to be overwhelming, but
—a blend of fresh mango with mango sorbet, topped with chamoy and Tajín.
FACEBOOK.COM/P/LA-MEGAMICHOACANA
The Paleta Bar
9180 TOWN SQUARE BLVD., SUITE 1071
“It puts a smile on everybody’s face,” says Priscilla Lucero, who owns and operates The Paleta Bar in Town Square with her husband, Danny. Common street foods in Mexican culture. The “bar” aspect of The Paleta Bar allows customers to start with a base pop—in flavors like mango, pistachio, coffee, coconut or fruity pebbles—then dip it in chocolate and add toppings.
“They can get fancy with it,” she says, adding that kids love being able to engage in the decision-making process.
Before the toppings are added, most of the paletas are gluten-free.
Originally from Las Cruces, New Mexico, the couple moved to Amarillo several years ago. Danny had been working for Walgreens but was ready to be his own boss, and they jumped at the chance to become franchisees for this Albuquerque-based company. They chose Town Square due to its proximity to Cinergy and West Plains High School—as well as its distance from the Boulevard, knowing that the residents of southwest Amarillo might paletas. The location also sells fruit cups, and will blend paletas into shakes.
“The community response has been amazing,” she says. “We definitely
Follow the crowd and sample a taro-flavored paleta, which Priscilla says is one of their most popular flavors. This purplish root vegetable—similar to a sweet potato—has a nutty, subtly sweet flavor.
PALETAS
SPRINKLE ICE CREAM CONE
PALETA CON FRUTA & CHILI
PALETAS
TARO PALETA
El Tropico
1111 E. AMARILLO BLVD. 1105 S. GRAND ST.
This family-owned fixture on Amarillo Boulevard dates back to 2003 and has since expanded to a location on Grand Street near I-40 and licensees in Borger and Perryton. Founder Augustin Andrade is a third-generation ice cream maker who grew up living above the family’s ice cream shop in Tocumbo, Michoacan—a store that’s still operated, in fact, by his brother.
“When we started, our clientele was mostly Hispanic,” he says. “But little by little, they now come from all over the place.” When Brick & Elm visited on a recent weekday, we saw a steady stream of families, students, grandparents and others dropping in for chilly treats including paletas, fresas con crema bananas and hand-crafted ice cream flavors like key lime or piñon—a subtly sweet, nutty flavor that is uniquely Mexican.
In addition to the local storefronts and licensees in the Panhandle, Andrade also prepares ice cream and as Clovis, New Mexico, out of a production facility a few blocks away on Lincoln Street. He’s also in the process of remodeling and opening a new El Tropico in the former Donut Stop building on Amarillo Boulevard, which will have a drive-up.
Augustin didn’t always see himself getting into the family business. When he first arrived in Texas, in Plainview, “I was running away from ice cream, but I just missed it. It’s what I’ve been doing my whole life,” he says.
B&E Recommends: We always love El Tropico’s piñon ice cream, but were pleasantly surprised at the blue-and-yellow “Minion” flavor. Kids will love it for the name alone, but the handcrafted banana-and-blueberry combination was truly delicious.
El Paleton 818
MARTIN ROAD
Located in the center of a strip mall north of Amarillo Boulevard, this spacious treat shop offers authentic Mexican snacks and frozen treats, from elote to fresas con crema to more than 30 flavors of ice cream. This quiet business has built a sizable following in the Martin Road area. Among those 30 flavors is the creamy, slightly tangy fresa con queso. The literal translation, “strawberry with cheese,” may be unfamiliar to some readers. An explanation: The strawberriesand-cream-cheese flavor fusion is popular in Latin America. The cream cheese adds a velvety texture that complements the bits of strawberries, creating a more complex flavor profile than standard
the more colorful flavors, either. We were struck by the neon blue “cookie craze” in English. Far more indulgent than a simple cookies-and-cream approach, it uses generous chunks of cookies and cookie dough to create an equally crunchy and chewy texture.
popsicle business became a reality. She started with a mobile trailer in 2017 before expanding into a brick-andmortar shop in Wolflin Village, right across from Amarillo Little Theatre. Over the past year, she has scaled back to the simplicity of her popsicle trailer.
“We’re still open. We’re just mobile now,” she says.
Having built up a loyal customer base over the years, Purple Flamingo continues to interact with customers at community gatherings and special events, from Muttfest to the Exchange Food Truck Park to special catering events.
“Everyone’s really genuine,” she says of the local food truck community, which has grown exponentially since Cherie began. “Everyone wants to work with you.”
She continues to add new flavors to her menu, including the blueberry-lemonade Purple Flamingo, strawberry watermelon, cherry lime and blue coconut.
B&E Recommends: We love the raspberry-and-cream Pearl Swirl. Cookies & Cream is also a favorite.
FRESAS CON QUESO
LOCURA DE GALLETA
Helados Toscana
1810 E. AMARILLO BLVD.
Another family-owned ice cream shop, Helados Toscana sells ice cream, snow cones, paletas and other snacks out of a humble storefront on the Boulevard. Think homemade ice cream sandwiches, paletas crusted with almond slivers and frozen bananas dipped in coconut shavings. The ice cream and water-based sorbet (nieve, or “snow”) is authentically Mexican, which means surprising flavors like tamarind, cappuccino, and whiskey
We hear that Helados Toscana creates tiny “mini popsicles” for parties.
B&E Recommends: Temporary summer paleta flavors like lavender lemonade—which includes a sliver of lemon embedded in the popsicle—are incredibly refreshing and worth the wait.
EVAN GODOY
PISTACHIO PALETA
EGG NOG ICE CREAM
Rockin’ Zebra Soda Shoppe
404 15TH ST., CANYON
“I just liked the nostalgia of it,” says Jason Mashburn of Rockin’ Zebra Soda Shoppe on the Square in Canyon. Nostalgia fills every corner of this oldfashioned, 1950s-style soda shoppe, which has a history dating back to 1907, when it opened as Canyon’s original pharmacy.
Mashburn’s background doesn’t exactly scream “ice cream.” He has a degree in wildlife biology and was working on a government-funded project that ended with the government shutdown of 2013. He went in search of a new career, ignoring the call of the wild.
Already a collector of vintage signs, he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to pivot toward nostalgia and purchased Rockin’ Zebra. The summer is his busiest time of year, thanks to a steady stream of travelers to Palo Duro Canyon. “Canyon is a tourist attraction,” he says, and Rockin’ Zebra’s presence on the Square makes it a prime stop.
Customers enjoy shakes and malts made from Blue Bell ice cream, banana splits, Italian sodas (phosphates) and ice cream sodas—along with diner classics like bacon cheeseburgers.
B&E Recommends: The Apple Sizzling Cream is amazing, and customers rave about the turkey-and-guac Alejandro sandwich. For the kids, Rockin’ Zebra also has a spectacular candy selection.
APPLE SIZZLING CREAM
BLUE COCONUT FLOAT CLASSIC BANANA SPLIT
Ice, Ice Baby
Sometime around the 1980s, locally owned and seasonal snoshacks began popping up in parking lots during the summer months, offering an inexpensive way for locals to beat the heat. Today, Amarillo is home to at least 25 of them, according to mobile food unit permits issued by the city. The lengthy menus offer dozens of flavors—“Tiger’s Blood,” anyone?—but the easy, syrup-plus-ice combinations appeal to all ages, from kids wanting to mix and match flavors to adults delighting in the
There’s also a social component, as several of these familyoperated locations offer outdoor seating, twinkly lights and other charms, making them a popular, walkable destination in just about every neighborhood. As temperatures rise, the allure is as simple as the products are refreshing.
EMERY GODOY
THE INTERIOR OF THE QUONSET HUT WILL HOUSE A 250-SEAT RESTAURANT
THE VENUE INCLUDES A 3,800-SQUARE-FOOT MEETING AND BANQUET HALL
ENTERTAINMENT BY THE YARD
A major new Canyon venue can host thousands for concerts and more
BY CHIP CHANDLER WITH MICHELE MCAFFREY
An 80-year-old Canyon landmark recently was reborn as one of the area’s largest entertainment venues.
The Lumberyard, located just north of Canyon as drivers enter the city from Amarillo, is the brainchild of Canyon business owners Danny and Rachel Byrd.
“Danny is the one who opened up Feldman’s [Wrong Way Diner] and he is a visionary, he sees big,” Joe Marion, a current Feldman’s manager, says. “This opportunity came up, and he said this would be a great opportunity for us to do this.”
Boasting a permanent outdoor stage on its south end with plans to add a banquet facility and more, the venue already can accommodate about 10,000, with room for food trucks to enjoy during the show.
“This is a large, large space for the people from Canyon, for the people driving through Canyon,” Marion says. “Canyon is a tourist attraction … and hopefully this draws in a lot of people to the city of Canyon. Not just our restaurant, but all the restaurants in Canyon.”
The Lumberyard’s concert space officially opened May 18 with
Texas country stars The Josh Abbott Band and openers Chad Miller & The Good Fortune, an on-the-rise Amarillo band.
“We were the first band to play that stage,” says Miller, as he was packing up for a weekend jaunt to Gruene Hall, where his band would open for Amarillo favorites Cooder Graw. “Hopefully, that venue has a long history, and for us to be able to say we were the first band to kick things off for them is pretty awesome.”
The venue itself already has a long history, dating back at least to 1940, when the main building was constructed. It operated, naturally, as a lumberyard before becoming a grocery distribution center.
“It’s been multiple things throughout the years,” Marion says. He believes the property once extended east to the railroad tracks, and in the 1940s, crossed the current location of Interstate 27. “There were houses over there for people who worked at the lumberyard,” he says. The facility closed in the 1970s.
Today, a 3,800-square-foot banquet facility is under construction, designed for groups of up to 250 for parties, weddings and smaller concerts. Plans are in the works to host a shopping expo in September, as well as crafting classes.
By August, the owners plan to have transformed the Quonset hut that’s connected to the banquet facility into a 250-seat restaurant with one special innovation: a self-pour beer wall with 40 taps.
“So you get a wristband, and then you go over there and pour your own beer,” Marion says. “We will have one inside and one outside [on the patio]. This will be a private club. It’s a free membership—you sign up when you come in—and that’s it. If you’re not a member, you can’t drink.”
Marion says the menu will be “completely different” from Feldman’s, describing it as “bar food, fast casual.” The restaurant also will offer outdoor dining and a smaller stage for more intimate shows.
The new Lumberyard also boasts a nearly 30,000-square-foot patio accessible from the restaurant that can fit about 700 people. Coming soon are “tables, swings, games, cornhole, ring toss, all sorts of things out here,” Marion says.
While the restaurant is expected to be open year-round, the Lumberyard’s First United Bank Stage will host concerts about eight months a year. Already announced for the summer are Texas country icon Pat Green on July 19, Red Dirt star Stoney LaRue on Aug. 9 and on July 3, in partnership with the Canyon Chamber of Commerce, Texas country star Mike Ryan for the annual Kickin’ It in Canyon concert as part of Canyon’s Independence Day festivities. Future concerts are expected to feature rock, Tejano and other genres.
Canyon officials are already pleased with the venue’s success.
“The Lumberyard concerts are poised to be a transformative asset for Canyon, enhancing not only our economic development and quality of life, but also serving as a premier venue for both our community and visitors to enjoy,” says Stephanie Tucker, executive director of the Canyon Economic Development Corp. “This initiative is expected to bolster local businesses, attract tourists and provide a vibrant cultural hub for residents, fostering a stronger, more connected community.”
Plus, it’s just fun, says Tucker, who attended both the Josh Abbott and Casey Donahew concerts. “It was amazing,” Tucker continues. “The atmosphere was great; the community was out in force as well as visitors from all over the area. The location is perfect to highlight Canyon. From the Texas flag, West Texas A&M University, the Tex Randall statue, and the train, you saw what makes Canyon the charming place we know and want others to see.”
PROVIDED PHOTOS
PROVIDED PHOTOS
NEIL AND MALCOLM SHELTON, AND ALAN TAPP
LAND OF THE LIVING
BY MATT MORGAN
It started in 1951 in the Old Tascosa Room of the Herring Hotel. Oil barons and cattlemen spent their evenings there in this famous downtown Amarillo destination, making deals and kicking up their boots beneath frescoes painted by the western artist H.D. Bugbee. It was a fitting place for two young adults to connect, especially a man and woman coming from separate ranching legacies.
This is where Joan met Jack. “We danced all night,” says Joan Shelton, 93, about that first encounter. “And we’ve been dancing ever since.”
Her husband, 98-year-old Jack Shelton, smiles in response. “The Lord has blessed us richly,” he says. Jack stands in his office surrounded by family photos and paintings of their ranch, the Bravo. Those blessings accompany hard work, and despite their advanced ages, the Sheltons supervise work the Bravo four or five days every week.
A CENTURY AT THE BOLD SPRING
The Bravo lies west of U.S. Highway 385 between Channing and Dalhart. The beautiful land tumbles its way into the Canadian River beneath sunsets as remarkable and vibrant as its owners. Once part
of the famous XIT Ranching empire, the Bravo has belonged to the Shelton family for more than 100 years.
In 1915, cattleman John Malcolm Shelton, who was then leasing land from the XIT Ranch, purchased 322,000 acres across Hartley and Oldham counties. “The purchase set my grandfather back a little under $4 per acre,” Jack says with a sly grin. He knows a good investment when he sees one.
One particularly picturesque section of this purchase was called Ojo Bravo, or “Bold Spring.” The purchase gave John Shelton nearly 500,000 acres in total, where he ran at least 28,000 head of cattle. When he passed away in 1923, ranching operations transferred to his sons, J. Malcolm Shelton and James (Jim) Martin Shelton.
Jack was born to Jim in 1925, with ranching in his blood. He grew up riding horses and helping around the Bravo.
After serving in the United States Army during World War II, Jack attended the University of Texas at Austin until 1949, when booming ranch operations met the setback of limited manpower. At the time, Jack was just one semester from graduation. But the ranch needed him, and his loyalty to the family and the Bravo spurred him back to the Panhandle. He thought it might just be a year-long interruption. That one year became 74.
Nevertheless, Jack insists his story still hadn’t really begun yet, even
NEIL AND JACK SHELTON
once he came home from college. It wasn’t until the summer of 1951, when Jack was 26, that everything changed.
A friend set Jack up on a blind date at the Herring Hotel with a young woman named Joan Johnson. Jack describes it in his 2011 book Land of Our Fathers: The Story of the Bravo Ranch, as told to Jeanne S. Archer: “It was love at first sight; bliss and happiness ever since.” He was smitten from the beginning.
As it turns out, Joan Johnson had also been born into a ranching legacy. Her great-grandfather was the famous Chickasaw rancher Montford Johnson, whose legend in Oklahoma may rival Charles Goodnight’s fame here in the Texas Panhandle.
By March 1952, Jack and Joan had married. “It was quick,” Joan says of their courtship, “but I knew I loved him.” Jack remembers feeling old at the age of 27, and knowing he “needed to get married.”
Seven decades later, that hasty marriage has produced four children, 13 grandchildren, and 33 great-grandchildren.
COUNTRY PRIDE
In late May this year, Joan stands on the front porch of the Amarillo headquarters of Bravo Ranch, located near Tradewind Airport. Gracious and whip-smart, she glows as she lists the various accomplishments of her family, including the latest high school and preschool graduations. It’s clear how connected those family ties are to the land, because she doesn’t hide her feelings. “We’d rather be at the ranch,” she says quickly.
Joan walks through the main lobby and back into Jack’s grand office, pointing out various photos of the Bravo. The furniture around the building is perfectly appointed. Joan has always been the keeper of an immaculate home, and recalls cutting her honeymoon with Jack short because they “needed to get back to the house on the ranch and fix it up.” Again, blessings accompany hard work.
Jack stands at his desk reviewing paperwork. Work rarely stops for this 98-year-old rancher. His sons, Malcolm and Jim, and grandson Neil, walk in together and pull up chairs. Interviews, like ranching, are a full-family affair. On this occasion, the three younger men are working from the office, answering emails and, as Jack describes it, “making sure we stay in the black.” He jokes that making sure the Bravo remains profitable is why the operation has enjoyed
such longevity.
“The ranch is my favorite place,” Joan says, but admits “it requires more upkeep than people could imagine.” It is difficult to grasp the maintenance required to keep six homes and multiple other buildings running on a ranch that is more than 100 years old.
The history of that century is being well kept by Jack and Joan’s family. Smiles spread across the faces of Malcolm, Jim and Neil as Joan recounts the familiar story of their blind date in 1951. The couple’s daughters no longer live in the area—they’re in Florida and South Carolina—but Joan makes it clear that they love the Bravo, too.
The Sheltons take pride in different elements of the legacy they’ve built, and are grateful the land was unaffected by the catastrophic early 2024 wildfires to the east. Jack details improvements in the genetics of their cattle and efforts to make ranch operations more efficient. He straightens in his chair upon describing the newest solar wells on the property, which are replacing old windmills.
Joan offers another perspective: “Well, I’m proud of all this love we’ve had for all these years.” She could count acres or decades or workdays or even cattle—the ranch is home to a thousand Angus cows and twice as many yearlings—but her pride is clearest when she mentions their 72 years of marriage. Then she points at a painting of the original ranch house on the Bravo. “Can you believe we had 30 people in there last Thanksgiving?”
RANCHING RELATIONSHIPS
With humility, Jack and Joan both speak of the parallels between running a successful ranch and maintaining a successful marriage. Both take nurturing, patience, flexibility and a willingness to address issues today rather than putting them off for tomorrow.
“When times are hard, we just lean on each other,” Joan says, beaming with love for both Jack and the Bravo. Jack and Malcolm each make it clear that simply showing up is a critical part of their family’s legacy. In their words, they’re not “absentee ranch owners,” and clearly that’s important to the family.
They’ve never been absentee family members, either. Devotion to one another and the multi-generation family, past and present, resonates in every word and story.
But like every legacy ranching operation, the Bravo faces challenges. Workforce is one of them, as grandson Neil explains. “It’s just in the middle of nowhere,” he says. “That makes it beautiful, but it isn’t easy getting younger people to want to make a living out there.” Neil is in his 40s and poised to make sure the family legacy, and the Bravo, remain strong.
That doesn’t mean Joan and Jack are quite ready to hang up their boots. A typical day on the ranch might find him out supervising calves or the care of injured horses, while Joan tends the gardens and serves up feasts for 30.
“My grandparents have built a legacy of love and commitment to each other, their family, their faith, and to the land that we love so much,” Neil says. That love of the land is far from an overstatement. Land has shaped the history of the Shelton family and the history of the Texas Panhandle itself. Caring for it is central to the Shelton family’s story. That’s not about to change.
Jack and Joan have spent a lifetime shaping the Bravo. And it seems the Bravo will continue shaping the generations of Sheltons that follow.
JACK AND JOAN SHELTON
A QUEEN’S RANSOM
Jodi Thomas has written page-turners for decades. Now her work is poised to gain a new audience on Netflix.
Over the course of her long and storied career as a novelist, Amarillo resident Jodi Thomas has earned countless accolades. She’s published more than 60 novels, with millions of books in print, and has been a New York Times bestseller. She was the 11th writer to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. Now, Jodi’s career is about to reach another milestone: Her novel Ransom Canyon is being adapted as a 10-episode Netflix series starring Josh Duhamel (Transformers) and Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights).
With the series about to launch her work further into the cultural conversation, Brick & Elm asked Canyon native Jonathan Baker—a publishing professional who has worked with authors ranging from Richard Powers to Neil deGrasse Tyson—to interview Jodi, his aunt, to learn the secret behind her continued success .
Jonathan Baker: I’m so excited to talk to you about this! This Netflix movie represents the culmination of a very long and successful career. How have your books changed over the past 40 years?
Jodi Thomas: I don’t know if they’ve changed that much. To me, it has always been about telling the story of connection. Sometimes that connection is a romantic one, but other times I focus on the connections in a family, or in a small town. I’ve always thought that the most interesting stories come from examining those connections and seeing how people play off each other. I think my readers enjoy seeing my characters interact with one another. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
JB: All of your books, as far as I know, have been set in West Texas.
What is it about this land and these people that has provided so much material for so many books?
JT: I think people all over the world enjoy reading about Texas. It’s that spirit of independence and individualism, [and the] idea of a clear-cut right and wrong that can give a real pulse and power to a story. The people of Texas—and specifically West Texas—are raised with the idea that if a problem arises, you need to take care of it yourself. That was definitely true for my historical fiction. I enjoy writing about early Texas, and West Texas during that time was a wide open and often dangerous place. It was also a place full of possibilities. It’s fun to let my characters dream big in a place like that.
JB: I remember, when I was a kid, you were a special ed and homemaking teacher at Amarillo High. What made you want to start writing books?
JT: I absolutely loved being a teacher. I made lifelong friends, and I cherished seeing the students grow and change. But I think I’ve always considered myself a writer first. It’s just that, back then, I was a writer who paid the bills by teaching. I’ve told stories for as long as I can remember. I struggled with dyslexia as a child, [so] reading and writing were difficult for me. I would memorize stories and tell them again and again to my little twin sisters and my friends. I remember loving seeing the power that the stories I created out of nothing could have on people around me. My sisters would ask me to retell stories night after night, so I’d have to remember the details exactly. They’d let me know if I messed up the smallest detail, so I worked hard to make the story exactly the same. They were really my first editors, if I think about it.
JB: I love that. One of those little twins was my mother. So why did
you choose to write romance, of all the available genres?
JT: Who doesn’t love being in love? I guess I write romance because romance novels can have it all. They have action, adventure, heroes and villains. I think that’s why romance novels are consistently the best-selling genre of books around the world. Readers get pulled into stories with passionate characters. They want to read about people who, no matter what else is going on in their lives, can’t help but fall in love and fight for that love—no matter what. Other genres can have love stories, but when love is the driving force behind the character’s motivation, it can really pull a reader in.
JB: Makes sense to me. I’ve always loved editing romance novels, and I think that’s why. On that note I’ve been wondering, when you finished Ransom Canyon, did you have a feeling that you’d written something special? Or was it just another book until it started to gain traction with people?
JT: That’s a tough one. Picking a favorite book or series is like picking your favorite child. I love different things about every book I write, but people have told me that the Ransom Canyon series was their favorite. I think it goes back to the concept of connections we were talking about before. Ransom is full of “larger than life” stories—characters that my readers form a real connection with. I’ll still get the occasional piece of fan mail asking why Staten did something or what Quinn is up to these days. Readers form a bond [with these characters] that can feel like a real relationship.
JB: Your stories seem perfectly positioned to transition to film in the current market, after the success of Yellowstone and similar shows. Your books also seem to lend themselves nicely to visual storytelling. Did you do that on purpose, or were you just doing your thing?
solid writing community, and many of those writers have been members of your own writing group. Can you think of anything that would help the local writing community grow and flourish?
JT: Writers have to be willing to help other writers, and the Amarillo writing community has been incredible in that aspect. I would not be where I am without this supportive community. I think we have so many writers in our area because this is still a place of big dreams and big imaginations. All you need to do is drive 10 minutes in any direction, and you’re out of the city and back on the prairie. You’re seeing the land much like it looked hundreds of years ago. There is power in that. It opens your mind to all kinds of possibilities. I still like to drive out in a direction I’ve never been before and take in a new view. Stories are everywhere out here.
JB: Definitely. OK, tell us a couple of important lessons you’ve learned during your long career— ideas that helped your books become more popular.
JT: I’ve always dreamed of seeing my work on the big or little screen. I imagine most writers do. But I didn’t write the books with that in mind. I was mainly interested in writing the best novel I could. I think they lend themselves well to film because they take place in visually powerful settings. The area around Ransom Canyon is beautiful. [Note: The real-life Ransom Canyon is southwest of Lubbock, though Jodi’s series depicts a fictionalized West Texas location.] The small-town setting is stunning. I got a chance recently to visit the set. It’s amazing to see what the set designers and producers have done to make the world of Ransom Canyon come alive. I think readers are going to love how the world translates from the page to the screen. I was truly blown away by how real and beautiful the sets were.
JB: You’re getting me excited! I think a lot of people in the Panhandle are excited, which brings up a subject I know has always been important to you. The Texas Panhandle has a really
JT: I remember when I was first trying to get published. I got so many rejection letters that I stopped keeping count. I was feeling pretty down on myself, and I wondered if I had what it takes to ever get published. I needed to clear my head, so I drove out to Llano Cemetery. I know it sounds strange, but Llano has always been a calming place for me to think. I was sitting on one of the small stone benches and I looked down at a small square rock at my feet. Grass had long ago grown over it, but I could tell that it had a word carved on it. I pushed the grass away with my foot and I could read the word Through I thought that was strange, so I started looking for other similar stones. I found three others, each with a different word. When I put them all together they read, “Triumph Comes Through Perseverance.”
Talk about giving me the boost I needed at that time! I’ve known so many writers that I would say were so much more talented than I could ever dream of being. But I think perseverance is what makes successful writers successful. You have to be willing to keep going when all hope is lost. Just keep writing, keep working.
JB: I’ve never heard that story. That’s amazing. So, if there are any aspiring novelists among the Brick & Elm readership, what advice would you give them on how to get started with an eye toward success?
JT: Most beginning writers, about the time they learn to write, they quit. They don’t hang in there. So when you learn to write, work harder. There are no long vacations for anybody as a writer.
JB: OK, I know you said you couldn’t do it … but if you absolutely had to pick, what would you say is your favorite of your books?
JT: I really do love Ransom Canyon. I love the characters and their struggles. I can’t wait for more people to see this world and be drawn into this amazing story.
(L-R): LANCE LAHNERT, TIM
FULL CIRCLE, FULL SWING
The Randy Keller Fighting Heart Baseball Scholarship, AISD’s largest, keeps spirit of gritty player alive
BY JON MARK BEILUE
Dr. Avery Rush felt drawn to the doorstep of Don and Carol Keller on a December evening in 1992. Christmas was in the air, but that was not what pulled the Amarillo ophthalmologist to the Keller home.
He had to do something, felt compelled to go beyond concern and condolences after the Keller’s loss of their youngest child, Randy. On Dec. 11, the 17-year-old died in a one-vehicle accident in the Ridgecrest neighborhood.
“I can’t tell you the feeling I had, but I just knew I needed to go over there and be with them,” Rush says. “To me, it felt like I had lost my own son. I don’t know if I could give a reason other than I was motivated to help.”
Rush and Don Keller became friends a few years earlier when both
were coaching their sons in YMCA baseball. They had practice fields adjacent to each other at Southwest Park. Rush was new to coaching baseball, and he asked Keller for a few tips and suggestions.
Keller was more than happy—flattered even—to share what he knew. They developed a connection, this eye surgeon and the general manager of an equipment company. It continued as sons Jave Rush and Randy Keller aged into high school.
Then came the numbing news of Randy’s death. The Kellers made the decision to donate their son’s organs. Just a few days later, Rush performed a corneal transplant, giving Randy’s corneas to two recipients who were blind.
All of that—the Kellers’ generosity, friendship, Randy—welled within Rush as he rang the doorbell. Between hugs and tears, he had an offer for the Keller family.
“ Avery said that he had a gift for us,” Carol says. “He wanted to keep Randy’s spirit and name alive. ”
“Avery said that he had a gift for us,” Carol says. “He wanted to keep Randy’s spirit and name alive. Oh my goodness, we couldn’t believe it, and I still can’t because it continues to grow.”
And so was born the Randy Keller Fighting Heart Baseball Scholarship. There was nothing like it in Amarillo at the time, and even today, few like it anywhere else.
‘Watch what I do and follow me’
One of the lures of baseball is that it offers a place for a player of almost any size. Randy Keller wasn’t going to hit a baseball 380 feet or throw a baseball 90 mph. But he found ways to help his team win, from those early YMCA baseball days through his junior year at Tascosa.
He had always been a second baseman. He had a sure glove. He could lay down a bunt, move a runner over. He could steal a base, start a rally. He was a pain to the opponent. It was rare if Randy’s uniform wasn’t dirty by the second inning.
“A lot of times he was the smallest guy on the field,” says Tim McLemore, Randy’s teammate and best friend. “He was gritty. Typical leadoff guy—just dirty all the time. He could make things happen. He was a spark plug, a coach’s dream. It was ‘watch what I do and follow me.’’’
The previous year as a junior, in the 1992 baseball season, Randy won Tascosa baseball’s Fighting Heart Award. He had become a leader, matured into a more outgoing personality. He’d been a quiet kid in elementary and junior high. Words almost had to be pulled out of him. Not at Tascosa. He was funny, a prankster, and got the most out of each day.
“He found his voice in high school,” McLemore says. “He was loyal to his friends to a fault. If you were to grab the people from the ’93 class and ask, ‘Did you like Randy Keller?’ Every single one would tell you they loved him, that he was the funniest guy, the greatest guy to be around.”
McLemore, Randy and others were about two months away from their senior baseball season in December 1992. It was the second Friday of the month, and Tascosa had just hosted a dance. A group had a room at a hotel off I-40 near Coulter.
Right after McLemore whipped beneath an underpass and headed east on the I-40 access road, he pulled into the hotel parking lot. He saw his older brother, Brent, along with some other friends. That was strange. What was his brother doing there?
“As I got closer, I could see the look on his face and instantly I knew something was bad. I had not seen that look before,” Tim says. “He told me to get in the truck, and then he told me Randy had passed away in a car accident. That’s one of those things that’s just seared into your brain.”
Tim went immediately to the Keller’s house. “That was my second home. I was there all the time. Carol was like another mother to me. I hugged her for what seemed like forever. That’s seared into my brain, as well.”
There would be a memorial service, a burial, a stream of friends and family at the home. Through the fog of almost unbearable grief stepped Avery Rush.
PHOTOS OF RANDY KELLER GROWING UP PLAYING BASEBALL THROUGH THE YEARS.
2O19
An enormous legacy
In 2024, the Randy Keller Fighting Heart Baseball Scholarship celebrated its 31st anniversary. The pool of applicants is small, and the reward is great—so great, in fact, that it is the largest single scholarship given within Amarillo ISD.
Each of the four Amarillo ISD high schools—Amarillo High, Caprock, Palo Duro and Tascosa—nominate two players from their baseball program. In addition to a scholarship application, the candidates meet with a committee which asks questions and learns more about the applicant.
The first recipient four months after Randy’s death, fittingly, was Randy’s best friend, Tim McLemore, a former catcher turned outfielder. The amount was initially $1,000, but had increased to $5,000 by the time McLemore graduated from West Texas A&M University in 1998.
“I was extremely honored,” he says. “Randy had a lot of really good friends on that team that loved Randy like I did. I was an aboveaverage player at best. I joked that my speed turned triples into singles. But I loved baseball and played hard like Randy did. I was going to college regardless, but to be the first name on that plaque was super special.”
In 31 years, a total of $406,750 has been dedicated to the scholarship. Six times the scholarship has increased—to $6,000 in 2003, $10,000 in 2007, $15,000 in 2009, $20,000 in 2011, and the current $25,000 last year. The amount is payable over eight semesters as long as the recipient remains a full-time student and carries a 2.0 GPA.
“Tragedies are going to occur,” Rush says, “but you can bring some positivity out of tragedy. This is not going to bring back Randy, of course, or take away the tragedy, but it helps to take a positive stand when you can.”
Rush established the Keller Foundation and funds the majority of it. Another major contributor is an unlikely but symbolic link to the Keller family and baseball—a talent agent in Hollywood.
In the early 1970s, the Kellers lived in an Albuquerque apartment complex. John Williams, an 8-year-old boy, lived in the same complex. He lost his father in a car accident. Williams was cut from another team, and his mother asked Don Keller if he would coach a team with her son on it. Don agreed, and it was the start of 46 years of baseball coaching, from 1972 to 2018, the past 39 years in Amarillo.
Williams, who counts comedians Jeff Foxworthy and Larry The Cable Guy among his clients, never forgot his first coach and his
willingness to help him grow. He has sent several $50,000 checks to the scholarship fund over the years.
“To begin with, the financial part was not the biggest motivating factor,” Rush says. “It was more about honoring the name and memory. But I also never thought it would grow and be as big as it has become. In other words, the financial part is important and I don’t want to downplay it, but the honor is receiving it.”
The scholarship recipient each year is determined by a committee that interviews the applicants. The process causes mixed emotions for the Kellers, as it’s hard not to think of that December night, but it also gives them a chance to talk about their son.
“I look forward to that but also dread it,” Carol Keller says. “I was so grateful for it then, but even more now. So many we know have lost children, and for us to do this every year and I get to talk about Randy because I want the candidates to know him, is just a blessing. It’s the biggest gift we’ve received.”
The interviews often leave the committee with not only a difficult decision, but also a restored faith in the future.
“When you’re in that room, you walk out feeling better about yourself,” says Lance Lahnert, former sports writer and sports editor for the Amarillo Globe-News, who covered the scholarship while employed by the newspaper. “Everyone is concerned about our youth, but you come out impressed and hopeful for the future. Everyone comes out going, ‘Wow, that was amazing.’”
Among the 42 recipients—there have been years of corecipients—Tascosa and Amarillo High have had 17 and 16 recipients, while Caprock has had six, and Palo Duro three. The scholarship has been awarded to two brothers from Caprock, Andrew Kennedy in 2003 and Tim Kennedy in 2005.
And then came May 2024, when the committee elected to give the scholarship to a center fielder from Amarillo High. He’ll be headed to Richland Community College to play baseball. His name is Max McLemore, and his father, Tim, had been Randy Keller’s best friend. Thirty years after Tim received the first scholarship in Randy’s name, the honor has swung full circle.
“It means the world to me,” Max says. “It really hit home with me. I knew how close my dad was to Randy. The money is great and everything, but it’s more about getting your name associated with it.”
Actually, Max McLemore has been associated with that name long before this spring. It’s right there on his birth certificate: Max Keller McLemore.
A REUNION OF THE KELLER SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS WAS AT HODGETOWN IN JULY
AISD recipients of the Randy Keller Fighting Heart Baseball Scholarship since its inaugural year in 1993.
NAME YEAR
Tim McLemore, Tascosa 1993
Scott Martin, Amarillo High 1994
Clay Aderholt, Amarillo High
Darrell Barron, Tascosa 1995
Brian Cantrell, Tascosa 1996
Kevin Hansford, Tascosa 1997
John Hays, Palo Duro
Steve Lopez, Caprock 1998
Tavis Jones, Amarillo High 1999
Jason Edwards, Tascosa 2000
Eric Davis, Amarillo High 2001
Steven Contreras, Caprock 2002
Andrew Kennedy, Caprock 2003
Josh Pate, Tascosa 2004
Tim Kennedy, Caprock
Jordan Nipp, Amarillo High 2005
Anthony Hall, Tascosa 2006
Jacob Hays, Amarillo High
Brandon Raetzel, Caprock 2007
Peter Hargrave, Amarillo High
Brian Strouhal, Tascosa 2008
Cody Wright, Tascosa 2009
Heath Herrington, Amarillo High 2010
Banner Long, Tascosa 2011
Kameron Bennett, Amarillo High 2012
Hub Bilodeau, Tascosa 2013
Tracy Bradley, Palo Duro 2014
Hunter Hand, Amarillo High 2015
Duncan Chew, Tascosa 2016
Spencer Breyer, Tascosa
Michael Noonan, Amarillo High 2017
Cesar Gonzales, Palo Duro 2018
Brett Williams, Amarillo High 2019
Coby Bolen, Amarillo High 2020
Bryson Slaughter, Amarillo High
Ben Kincaid, Tascosa 2021
Javin Patrick, Tascosa
Roger King, Jr, Caprock 2022
Brayden Keeter, Tascosa 2023
Max McLemore, Amarillo High 2024
AND
MAX WITH HIS MOTHER, ERIN,
SISTER, LIBBY
MAX MCLEMORE WITH CAROL KELLER
up for a rewarding career.
First Responders Academy Opening Fall 2024
Amarillo College’s First Responders Academy will be a collaborative training center in Sunset Center where future law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical professionals prepare side by side to make significant contributions to public safety region-wide.
The Academy’s integrated-training approach and emphasis on interagency cooperation are intended to equip graduates to not only handle emergencies optimally, but to improve their outcomes.
Having sufficient numbers of excellently trained first responders is essential to public safety and quality of life throughout the Panhandle, which long has looked to Amarillo College for emergency-response expertise. Now, with establishment of the First Responders Academy, the College is raising the bar of emergency preparedness and response higher still, to the benefit of the entire region.
Suit
TRAVEL
Summers are for adventures, and long road trips are always exciting. But the pursuit of adventure doesn’t always have to require a long journey, so don’t neglect adventures that are possible closer to home. Make 2024 the summer you fully explore the best this area has to offer, starting with the unique canyon and outdoor access provided by MERUS Adventure and Cowgirls and Cowboys in the West, along with the history and storytelling of the TEXAS Outdoor Musical and Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum and—a few short miles to the west—the vintage Route 66 vibe of Tucumcari, New Mexico. [
Two hours west of Amarillo on I-40, Tucumcari, New Mexico (pronounced “TWO-come-carry”) is a relaxed, rural community packed with Route 66 nostalgia, Old West history, and wide-open vistas. Originally founded as a railroad camp in 1901, the town was incorporated in 1908, and became part of Route 66, also known as the Mother Road, in 1926.
Route 66 runs through Tucumcari and is lined with historic motels, classic neon, and unique shops and eateries. Most known for the moniker “Tucumcari Tonite!” there is a wide variety of lodging for people traveling the highway to stop for the night and enjoy comfortable accommodations.
Museums and murals draw visitors into Tucumcari. The Mesalands Dinosaur Museum and Natural Science Laboratory features a 40-foot-long skeleton of Tovosaurus (a carnivore relative of Tyrannosaurus rex), many interactive displays, and the world’s largest collection of bronze skeletons and fossils.
History buffs will enjoy exploring the Tucumcari Historical Museum, which is located in a 1903 schoolhouse. Each room has themed exhibits filled with artifacts and memorabilia. The displays also fill annex buildings on the property, two of which house a 1926 Chevrolet Fire Truck and an original chuck wagon.
The Tucumcari Railroad Museum is located along the tracks in the recently restored, 1926 Spanish-style historic depot. It offers a step back into the history and development of the Union Pacific Railroad in Tucumcari with pictures and artifacts. Visitors can even take a turn at the controls of a GP38 diesel locomotive simulator.
Classic car lovers will not be disappointed with a stop at the Route 66 Museum where there are several on display, including a 1929 Ford Model A Sedan and a 1956 Mercury Montclair, along with historic photos and other memorabilia.
There are nearly 100 murals in Tucumcari. Most of them are easily sighted and accessed along Tucumcari Boulevard, while others can be found on businesses and buildings throughout town. A mural map is available at the Tucumcari Chamber of Commerce to help visitors explore these unique pieces of art, many of which have a hidden object or message.
Come discover our stretch of the historic mother road and experience the small-town charm and hospitality of Tucumcari, New Mexico.
PanhandlePlains Historical Museum
Why should Texas Panhandle residents visit PanhandlePlains Historical Museum? In PPHM’s tremendous holdings, visitors find the heart of Texas art, the free spirit of the Taos and Santa Fe schools of art, and unsurpassed Southwest American Indian art They can unlock the hidden world of the ancient past through the paleontology, geology and archeology areas, while learning about the rich history of the region and seeing some of the finest examples of fashion in the Textiles Gallery. Exhibits change constantly and there is always something new to see. From dinosaurs to modern art, from saddles to automobiles, PPHM has it all at the largest history museum in Texas. How long has PPHM been open? Since 1933.
What do visitors seem to enjoy the most? Visitors love our Pioneer Town because they are immersed in the “Old West” and truly experience it firsthand, from pumping water at the well to sitting in the old school house. We also know people love our paleontology and imagining what life was like when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
What do you consider a “must-see” or “must-do”? Pioneer Town, dinosaurs and of course, our amazing art collections. We have two very special exhibits this summer: “Remembering Adobe Walls,” and “Dali’s Wonderland.” Our special exhibits are always a must-see.
What’s one thing that will surprise visitors? PPHM always surprises people by the sheer size and the amount of things you can learn and engage with. It is truly a place that all generations can enjoy.
TEXAS Outdoor Musical
Why should Texas Panhandle residents visit the TEXAS Outdoor Musical? TEXAS Outdoor Musical is an internationally known outdoor musical drama that has been performed since 1966 against the majestic backdrop of Palo Duro Canyon State Park. A talented cast of more than 60 actors, singers and dancers bring to life the stories, struggles and triumphs of the settlers of the Texas Panhandle in the 1800s. Besides learning about the history of this fascinating time and place, you’ll also be treated to singing, dancing and a generous helping of our unique brand of Texas humor. Our 58th season runs every Sunday through Aug. 3. Kids ages 6 to 12 can get show tickets for just $1.00.
When was the TEXAS Outdoor Musical born? Our show began in 1960 when local resident Margaret Harper read an article in Reader’s Digest about a playwright and author named Paul Green. Across the United States, Green had recreated the history of several U.S. regions in tremendous dramas with pageantry and music. Harper wrote to Green and began corresponding with him about the land, people and beauty of Palo Duro Canyon. As interest in the prospect of an outdoor theater began to grow, a small group of Canyon families funded the first trip for Green to come to the Texas Panhandle later that year. Green immediately dedicated himself to the project of bringing the history of the High Plains to the stage. The support organization eventually expanded to include Amarillo and all the surrounding area.
What do visitors seem to enjoy the most? The musical is performed in the Pioneer Amphitheater, which is carved into a natural basin in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. At every performance, audiences are impressed by the dramatic moment that marks the beginning of the play, as a lone horseman carrying the Texas flag appears atop a 600-foot cliff. Along with the dramatic story, visitors also enjoy a variety of special effects during the performance—including lightning, fireworks and a water show—as well as backstage tours and an authentic barbecue dinner before the show.
What do you consider a “must-see” or “must-do”? The show, of course! The mixture of all the elements make TEXAS a unique and awesome experience for all ages, and attract visitors from around the world every season. Also, the drive down into the nation’s second-largest canyon is breathtaking. What’s one thing that will surprise visitors? A new feature to the show this summer is Shakespeare in the Canyon. A Midsummer Night’s Dream will open for four special performances in July: July 9, 16, 23 and 30. Kids under 12 years get in free. Special concession items, such as turkey legs, will be available for purchase.
TRAVEL
Why should Texas Panhandle residents visit Cowgirls and Cowboys in the West? Our experiences are regularly rated as the top local attraction on TripAdvisor. We host visitors to the Texas Panhandle from all over the world, but we also love serving local residents and giving them the experience of a lifetime on the rim of Palo Duro Canyon. If you are a horse lover, a history buff, or someone looking for an experience you’ll remember forever—this is your place! Our business—which is entirely female-owned and -operated—offers a true and authentic Western experience. You’ll ride horses with authentic cowgirls across our thousands of acres of Texas land near Palo Duro Canyon, making unforgettable memories for all who visit us.
How long has Cowgirls and Cowboys in the West been in business? Cowgirls and Cowboys in the West just celebrated its 13th year in operation. During that time, we have been featured on many television shows, travel segments, and in digital and print media. Our recent segment on the popular The Texas Bucket List delighted us, because it highlighted our unique cowgirl operation.
What do visitors seem to enjoy the most? Our horses, our land, our history and our cowgirls—visitors often call this “the girl ranch,” and it’s accurate! We offer a variety of authentic western experiences for guests, including open-range horseback riding at our beautiful Los Cedros Ranch for novice and experienced riders; private chuckwagon meals on the rim of Palo Duro Canyon; and speaking, training and team-building sessions that focus on our western history. We teach teamwork, organizational skills, endurance and survival skills that translate to the workplace and the personal lives of participants. These are just some of the reasons Cowgirls and Cowboys in the West earned the Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice award this past year!
What do you consider a “must-see” or “must-do”? Among our most popular activities are our phenomenal two-hour sunset riding experiences. Guests love them! And because our chuckwagon events and flavors are so well-reviewed, we’ve introduced products for sale on our website, including our delicious new Hank’s Cowboy Rub and Sassy Cowgirl Rub. These are perfect for gifts or preparing your own barbecue at home.
What’s one thing that will surprise visitors? Our horses are all wellmannered and healthy American Quarter Horses and working cattle horses. Guests are amazed at how well our horses take care of them on our horseback rides. By the time our rides are finished, even first-time horse riders feel like they are real cowgirls and cowboys. They are also amazed with the thrilling history of our ranch, Palo Duro Canyon and West Texas itself.
INTRODUCING COWBOY AND COWGIRL BBQ RUBS MADE IN AMARILLO!
Merus Adventure Park
Why should Texas Panhandle residents visit Merus Adventure Park? Merus Adventure is quickly becoming a “go to destination” for family-friendly outdoor adventure in the United States. We have overlanding enthusiasts driving across the country to explore our trails in a part of Palo Duro Canyon that has, until now, been inaccessible to the public. We offer peaceful off-roading and overlanding on purposefully designed and built trails—no loud exhaust vehicles, motorcycles, UTVs or ATVs—and also offer unique adventures like caving, mountain biking, cabins, glamping, tent camping, and RV hookups. Despite our growing national reputation, Merus and our incredible piece of the canyon are still relatively “undiscovered” by locals.
What’s the Merus origin story? Our founder, Dirk van Reenen, used to love visiting Palo Duro Canyon when he was building his business and real estate career in Amarillo after attending WTAMU. He then spent several years elsewhere in Texas and as far away as Maryland before a series of events during the pandemic got him thinking again about the canyon—and the possibility of opening an adventure park in the Texas Panhandle. Dirk and his family owned a Jeep and loved the outdoors and overlanding scene. He envisioned exploring the canyon in vehicles, but in a quieter, more private environment. Three years ago, when a property that had once been part of Col. Goodnight’s historic JA Ranch went on the market, Dirk jumped at the opportunity to turn this dream into reality.
What do visitors seem to enjoy the most? We are located on 7,500 acres of explorable canyon terrain 13 miles west of the state park, so our main draw is definitely Palo Duro Canyon itself. Regardless of your activity, it’s a place to connect with nature and connect with others. The daily admissions at Merus are limited to 200 people, so we offer access to the canyon without crowds. The off-roading at Merus is always low-noise and slow speed, including guided tours and group packages.
What do you consider a “must-see” or “must-do”? Even if you feel like you know Palo Duro Canyon, the views and terrain at Merus are rugged, beautiful and truly epic. Experiencing it in a full-size, street-legal 4x4 vehicle is always so much fun. We have trails for every skill and vehicle build, and even offer rental vehicles. And if you don’t want to drive, there are plenty of trails for hiking and biking, guided cave tours, and incredible moments in wild, untouched nature.
What’s one thing that will surprise visitors? We’re an outdoor destination, but some of our best features are indoors! We offer a variety of cabin and tent-camping options, including glamping— glamorous camping—which combines some of the comforts of home with the beauty of nature. Located on the Canyon rim, these tents are furnished with a queen bed, linens, tables, chairs, lights, water and a toilet, built up on platforms that get you out of the dirt. It’s a perfect place to unwind and watch a sunset after a day at Merus. You haven’t experienced the true beauty of a Texas sunset until you’ve stayed at one of our incredible glamping locations.
IFloral Flavor: Cooking with Lavender
would never have imagined,” Paige Nester says, looking out a window onto the rows of mature lavender plants behind Creek House Honey Farm. In one part of the building, employees are ringing up purchases of allnatural honey and beeswax products. Others are busy in the kitchen, preparing for the lunchtime rush at the kitchen and bar top of Honey Buzz Winery.
Next door, employees and construction workers complete the final stages of a 5,000-square-foot event and manufacturing building—partially funded by grants from the WT Enterprise Center Enterprize Challenge and the Canyon EDC—that will enable Creek House to increase its honey production and manufacturing, including wholesale distribution of its award-winning mead and popular skincare products across the United States. Right now, Creek House products are available in about half of the U.S. Soon, they’ll grow even further.
Then there are the beehives, located a few hundred yards away on trailers—which allow them to be moved, when necessary, for pollination. “Everything is based around a creature we have to have,” Paige says of the bees that make Creek House products possible. “I love educating people about bees. That’s the heart of it all.”
Located east of Canyon on Fourth Avenue, between the city and I-27, the bee-based business is located on approximately 100 acres. It started in 2010 when Paige and George Nester were helping their daughters grow pumpkins, and turned to bees as pollinators. Two hobby hives turned into four hives, then eight hives, and suddenly the couple had a lot more honey than they could consume.
Beekeeping quickly turned into a family business. Within a few years, the small business had transformed into a (literally) buzzing, multi-building production facility with 42 employees and products in 20 states—all sourced from the Creek House apiary.
Lavender Love
Bees are highly attracted to the fragrant purple flowers of lavender plants, which have a lengthy blooming season and offer a reliable source of nectar. The aroma of the plants wafts throughout the property. The farm’s bees flit from one sprig to the next.
But lavender is not just on the menu for local insects.
Over the past couple of years, Creek House has hosted an August Lavender Festival, allowing members of the public to cut their own bundles of the fragrant herb. (This year’s festival is Saturday, Aug. 17.)
“The smell is fantastic,” Paige says about lavender, which has been celebrated and cultivated for thousands of years across a variety of cultures. “The smell is anti-anxiety right there. It’s one of my favorite herbs of all time. It does so many good things.”
One of those things is adding a subtle floral element to food. Creek House creates lavender cookies, lavender lemonade and other delicacies for the festival, and Paige was kind enough to give Brick & Elm a sneak peek.
Cooking with lavender begins, of course, with food-grade lavender, also known as culinary lavender. “It’s important to know where your lavender’s coming from,” Paige says. “You can’t put any kind of pesticides or herbicides on it. At the bee farm, we can’t do that.” High-quality culinary lavender, which is available fresh or dried, also has less oil than the more aromatic kind used in lotions, and keeps food from tasting too soapy or perfumy. [Note from Brick & Elm: Stick to culinary lavender in the kitchen. Lavender essential oil is not safe for ingestion and shouldn’t be used for cooking.]
Lavender buds are more potent dry than fresh, so use sparingly. Dry fresh lavender flowers by hanging them upside down in a warm and dry place. After removing stems, grind the buds to add it to cakes or cookies, or steep with honey or sugar to make a simple syrup (see recipe).
“Lavender has so many health properties,” says Paige. “It’s just good for you. It calms you down. It helps you sleep. It relaxes you.”
As buzzy as things have been lately at Creek House, she’ll take a moment of tranquility anywhere she can get it.
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
1 cup butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup powdered sugar
1 lemon, zested
½ cup cornstarch
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon lavender buds
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and vanilla extract until creamed. Add powdered sugar and lemon zest; mix until combined. Combine flour and cornstarch in a separate container. Scrape mixing bowl down and add flour mixture while beating on low. Scrape bowl once more and mix until combined. Shape the dough into a loaf, wrap in plastic and
chill until firm, or at least an hour. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Flour the dough, then use a cookie stamp to shape the dough. Press firmly and evenly, but not all the way through the dough. Cut around each shape with a circle cookie cutter or any shape desired. (Optional: Paint with edible gold dust.) Place cookies, spaced at least an inch apart, onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Bake for 6 minutes, rotating baking sheet in the oven and baking an additional 6 minutes. If using a convection oven, set oven to 325 degrees, and bake for the same amount of time. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Makes 16 cookies
Lavender Lemonade
1 ½ cups honey
12 cups warm water
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons, fresh lemon juice (4 to 7 lemons, depending on size of lemons) 1 tablespoon dried lavender
Make a lavender simple syrup: In a saucepan, mix ½ cup honey and lavender together. Add water (rub or break up the lavender beforehand to make it fragrant). Bring mixture to a boil and stir until the honey is dissolved. Remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain mixture and set aside.
To make lemonade: Mix remaining cup honey and 11 cups warm water until honey is dissolved. Add lemon juice and mix well. Stir in simple syrup; mix well. Chill to serve over ice with a sprig of lavender, if desired.
Makes 1 gallon
S
A E S
Whether your 3 year old is adventuring into their school journey in Primer, your 3rd grader is eager to play an instrument in orchestra, or your 6th grade athlete is ready to compete on the field or court, St. Andrew’s recognizes your desire for a school that prioritizes the individual needs of your child.
Our master teachers see, know, and hear every child. Our tailored curriculum, aligned from Primer through 8th grade, will ensure your child is prepped for success in high school and beyond. St. Andrew’s students benefit from a robust combination of core classes, such as engineering and Spanish, and extension classes, such as theatre and orchestra.
Contact us today to learn how St. Andrew’s can open the door to more for your family! 8
SCHOOL
It won’t be long before vacation season wraps up, the long July days turn slightly shorter with the arrival of August, and suddenly it’s time to stock up on school supplies. In Amarillo and Canyon, “school” is a broad concept. It applies to preschoolers just learning letters and numbers, to students building a public school foundation in K-12, and to aspiring college students, technicians-in-training and future physicians. This special section on education covers everything from our region’s tiniest learners at Opportunity School to the halls of higher education at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. [
Amarillo College
Just a year ago, Amarillo College reached the pinnacle of national success when it received the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the country’s signature recognition of achievement and performance. This prestigious honor is given out every two years, which means AC will remain the reigning Aspen Prize winner throughout the 2024-25 school year.
But the school isn’t about to take a breather or bask in the accolades. That would be out of character. In fact, the recognition has only spurred new energy and activity on campus.
Some of the most visible changes are physical, especially on the Washington Street Campus. The new Enrollment Center and the revamped FirstBank Southwest Center are now among AC’s crown jewels. The former Student Service Center is well on its way to a complete makeover. Renovations to the bustling Ware Student Commons soon will boast a revamped library as well as top-drawer tutoring and counseling hubs.
There’s no shortage of updates to AC’s already rigorous academic offerings, either. These may be most visible on the East Campus, where the college’s long-running Industrial Technology program has been rebranded into Advanced Manufacturing. The new name better reflects a curriculum aligned with the latest advancements in manufacturing technology—robotics and automation, AI and data analytics, cybersecurity—which push the boundaries of current manufacturing practices.
What’s driving these changes? For some, the answer may be surprising. AC has long provided students with a solid academic foundation, whether they are looking to immediately enter the workforce or proceed to a university.
But the driving force behind most decisions on Amarillo College campuses is what the school’s administrators call its “Culture of Caring.”
In 2015, the College intentionally shifted its focus to prioritize student success. The Culture of Caring was designed to connect first-generation and academically underprepared students with social services structured to help them overcome barriers to success. As a result, the College opened a mental health counseling center, a legal aid clinic, a career and employment center, and a childcare center. AC also launched an Advocacy and Resource Center, which houses a food pantry and inhouse social workers, and connects students with social services provided by more than 60 local nonprofits. Almost immediately, this shift thrust Amarillo College into the national spotlight.
In concert with these innovative social supports,
the College prioritized improving students’ time-tocompletion by adopting 8-week semesters. As a result, more students are able to attend classes full time.
AC’s Culture of Caring prioritizes “loving students to success”—a phrase you’ll hear often among administrators, faculty and staff. The success is real. Over the past decade, AC’s three-year completion rates have tripled from 19 percent to 60 percent.
They’re also finding success at a faster pace. AC’s corequisite program pairs developmental courses with credit-bearing courses. This helps increase underprepared students’ transferable credit hours while they are getting up to speed.
Meanwhile, a quality enhancement plan called Smart Start to Finish is designed to improve retention by focusing on student engagement and connectedness, starting at pre-enrollment of potential students and lasting through graduation or transfer. Within this plan, success coaches mentor students throughout their academic journey. Students who underachieve at any point receive access to free compulsory tutoring.
It helps that Amarillo College employees are some of the most engaged in the nation, ranking in the 95th percentile for engagement in the Gallup Q12 database for higher education institutions.
AC has come a long way since 1929, when 86 students answered the inaugural roll call. Today, Amarillo College enrolls about 9,000 students across six campuses in three Texas Panhandle communities—Amarillo (4 campuses), Dumas, and Hereford. Intercollegiate athletics are back for the first time since the mid-1980s, with teams in men’s baseball, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s cross country. The AC Badgers hold membership in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.
The unflagging community support for Amarillo College was clear in the 2019 passage of an $89 million bond issue, which has helped fund many of the major physical renovations and infrastructure upgrades. But the transformation of AC isn’t over thanks to the 2020 launch of Badger Bold, the College’s first-ever comprehensive campaign. This $45 million campaign—guided by the nonprofit AC Foundation—has realized approximately $38 million, representing around 84 percent of its ambitious goal.
Nationwide, half the students enrolled in higher education are being served by community colleges, and in Amarillo, they benefit from the top community college in the nation. Amarillo College isn’t about to rest in its mission of loving students to success.
The Ascension Difference
“Ascension Academy is a great private school that offers so many opportunities for families who want to provide their children a great education to fit their specific needs. They offer small class sizes, which means your child will have one-on-one attention from teachers and will receive the extra help they need. Ascension Academy offers a rigorous curriculum that prepares students for college and more.”
—Dey Gabriel, Current Ascension Parent
Ascension students range in social and economic status, athletic abilities, artistic expression, and academic skills. What these diverse students have in common is a desire to be challenged in an environment where they can be themselves and be an important part of a close-knit community that recognizes their individual gifts and talents.
Ascension is a place where students can find themselves and their passion. It is a place where they can be challenged academically in a safe environment. It is a place where they can branch out and try new things. All of these things add up to make Ascension a unique school community that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the Panhandle—it is the Ascension Difference.
“Both of my Ascension graduates left Ascension Academy with vast knowledge and the ability to multitask in and out of the classroom and were prepared for the rigors of college-level classes and academic work. Both of them feel that they had an easier time transitioning to college life and curriculum because of the academic foundation that Ascension gave them.”
—Deanna Morris, Current and Alumni Parent
Ascension students are encouraged and supported to become well-rounded individuals who can call themselves Scholars, Artists, Athletes, and Leaders—our Four Pillars. Grounded in our Four Pillars and given opportunities to grow, an Ascension Graduate becomes a confident, collaborative, lifelong learner who is well-prepared for success in college and in life. How are students grounded in the Four Pillars? The school offers unique electives in addition to advanced core classes, language courses, leadership opportunities, athletic programs, fine arts, student clubs, and TAPPS or WTCAA competitions in the arts, academics, and athletics.
SCHOLARS
Ascension Academy is committed to furnishing an exemplary collegepreparatory education to its students. It offers a number of AP, DualCredit, and Pre-AP courses. All core classes are vertically aligned, beginning in middle school. Students have earned prestigious recognitions, such as National Merit Scholar, National Hispanic Scholar, Texas Aerospace Scholar, AP Capstone Diploma Scholar, DAR Award Scholar, and National AP Scholar. Ascension Academy is also a member of the Cum Laude Society and National Honor Society, and inducts members each spring. Ascension is 1 of only 14 Cum Laude Society member schools in the state of Texas. The prestigious Cum Laude Society of 383 chapters worldwide honors the scholastic achievement of secondary school students.
ARTISTS
The opportunity for creative expression is both valued and encouraged at Ascension Academy, and many students are enrolled in multiple fine arts disciplines. Ascension offers several levels of Orchestra, Band, and Choir, in addition to Studio Art, and Theater. Ascension Artists are passionate about their craft and spend countless hours practicing on and off campus. The result is award-winning programs and coveted memberships, such as the International Thespian Society.
ATHLETES
Ascension Academy recognizes the need for students to develop physically as well as mentally. Athletics provides abundant opportunities for character development—from teamwork and coachability to perseverance and humility. Ascension offers a robust number of sports and many students also participate in off-campus athletics that support their passion and earn credit.
LEADERS
Leadership is a quality that Ascension intentionally works to develop in all of its students. Students are members of councils and ambassador groups and are the face of Ascension at all campus ceremonies and events. They plan, execute, and lead these important activities, in addition to setting an example for others. Students are encouraged to engage in a number of activities and groups that take them beyond the classroom in order to foster a deeper understanding of their responsibilities to their community.
“[My daughter] came into Ascension as a quiet, shy sixth-grader. Today, she is challenged in and out of the classroom and she has the confidence to go out and try new activities at school. She has become a leader, speaks her ideas in the room, and is a supporting voice to others around her.”
—Deanna Morris, Current and Alumni Parent
Ascension Academy has a 100 percent college acceptance rate for its graduating classes every year. The Class of 2024, a diverse group of 15 students, received more than $2.2 million in university offered, merit-based scholarships from more than 33 colleges and universities. Ascension Academy graduates attend colleges across the country, ranging from every major college and university in Texas and East Coast schools such as Yale, Princeton, and NYU to West Coast schools such as UCLA, Stanford, Pepperdine, and many more in between. The Ascension Difference creates confident, independent learners who are successful in college and beyond as they begin careers or advanced degrees. Ascension graduates are those college students who excel in their fields of study and are those their college classmates depend on to get help in advanced math or to review an English paper. They take leadership roles on their campuses and in their communities. They take their knowledge, compassion, and leadership skills with them wherever they go because they learned and practiced what being a global citizen means as Cardinals at Ascension Academy.
Amarillo ISD Just has MORE to Offer
Recent Amarillo High graduate Zeke Riddley is about to take his spot on a 22-time national champion dance team at Stephen F. Austin State University. Garrett Saied, also an Amarillo High grad, is on his way to Swarthmore College, one of the “Little Ivies,” to study physics. Sawyer McCaslin, a homeschool graduate who spent some of his high school years at AmTech, is already careerready with multiple trade certifications and plans to enroll in an apprenticeship program. All three students have very different paths behind and in front of them; each of them worked hard to pursue their dreams, supported by Amarillo ISD’s exclusive educational opportunities.
“I honestly don’t know where I would be without dance in AISD. That’s when my life took a big leap,” says Zeke.
AISD students can take dance for PE or fine arts credit, and with each year, the District’s dance program grows in size and variety. School dance programs aren’t offered anywhere else in the Panhandle, making dance in AISD all the more valuable, says Zeke.
“Dance in the Panhandle region is not as prevalent as it is in the Dallas or Houston area. Here, you really have to work even harder if you want to make it your profession. AISD offering dance within the public schools gives students a great way to connect to a network in the dance world and that is very important. Without it, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet other coaches and professional dancers,” he says.
Networking within a specialty program also helped connect Sawyer to an in-demand career path. Sawyer came to AmTech as a homeschooled freshman—an option available to homeschooled students who live in AISD—ready to learn the automotive trades.
In his time at AmTech, Sawyer completed the first year of apprentice training as an electrician and earned a stack of professional certifications, including OSHA 10, HVAC EPA Universal,
ASE Auto Maintenance and Light Repair. He’ll spend the next three years completing training in a learn-while-you-earn program at West Texas Electrical Training, a connection he made at AmTech.
“It’s a huge advantage, not even counting the certifications, just the amount of knowledge you learn here,” says Sawyer. “I really didn’t know what I wanted to do until AmTech.”
Garrett’s story is a little different. He has known what he wanted to do for most of his life. The puzzle has been in finding the right opportunities to make it happen. Garrett has early memories of standing in the backyard and staring at the sky. That innate curiosity ignited a passion not just for astronomy, but for physics.
“Physics is the backbone of astronomy and the backbone of most natural sciences and that’s why I always wanted to break it down and learn about the most basic science, which is physics,” he says.
While Garrett has been contemplating the literal limitations of the sky for as long as he can remember, his parents instilled in Garrett a belief that there are no proverbial limits for him.
“I was one of those kids whose parents would tell them from the advent that they could do whatever they wanted,” says Garrett.
After spending his middle school years in private school, Garrett knew he needed to maximize his opportunities in high school. That meant returning to public school and specifically, Amarillo High, with its exclusive International Baccalaureate Diploma program. No other school in the Panhandle offers the IB diploma, known for its rigorous, high-level academic research expectations. The IB diploma can make a student especially attractive to highly selective colleges like Swarthmore, with an acceptance rate of just 7 percent.
For Garrett, education has always been about opportunity. “When I’m trying to go to sleep, I’m usually thinking about things I could do going forward. The independence and opportunity of college makes me extremely excited to get going,” he says.
ZEKE RIDDLEY
SAWYER MCCASLIN
GARRETT SAIED
means more
DO MORE WITH EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITIES:
• ORCHESTRA BEGINNING IN 5TH GRADE
• DANCE
• SWIM
• JROTC
• AMTECH
AISD offers exclusive opportunities no one else can which means our students are doing things no one else is.
• ADVANCED ACADEMICS INCLUDING UT ONRAMPS
• SPECIALIZE DIPLOMAS LIKE IB AND AP CAPSTONE
• THRIVE SCHOLARSHIP
Affordable Early Education
Opportunity School has been providing high-quality, early childhood education for local families since 1969. That’s more than a half-century of giving at-risk children a solid foundation for learning before they enter the school system. But Executive Director Jill Goodrich still encounters people in the community who are surprised by what the organization offers.
“I’m always struck by people who say, ‘I didn’t realize all the services provided for young children and their families,’” Goodrich says with a smile. “We are one of the only nationally accredited early childhood education programs in our area and have reached more than 5,000 children since opening in 1969.”
The core of what Opportunity School provides is affordable education during the early years of a child’s life—from birth to 5— primarily to children from low-income families. But a few of the organization’s benefits are less familiar:
Early Intervention: Until children enter the classroom, their families often aren’t aware of developmental delays, learning disabilities or medical diagnoses that may be impacting a child’s ability to learn. The teachers and staff at Opportunity School are trained to watch for potential issues, under the supervision of a full-time intervention specialist. “Some kiddos struggle with communication or may not be as verbal as they should be for their age,” says Goodrich. “A new parent without a support system may not realize their child is delayed in that area, but those are things that can be super-important to address early.”
Providing early intervention and supporting families in the process is vital to Opportunity School’s work. For instance, the organization partners with the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at WTAMU to provide speech and language screenings and individualized therapy by the department’s interns. There is no additional cost for families to have these services. Opportunity School also helps connect families with occupational therapy and physical therapy services when there is a need. “The more we can do in the early years, then we can set that child and that family up for success in the future.”
School-Ready Focus: An evidence-based curriculum designed for the early years helps children develop foundations for reading literacy, math and even how to use the right muscle groups and more. Student assessments help teachers monitor progress and agerelated milestones. “We are very intentional about that. Children’s brains develop rapidly during these years—80 percent of the brain is “wired” by the age of 3—so what they learn in preschool impacts them for years to come, explains Goodrich. “We start early so they get on the right pathway. They will be better prepared academically and socially as well.”
Professional Development: Many organizations continue to struggle in the current job market, and Goodrich admits it can be
hard to find qualified early childhood educators. But Opportunity School isn’t just looking for warm bodies to babysit toddlers. “We are looking for educators who connect with our mission, and if they don’t have experience in the field, are willing to learn,” she says. “Our professional development program is very specific to this age group and focused on developmentally appropriate practices.”
Many staff members at Opportunity School are beginning educational careers and value the training they receive. “Our vision is that all young children receive the best start to their development and education, and we’d love to see a quality focus across the Panhandle for our youngest learners,” says Goodrich.
As a nonprofit that depends on donated funds, Opportunity School is always careful with how it spends money. But Goodrich views professional development as one of the most important expenditures in her program’s budget. “We are growing, but not at the expense of quality, so professional development throughout our team helps us maintain a high-quality program,” she says.
Social & Emotional Problem-Solving: Many parents think the most important things children learn in preschool are basics like shapes, colors, numbers and the alphabet. Those are facts and figures—the so-called “hard skills.” But Goodrich says soft skills may be even more important.
“You have to teach social and emotional skills just like you teach a child to tie her shoe or write his name,” she says. “We can’t just tell kids to ‘behave’ and expect them to know what that means or how to do it. So we focus on teaching a very broad set of social skills.”
For instance, many kids haven’t learned how to handle intense emotions like sadness or anger. “Kids need support when they have big feelings, to know they are safe, and that their teachers and parents will help them learn the skills to keep themselves and others safe when they have those big feelings,” she says. “That’s what gives them the confidence to stand up to a bully in middle school or, in third grade, to tell someone ‘I don’t like you pulling my hair.’ We all need those skills in every walk of life.”
Opportunity School has been able to build brains for more than five decades because of generous support from individuals and corporations throughout the community who recognize the difference Opportunity School is making in the lives of local children and their families. “You won’t see children using iPads because we know that young children need face-to-face interactions from caring adults to optimize a child’s development in the early years,” Goodrich says. “We are a high-quality program that prepares young kids for school, while supporting parents who need to be at work.”
To learn more or if you would like to make a donation or leave a legacy for generations to come, visit opportunityschool.com. An investment in our children is an investment in the future of our community.
Texas Tech Physicians Pediatrics: Expert Care from Birth to Adulthood
The team of pediatric providers at Texas Tech Physicians Pediatrics combine expert-driven care with the convenience of hometown service in the heart of Amarillo. These services always become necessary at the start of a school year, including vaccine schedules for young patients and annual sports physicals for older athletes. Texas Tech Physicians providers offer age-appropriate primary and specialty services to meet physical and mental needs and help kids grow happy and healthy.
“Selecting a pediatrician is not like selecting a pair of shoes,” says Anders Leverton, M.D., a Texas Tech Physicians pediatrician. “When choosing a pediatrician, you are choosing someone to not only provide medical resources for your child, but to become part of their life and essentially part of the family. We will provide care for each child for 20 years. It’s important to make sure the pediatrician can fit into and understand the family’s culture as well as continue to supply up-to-date medical education along that journey.”
Choosing a provider for a child can be daunting. There are many things to consider, like training, experience, office location and hours of operation. It’s often a good idea to meet with a couple of providers before you settle on your choice. Ask about the provider’s training and experience. Do they have a specialty or area of interest? Are they board-certified? Ask about the provider’s opinion on immunizations and the use of medication. This includes antibiotics and over-thecounter medicines. Will they prescribe medication over the phone? Will your child see the same provider for all visits? What happens if your child gets sick during the night or on weekends? As you talk with the provider and the office staff, you’ll get a sense of whether they have the same philosophy as you do.
“At Texas Tech Physicians Pediatrics, we offer free prenatal visits for expecting parents,” Leverton says. “This is a great time to ask these questions. We think it’s very important to establish this relationship during pregnancy so that the transition of care is seamless once your baby is born. We suggest making that prenatal visit during the third trimester.”
Once the baby is born, routine visits to the pediatrician begin, and part of those visits include vaccinations. For new parents, though, the routine vaccine schedule can be heavy. There are many shots, and they happen very early on in a child’s life. That’s why it’s important to have an open dialogue with a pediatrician about this part of a child’s health care journey.
“Routine vaccines prevent disease,” says Shannon Herrick, M.D., a Texas Tech Physicians pediatrician. “The diseases that childhood vaccines prevent can harm a child. In developing countries, children continue to be severely impacted by diseases like measles, whooping cough and pneumonia. Vaccines in this country help protect children from these illnesses.”
The first Hepatitis B vaccine is usually given in the hospital right after the baby is born. Multiple vaccines are given at the 2-, 4- and 6-month-old well-child visits.
“There are now combination vaccines that help reduce the number of shots an infant is getting when receiving their vaccines,” Herrick says. “Although there are multiple vaccines in each shot, children do well with them.”
Some parents want to stretch out that schedule— giving one shot at a time, but Herrick advises against that.
“Stretching out the schedule to give one shot at a time just gives children more shots over time. This may increase the anxiety level and pain associated with vaccines,” she says. “Delaying vaccines also reduces the immunity to certain diseases at peak times when children get these diseases.”
Another subset of vaccines is given at the 1-year, 15-month and 18-month-old well-child visits. Many series of vaccines are also completed at the 4-year well-child visit. When a child turns 11, a new subset of vaccines is given to add protection in the adolescent years.
Herrick says the Centers for Disease Control website is a great resource for parents on all of the vaccines their child needs to receive. The website discusses each vaccine, the disease it prevents and any side effects. The American Academy of Pediatrics website and its Healthy Children website are additional resources for parents to get information on these vaccines.
Outside of keeping up with a child’s vaccine schedule, Herrick advises that annual well-child visits should occur starting at age 5. During these visits, a pediatrician measures growth and development and examines social behaviors and learning. These regular visits provide an opportunity to foster the relationship between the pediatrician, the parent and the child.
“Make a list of topics you want to talk about with your child’s pediatrician such as development, behavior, sleep, eating or getting along with other family members,” Herrick says. “Bring your top three to five questions or concerns with you to talk with your pediatrician at the start of the visit.”
As a child gets older, pediatricians encourage an annual sports physical whether or not one is required for them to participate on a team or extracurricular activity. This can be scheduled at the same time as a well-child exam. The sports physical is an opportunity to address exercise-specific issues, including injuries, nutrition, training and exercise programs, and even attitudes toward sports participation. Your pediatrician can also advise your child if he or she is already involved in an exercise and training program; overuse and overtraining injuries can be a problem for young people.
When you have a long-term history with your pediatrician, it allows him or her the opportunity to follow your child’s progress and development over time. This helps detect emerging problems, as well as stay informed on any new details of the patient’s history like past illnesses or injuries and immunization records. If specialty care needs to be investigated, it’s advantageous to have a pediatrician at an academic medicine institution like Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
Because Texas Tech Physicians pediatricians are also leading educators and researchers at TTUHSC in Amarillo, they have some of the most specialized pediatric doctors in the region. From pediatric oncology to cardiology and nephrology, children have access to expert-driven care without having to leave home.
To learn more about Texas Tech Physicians Pediatrics, visit TexasTechPhysicians.com or call 806.414.9090
Average Debt of WT Graduates Drops 23 Percent Over Seven-Year Period
The average debt for West Texas A&M University graduates has dropped 23 percent over the past seven years, according to a new study. The debt load also is significantly lower than national and statewide averages.
The average debt load for 2023 graduates was $20,655 among students who took out loans, according to data compiled by WT’s Office of Student Financial Services for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Accountability System. According to Forbes, the average student loan debt is $28,950 nationwide and $32,295 in Texas.
“It has been my mission to reduce over-indebtedness levels among our students,” WT President Walter V. Wendler says. “WT’s comprehensive approach to financial aid, personalized counseling and career support services is designed to ensure our graduates are financially secure.
“I am pleased to see we are making a real impact through our commitment to providing our students with affordable, high-quality education while minimizing financial burdens.”
Lowering the debt load faced by WT graduates ultimately benefits the Panhandle-area workforce. According to a 2019 economic impact report, 60 percent of WT graduates remain in the Texas Panhandle, where a college graduate is expected to earn $27,200 more each year over an employee with only a high school education. That’s $1.1 million in lifetime earnings, and $2.3 billion in lifetime added income for all WT area alumni. The sooner graduates can escape debt repayment, the sooner they can make a larger economic impact on their home region.
WT’s efforts include expanding scholarship opportunities, offering personalized financial literacy offerings, and enhancing career support services. These measures have contributed to the significant reduction in student debt, underscoring the University’s dedication to financial responsibility and student success.
By providing high-quality, cost-effective education and supporting students with targeted financial initiatives, WT is setting a new standard in higher education affordability.
A key new initiative in that effort is a no-cost-to-students textbook plan. In May, WT announced a deal with publishers Cengage and McGraw Hill that will provide students digital textbooks and ancillary materials, including digital learning platforms, mobile apps and more.
The University is committing “significant time and energy” to provide textbooks, Wendler says, fulfilling his pledge made in January. Wendler’s pledge was to provide textbooks for core courses at no cost for students; the final deal also allows faculty and students to take advantage of high-quality, no-cost-to-student resources in all WT classes.
Students will not be assessed additional fees for the service. Ultimately, the plan should offer a net savings of nearly $5 million a year for students, further lowering that average debt load held by students who took out loans.
Cengage’s license allows faculty members to curate content from
multiple texts for use in their courses with no additional costs to students. Print textbooks also will be available to rent or purchase by students, if they wish.
Among the McGraw Hill benefits provided through the partnership with WT are mobile apps allowing students and faculty to access ebooks offline, the Sharpen study app for students, and more.
Other initiatives also include the Education Credit Union Buff $mart program, which offers financial literacy education; the WT Office of Career and Professional Development, which supports both students and alumni; and more.
“This approach not only benefits students and their families, but also strengthens the University’s role in fostering a prosperous and educated community,” says Dr. Neil Terry, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs. “While maintaining a focus on reducing debt, WT also is committed to providing high-quality educational experiences in and out of the classroom, both for in-person and online students.”
Some of the key principles of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World are a call for innovation and a focus on regional impact.
Those both can be seen in the recent addition of new academic programs: A new Master of Science in Strategic Human Resource Management Program and a new Bachelor of Science In Hospitality and Tourism Management, both in the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business; and a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Degree Program in the Laura and Joe Street School of Nursing in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Even more innovation is visible in WT’s plan for embedded associate degrees. The plan would give students a recognized milestone or stop-out point in case life events require them to pause their education. Students would not enroll in an associate degree program, so the plan is not meant to compete with community colleges. Rather, the degree will be automatically awarded to them once they meet certain academic requirements.
Additionally, one of the primary goals of the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign is to raise funds for scholarship endowments. Currently, the campaign has raised nearly $160 million, including about $20 million for scholarships.
“Affordability is WT’s commitment to building strong communities,” says Dr. Todd Rasberry, vice president for philanthropy and external relations. “Students who graduate with less debt have more freedom in selecting jobs and careers in the towns and cities in which they want to live, work and serve.”
WT offers merit scholarships based on students’ high school achievements; automatic scholarships for transfer students; multiple University scholarships; and other financial aid, including the Buff Promise, which covers in-state tuition and fees for full-time undergraduate Texas residents who have an annual family income of $80,000 or less.
SHARK BEACH BURGERS
The menu at Shark Beach Burgers is simple: classic takeoutstyle cheeseburgers, plus sides like tater tots, french fries, onion rings and fried cheese curds. A few alternatives for the non-burger crowd, including chicken sandwiches and grilled cheese. Cherry limes and soda and tea and beer. That’s about it.
But everything else about this place, from its history to its vision? Not so simple.
Across 10-plus acres on the Claude Highway, not far from the entrance to Lake Tanglewood, Shark Beach is an experience. It’s a concert venue, a local hangout, a family business and a cultural oddity.
“When we moved here, we didn’t even know how long we were gonna stay,” says Bryan Bailey. He and his wife, Brenda, brought the family to Amarillo from South Padre Island. “We were going to just have a little restaurant and then maybe sell and motor on. But now it’s like, nope, we’re going to just keep pouring investment into it.”
His oldest son, Austin, chimes in: “All of us have fallen in love with Amarillo.” The couple’s youngest son, Chase, also works at Shark Beach, while middle son, Blake, serves in the Navy.
Brenda grew up here. Her grandmother, Charlotte Schroeter, operated the tiny Gram’s Burger Farm on the property. Schroeter closed the business in 2018 after a stroke and passed away in 2019. Her little burger shack sat empty for nearly a year until Brenda and her brothers decided to clean it out.
They arrived in February 2020 before COVID shut everything down in March. That’s when the family decided to reopen to meet the growing demand for takeout food.
The Tanglewood community embraced it. Then Amarillo and Canyon residents started showing up. Then the Baileys—who had left their beloved beach behind in South Padre—decided to bring the beach to the Texas Panhandle.
“We didn’t just want a restaurant,” Bryan says. “We wanted a beach. We wanted a place kids could come out, families could come out, you had some room.” In other words, they didn’t want people to just grab a burger, eat it, and go home. They wanted people to stay. They wanted to create a destination.
The family trucked in 46 semi-trailer loads of sand. “Which is almost a thousand tons,” Bryan says. “We have a lot of sand. But we lose about three semis’ [worth] a year” because of the wind.”
With the beach in place—plus a lot of outdoor seating, picnic tables, mannequins, old vehicles, surfboards, a lifeguard stand, and other eclectic decor—they prioritized live music during the summer months.
“There’s so much local talent, music-wise, it’s mind-blowing,” says Bryan, who says Shark Beach has hosted more than 80 free concerts this year, along with a dozen paid concerts with touring tribute bands.
“We’re pretty basic,” Brenda says. “We aimed it at what we enjoy. This is just Mom and Pop and a couple of kids.” (And a lot of sand.)
1505 East FM 1151
806-355-5644
sharkbeachamarillo.com
THE BAILEY FAMILY: CHASE, BRENDA, BRYAN AND AUSTIN
AMARILLO
70X7 HYDRO BAR
This unique nutrition shop near the intersection of North Osage and Amarillo Boulevard offers energy teas, low-calorie protein shakes, keto-friendly donuts, sandwiches, waffles and more. It opened in early 2024, hoping to introduce healthier habits and food options to the northeast quadrant of the city. 1806 Amarillo Blvd. East, 806.471.0784 $
80/20 MEAL
PREP
Healthy meals to go. Build your own meal using already prepped foods, or choose from a flexible menu of options based on diet needs, whether vegan, trying to manage diabetes, or wanting enough protein to add muscle. Gourmet meals and meal-prep using high-quality, whole food ingredients. 2511 S. Georgia St., 806.282.5434, eightytwentymeals.com $
ASPEN CREEK GRILL
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 pizza. 4110 I-40 West, 806.398.2776, aspencreekgrill.com/amarillo $$
BANGKOK TOKYO
The name should give you an idea of the Asian fusion available here. The dining area is very small—thanks, weird triangle roofline!—but you can get fantastic Thai food combined with even better sushi. Takeout orders are quick, and it also now offers an expanded glutenfree menu. 2413 S. Western St., Suite A, 806.353.4777 $$
BIG JIM’S PIZZA CO.
Formerly La Bella Pizza on Olsen, this is a locally owned pizza place has a dedicated clientele and a delightfully diverse menu. The pizza is great, of course—the 24-inch size is one of the biggest available in town—but they also serve burgers, gyros, calzones, subs, ribs, chicken and more. Full dining room and a full bar with live music. 3801 Olsen Blvd., Suite 9, 806.352.5050, ilovebigjimspizza.com $
BUBBA’S 33
This sports bar-style restaurant on I-40 is almost always busy, and is known for hosting three restaurants in one: family dining, the garage bar, and a dining area with a bar. The hand-tossed pizza is reliable, as are the fresh-ground burgers and flavorful wings. The concept was created by the late Kent Taylor, founder of Texas Roadhouse. 2813 I-40 West, 806.353.0033, bubbas33.com $$
CATTLEMAN’S CAFE
Open 24 hours a day, this ancient restaurant has a reputation for one of the cheapest and best breakfasts in the city, with daily specials from 6 to 11 a.m. Expect to spend around $10 for almost everything. The portions are plentiful and the smoking section will make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. 3801 Amarillo Blvd. East, 806.383.4818 $
CELLAR 55
A splashy new high-end concept from Chris Hazel—who has a wellearned reputation for his wine expertise—Cellar 55 has grabbed residents’ attention from its opening. Enjoy a sophisticated interior, indulgent meals and a truly impressive menu of wine and bourbon. A fantastic new entrant to Amarillo’s fine-dining scene. 2800 Civic Circle, Suite 500, 806.322.7655 cellar55ama.com $$
CHIYO’S
There’s something delightfully throwback and comforting about a cash-only restaurant, and that may be why the Chiyo’s locations on Teckla and North Pierce have earned such a passionate customer base. The authentic, affordable Thai and Chinese dishes are worth the occasional wait. 4313 Teckla Blvd., 806.468.9385/ 810 N. Pierce St., 806.374.6146 $
COFFEE FIXX
This cute little coffee shop on historic Sixth doesn’t just have a full coffee and tea menu, but serves breakfast items all day and a limited—but very affordable—lunch menu of sandwiches and burgers. Think of it as a coffee shop with a small grill, and really, really amazing breakfast burritos. 3020 SW Sixth Ave., 806.673.9924 $
CRUSH WINE BAR & GRILL
A fixture of fine dining downtown, Crush serves great steaks, pasta and shareable appetizers in an upscale, modern environment. We love the bar area downstairs as well as the rooftop bar, which overlooks a busy Polk Street and occasionally hosts live music. On weekends, enjoy a street-side brunch. The service is consistently great and the wine menu extensive. 627 S. Polk St., 806.418.2011, crushamarillo.com $$
THE DRUNKEN OYSTER
The opulent, moody atmosphere of the Drunken Oyster feels like you’ve stepped out of the Panhandle and into the heart of the bayou. The Louisiana-style cuisine never disappoints, from the fresh oysters to the jambalaya and crawfish étouffée. It’s also a great spot for live music. 7606 SW 45th Ave., Suite 100, 806.418.6668, drunkenoysteramarillo.com $$
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.
Most entrees over $21 $ $$ $$$
Most entrees under $10
Most entrees $11 to $20
EL JALAPEÑO CAFE
Located in the Southlawn Shopping Center, this simple, small cafe serves breakfast and lunch only—with a traditional (not Tex-Mex) menu. The home-style Mexican breakfast plates are great, but so are the pancakes. The enchilada sauce is among Amarillo’s best. 4400 S. Washington St., 806.352.2879 $
FENG CHA BUBBLE TEA
Tea is a big deal in the Panhandle, but this isn’t just another place for blueberry green iced tea. Feng Cha offers bubble tea and milk foam teas with decidedly not-quite-Texan flavors like cream cheese, matcha, taru and durian. Add-ins include boba, lychee jelly, grass jelly and more. Enjoy the sleek Instagrammable atmosphere, and try the dessert menu. 5611 Gem Lake Road, 806.437.1556, fengchausa.com $
FIRE SLICE PIZZERIA
A little hard to find—this pizzeria is hidden on the back-alley side of the Summit Shopping Center—but it’s definitely worth the discovery. We love the fun atmosphere, calzones, paninis, craft beer and shareable starters. The brick-oven pizza toppings are inventive, too. 7306 SW 34th Ave., Space 10, 806.331.2232, fireslice.com $$
FREDDIE’S FISH & GRILL
Remember FatCat? That’s the heritage of this fry shack, and the
catfish is still the best thing on the menu. (Good news: It’s actual freshwater catfish.) The new incarnation serves beer and boasts an updated interior. The menu feels familiar to the FatCat of old: Lots of fried seafood, hushpuppies, fries, and the popular Build-Your-OwnBucket boil. 1309 Dumas Drive, 806.373.3581 $
GEORGIA STREET TAPHOUSE
This locally owned sports bar in Wolflin Village offers a really solid bar and a nice outdoor patio. The craft beer selection is diverse, with daily drink specials, making it a popular place to kick back for Happy Hour. Foodwise, expect typical pub fare. The fries are tasty, and the pizza, burger and app menus never disappoint. 2001 S. Georgia St., 806.803.7000, georgiastreettaphouse.com $$
GLORIA’S OYSTER BAR
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., 806.373.2722 $
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., 806.374.9237, goldenlightcafe.com $
GOLDEN ROSE TEA ROOM
If you’re searching for traditional British tea service, look no further. Golden Rose has carved out its place in this delightful niche, offering all the coziness and tradition of a delicate tea service. Expect three pours per meal, balanced alongside a three-tiered food service, including savory sandwiches and dessert. Reservations are required for meal service, but stop-ins for dessert and tea only are always available. Proper fun! 3314 Olsen-B, 806.803.1450, goldenrosetearoom.com $$
GRANDMA’S BURRITOS
Whether from its original location on Western or the new one between Amarillo and Canyon, these small Mexican restaurants serve inexpensive, homemade dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The lunch burritos are very popular (the barbacoa: so good). The salsa is wonderfully spicy! 7012 S. Western St., 806.355.0475/ 8700 Clinton Glen Road, 806.699.1470 $
THE HANDLE BAR AND GRILL
Yes, it’s a biker bar, but don’t let the fact that you drive a Subaru keep you from this Texas-style comfort food. The fried bologna sandwiches are *chef’s kiss* and the gigantic Bloody Mary might as well be a meal. The outdoor dining on Sixth Street really gets our motors running. 3514 SW Sixth Ave., 806.803.9538, thehandlebarandgrillamarillo.webs.com $
HOOK & REEL
This Cajun/Creole seafood franchise offers mix-and-match seafood boils, allowing customers to pair a favorite catch (think crab legs, lobster tail or crawfish) with their favorite sauces, spices and add-ons. The breaded-and-fried baskets are also made to please, including fresh flounder, catfish, oysters and more. 5807 SW 45th Ave., Suite 205, 806.803.3133, hookreel.com $$
HUMMERS SPORTS CAFE
Hummers is an Amarillo landmark dating back to the early 1980s, before sports bars were all the rage. This institution and its environs on Paramount have evolved since then, but the burgers are still fresh and delicious, the beer is still ice-cold and the good times are still really good. Our tip? Order the steak bites. 2600 Paramount Blvd., Suite B2, 806.353.0723, hummerssportscafe.com $$
ICHIBAN NOODLE BAR & ASIAN CUISINE
If you want ramen in Amarillo, look no further. Ichiban is so wonderful and … so rarely open. Watch your food and noodles being prepared thanks to the open kitchen. Stop by for lunch. It shuts down midafternoon but re-opens in time for dinner. Most days. Closed on weekends. 3309 Wimberly Road, 806.355.5031 $
INDIAN OVEN
Tikka bite at this long-standing Indian restaurant, where everything— from the homemade naan to each item in the lunch buffet—is worth
a try. The samosas are crispy and the chicken vindaloo tangy. A number of meals are offered as vegan options. 2406 Paramount Blvd., 806.335.3600, indian-oven.com $$
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 fried tilapia—plus options for vegans and vegetarians. 4201 Bushland Blvd., 806.414.2114, itsapunjabiaffair.square.site $
JACOBO’S CAFE
This cute, diner-style storefront on Olsen serves down-home meals with a focus on Mexican food. The pancakes and breakfast burritos are super-popular, as are the spicy chilaquiles. Familyowned, fair prices and always worth a visit. 3701 Olsen Blvd., Suite L, 806.418.8850, jacoboscafe.com $
JASON’S DELI
We know why this deli chain is always busy. It’s definitely the amazing salad bar. And probably the free, family-friendly soft-serve ice cream. Or maybe it’s all the other generously-portioned menu options, including sandwiches, paninis, wraps, baked potatoes and soups. (We recommend the muffalettas.) 7406 SW 34th Ave., 806.353.4440/2600 Wolflin Ave., 806.803.9160, jasonsdeli.com $
JOE’S PIZZA & PASTA
Technically, this venerable Bushland restaurant isn’t in Amarillo, but it’s absolutely worth the drive. You’ll be surprised at the quality of this Italian food, from the New York-style pizza to the hot subs, pasta, lasagna and even the steak. The sauce is homemade and you can tell. 19151 I-40 West, 806.356.8191 $
JORGE’S TACOS GARCIA
Tacos Garcia is consistently one of the highest-ranking Tex-Mex stops in the city, whether you’re into the family-friendly atmosphere or the full bar. (The house batch margaritas are legendary.) 1100 Ross St., 806.371.0411, tacosgarcia806.com $$
K-N
ROOT BEER DRIVE-IN
This legendary, traditional drive-in opened in 1968. And while it recently lost its iconic covered parking in a windstorm, the wonderful burgers, shakes and floats are still around. And the root beer is served in a frosty cold mug! As the sign used to say, it’s “truly a bargain at today’s prices.” 3900 Olsen Blvd., 806.355.4391, knrootbeer.com $
KABUKI ROMANZA JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE & SUSHI BAR
The first true Japanese steakhouse in Amarillo—vintage Amarilloans remember it from way before the move to the boat-shaped dining room on I-40—Kabuki always pleases. If you like flamboyant friedrice prep interrupted by rain and light shows, this is your spot. Dinner only, with 2 p.m. openings on weekends. 8130 I-40 West, 806.358.7799, kabukiromanza.com $$
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KATHY’S KITCHEN
Breakfast is drive-thru only from 5 to 8 a.m., then the dining area opens at 10 a.m. for breakfast and lunch only. The northeast Loop location and homestyle food are perfect for drives up to Lake Meredith/Borger or northeast to Pampa. Low prices and generous portions. 4517 Highway 136, 806.268.1465 $
LA FIESTA GRANDE
The Bara family is iconic in Amarillo because of their long-lasting, family-owned restaurants featuring generational recipes. The familyfriendly 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., 806.374.3689/ 7415 SW 45th Ave., 806.352.1330, fiestagrande.com $$
LA FRONTERA
This neighborhood eatery has been open for more than 30 years and has a well-deserved reputation for extra cheesy Tex-Mex. Seriously: Everything’s covered in fresh grated cheese and that’s a good thing. (So is La Frontera’s generous community support.) Try the unique hot sauce! 1401 S. Arthur St., 806.372.4593 $
LONE STAR BAR & GRILL
“No small steaks, no hot beer” is the motto of this Texas-style hideaway on the road out to Lake Tanglewood, and its steaks and burgers never disappoint. In fact, the steaks are quietly some of the best in the Panhandle. Plus: Pool tables! Avoid the big chain steakhouses and try this one, in business for more than 30 years. 935 E. FM 1151, 806.622.9827 $$
LUPITA’S
The original Lupita’s tortilleria is home to the best tortillas, burritos and tamales in town— that means something in Amarillo—and this family restaurant has now expanded to multiple locations. Some are takeout only. All are good. So good. For holiday tamales, order early! 4013 SE 10th Ave., 806.372.3537/ 2403 Hardin Drive, 806.350.7637/ 1706 Amarillo Blvd. East, 806.350.7614/ 1901 SE 11th St., 806.350.7398/2801 SE 27th, 806.418.6476/1007 Ross St./3309 Bell St., 806.350.7297 $
MAC JOE’S KITCHEN & CELLAR
Always a popular date-night choice, Mac Joe’s is an Amarillo institution known for elegant
Pescaraz Italian Restaurant brings the best of Italy to you!
PASTA, SEAFOOD, DESSERTS, LIVE MUSIC & MORE! CATERING, TOO! Happy to be celebrating 14 years!
Kids eat for $1.99 all summer on Tuesdays! With the purchase of a adult entree
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, 806.358.8990, macaronijoes.com $$-$$$
MARIA’S COCINA MEXICANA
This little hole-in-the-wall on 10th is close to downtown in the heart of the Barrio. There’s not a ton of parking, but if you can find a place you’ll enjoy authentic Mexican dishes like fresh tamales, menudo, chile verde, and traditional enchiladas. Warning: Maria means it when she says her hot sauce is hot. 1316 SE 10th Ave., 806.373.8841 $
METROPOLITAN STEAK & SEAFOOD
Part of Town Square from its 2016 beginning, this elegant environment offers great service, a full bar, and excellent cuisine. It’s open for lunch at 11 a.m., but also makes for a delightful date night in the evenings. Metropolitan is a sweet spot to linger, with a seasonal menu, full bar and live music. 9181 Town Square Blvd., Suite 1201, 806.242.0117, metroofamarillo.com $$
MY THAI
One of the original Thai food restaurants in a city famous for them. My Thai has been family-owned since 1986 and is absolutely a local favorite. In fact, My Thai is probably the standard for comparing the quality of the rest of the city’s Thai restaurants. Lunch specials daily. 2029 Coulter St., 355.9541, mythaiamarillo.com $
NAPOLI’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT
This downtown favorite offers live music, a full bar and a spacious private patio with views of one of the 2021 Hoodoo murals. Expect to become addicted to the house-baked bread knots, and to find something you love on the traditional Italian menu. The calzones are huge and worth sharing. 700 S. Taylor St., 806.220.2588 $$
NOMAD NAPOLETANA
Nomad Napoletana has turned up the temperature on an iconic stretch of Polk Street. Diners can expect East Coast-style pizza in an upscale dining area and bar. Beyond pizza, feast on a complimentary dish of stecca, a Sicilian version of the baguette drizzled in olive oil and served with tender, spreadable garlic confit. Don’t miss the scratch-made meatballs, braised all day in California tomatoes and tomato sauce, then served with a dollop of ricotta. 601 S. Polk St., 806.376.4700, nomadnapoletana.com $-$$
NORTH HEIGHTS DISCOUNT & CAFE
If you’ve ever thought twice about dining inside a convenience store, this will change your mind. This place serves some of the best soul food in the city. It’s known for huge portions—the nachos probably weigh three pounds—as well as its ribs, pork chops, fried catfish and breakfast items. 1621 NW 18th Ave., 806.418.6751 $
OHMS CAFE & BAR
The Fuller family has operated this eatery for more than 30 years, and it consistently offers Amarillo’s best fine dining. We love the bar area
and outdoor patio, as well as its buffet-style lunch and weekly specials from Chef Josh Fuller. Pro tip: The Bar Burger is the best burger in town. 619 S. Tyler St., 806.373.3233, ohmscafe.com $$-$$$
PACIFIC RIM
This longtime establishment on Paramount is one of our favorites, thanks to its excellent Asian-Fusion cuisine and huge portions. We love the build-your-own stir fry options and speedy delivery. Pay attention to the menu’s spiciness levels, though. Level 5 (“Hurting”) is no joke. 2061 Paramount Blvd., 806.353.9179, pacificrimam.com $
PAN-HANDLERS CAFE
The best restaurants never seem to shout their presence, and this applies to this tasteful lunch spot hidden in the basement of Amarillo National Bank Plaza One. It’s locally owned and has a fantastic salad bar, plus sandwiches and daily specials. It’s always, always good. 410 S. Taylor St., 806.352.2590, thepan-handlers.com $
PESCARAZ ITALIAN RESTAURANT
This locally owned Italian place is very involved in the community, has a full bar, and serves up the most irresistible free bread twists in the city. You’ll eat so many, you won’t be able to finish your pasta, pizza or calzone. In the evenings at Pescaraz, you’ll almost always hear live music. 3415-K Bell St., 806.350.5430, pescaraz.com $$
THE POTATO FACTORY
Think potatoes aren’t exciting? Then you’ve never had one of the gigantic spuds at this local institution, where you can load your tater with one of more than 20 unique toppings. The prices are affordable and the hot dogs are good, too. (Surprise: There are hot dogs!) Decadent and delectable. 4631 S. Western St., 806.463.7783 $
PUBLIC HOUSE
Known for one of the best brunches in town, this southwest side hangout boasts inventive cuisine and an upscale, service-oriented atmosphere. The Happy Hour menu is extraordinary, as are the whiskey and wine lists. Give one of the daily bar and food specials a try. 3333 S. Coulter St., 806.398.7777, publichouseamarillo.com $$
RAIN PREMIER SUSHI BAR & LOUNGE
The sushi is good and the all-day Wednesday Happy Hour specials are even better. Popular with the downtown crowd, this spot is open for lunch and dinner, with a full bar and contemporary Asian cuisine. During Happy Hour, sushi rolls and appetizers are incredibly affordable. 817 S. Polk St., 806.331.1155, rainamarillo.com $$
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, 806.350.7830, rocketbrews.com $
THE RUFFLED CUP
It all started with cupcakes, but now this beloved bakery also serves a daily lunch menu of straight-up comfort food, including soups, salads, and hot and cold sandwiches on fresh-baked bread. Grab a to-go order, and don’t forget to order some of those cupcakes for dessert. 3440 S. Bell St., Suite 100, 806.318.3961, theruffledcup.com $$
ROOSTERS CAFE
This coffee, breakfast and lunch stop near 34th and Bell is quietly one of the best dessert places in the city. (That apple pie: Whoa.) But the quiche, sandwiches, soups, and salads are also worth an order. Be advised: The dining room fills up quickly for lunch, but we love the cute outdoor area. 3440 S. Bell St., Unit 110, 806.353.7309, silver-fork.com $
SAM’S SOUTHERN EATERY
This Louisiana-based chain has been around for more than a decade, but the Amarillo location is still pretty new. The portions are big and the prices are low for shrimp or crawfish po’boys, catfish, crab, seafood platters, shrimp and more. Our city may not be known for seafood, but Sam’s is. 4317 Teckla Ave., 806.437.1349, samssouthernamarillo.com $$
SAVÓR TAPAS BAR
Amarillo has needed a true tapas bar, and finally it’s here. A product of Chef Rory Schepisi, Savor offers a swanky, modern vibe in the Greenways, with a full bar and a delicious selection of small-bite plates. Order a bunch of everything for the table, and don’t forget the dessert. 7669 Hillside Road, Suite, 600, 806.310.2600, savortapasbar.com $$
SINALOA HOT DOGS AND MEXICAN FOOD
If you’ve never had a Mexican hot dog, then stop reading and head over to the Boulevard right now. This is a small place but the flavor is huge. We also love the fire-grilled chicken, tacos, tortas, carne asada, quesadillas, burritos, and mulitas. But that hot dog! (You’ll need napkins.) 2618 Amarillo Blvd. East, 806.367.8935 $
SIX CAR PUB & BREWERY
One of the best things to hit downtown since the Sod Poodles, this Polk Street restaurant is known for its craft beers, amazing outdoor
patio and rooftop, and its trendy vibe. The Nashville chicken sandwich is one of the best in the city. Like IPAs? Make Good Choices. 625 S. Polk St., 806.576.3396, sixcarpub.com $$
SUNDAY’S
KITCHEN
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. It’s closed on Saturdays, but don’t miss the Sunday brunch. Try the Pit Master Mac & Cheese. 112 SW Sixth Ave., 806.418.6477 $$
TEDDY JACK’S ARMADILLO GRILL
With a vast, no-frills menu, this regional restaurant concept was created by former NFL safety and Texas Tech standout Curtis Jordan, who turned to the food biz after retiring in the 1980s. The outdoor area is great and so is the brick-oven pizza. A fun place to watch the big game. 5080 S. Coulter St., 806.322.0113, teddyjacks.com $$
TYLER’S
BARBEQUE
Amarillo has no shortage of authentic Texas barbecue, but Tyler’s always seems to be residents’ first choice. Maybe it’s because he’s got a reputation all over the Lone Star State. Or maybe it’s secretly because of the Frito pie and green chile stew. Plan ahead: Most menu items sell out. 3301 Olsen Blvd., 806.331.2271, tylersbarbeque.com $$
WESLEY’S BBQ
River Road restaurants aren’t always on the radar of every local resident, but Wesley’s has been around forever and deserves its legendary reputation. Loyal customers return again and again for the genuine Texas-style barbecue, especially the baby-back ribs, brisket and—yep—the beans. 6406 River Road, 806.381.2893, wesleysbbq.com $
THE WESTERN HORSEMAN CLUB
In the 1980s, the Western Horseman Club was one of the hottest country-and-western bars in the city. Now, prominent local chef Rory Schepisi has taken on the task of breathing new life into the storied club. Schepisi has transformed the once-dingy, sprawling space with a swanky, modern-saloon vibe. The menu is western-focused, with options like Angus Beef burgers and sandwiches, Prime Certified Angus Beef steaks, chicken-fried steak, catfish and more. 2501 I-40 East, 806.877-1600, westernhorsemanclub.com $$-$$$
YCSF CRAFT
It started as a “food truck without wheels” and now this street food experiment is one of the city’s favorite restaurants, and one of the only vegan/vegetarian places in town. Definitely try the animal fries and diablo shrimp tacos. The burgers, craft beer and wine list are all wonderful. 2916 Wolflin Ave., 806.353.9273, yellowcitystreetfood.com $
X– STEAKHOUSE
The name is a play on cattle brands—say “X-Bar”—and this Town Square steakhouse definitely knows beef. It’s locally owned, has a
full bar, and the prices are extremely reasonable for such a swanky atmosphere. We hear great things about the weekend brunch, too. 9181 Town Square Blvd., Suite 1311, 806.322.4227, xbarsteakhouse.com $$-$$$
CANYON
BUENOS DIAS
There’s a lot to love about a place that specializes in breakfast, and definitely a lot to love about a locally owned, small-town diner. Buenos Dias was born in 2018 as a home-cooking gem that specializes in breakfast. The cafe opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 7:30 on weekends serving up breakfast and brunch every Wednesday through Sunday. 1202 23rd St., 806.452.7277, facebook.com/ buenosdiaskitchen $
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., 806.655.2833, buffscanyon.com $
HONEY BUZZ WINERY
The honey is made onsite from Creek House’s hard-working bees, and those fresh, sweet flavors find their way into homemade items from cheese boards to salads, sandwiches and baked goods. Check social media for daily specials, and definitely try the impeccably brewed mead. 5005 Fourth Ave., 806.381.3446, honeybuzzwinery.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., 806.655.9800, hudspethhouse.com $
ROCKIN’ ZEBRA SODA SHOPPE
The motto here is “life is short, eat dessert first” and we can’t disagree with that. Everything at Rockin’ Zebra is pure nostalgia, from the 50s-era barstools and soda fountain to the abundant signage on the walls. (Not to mention Canyon’s Square right outside the diner.) An ideal setting for a classic cheeseburger and milkshake. Or splurge on a Monte Cristo and an ice cream soda. 404 15th St, Canyon, 806.655.3381 facebook.com/rockinzebrasodashoppe $
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., 806.655.2698, sayakomarns.com $$
When Amarilloans think of going to the mountains, it usually means driving northwest toward Raton, a gateway to the Rockies, around four hours away. But there are other mountains equally close at hand, and in a most unexpected place: Southwest Oklahoma.
Just four hours southeast of Amarillo, the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge consists of roughly 60,000 acres (94 square miles) of prairies, granite mountains and spring-fed streams and lakes. It is so not Oklahoma as to raise eyebrows when traveling east on US 62 from Altus, the pinkish mountains rising from an otherwise flat terrain. Although only about 1,200 feet at their highest point above the prairie, they still loom large.
The Refuge is well worth a weekend getaway. Medicine Park, on the east edge of the Refuge, provides a quaint respite and home-awayfrom-home for your journey. But more on that later. I recommend driving north from US 62 onto OK 54 a few miles east of the Snyder exit, and then turning east on OK 49 for the full experience. Texas will seem like a distant place. Drive slowly, and stop often to savor the beauty.
As for the mountains themselves, they are ancient in geologic time, having started to form 525 million years ago, and then beginning their gradual uplift above the surface soil between 330 to 290 million years ago. While granite is the most easily identifiable mineral, there is also rhyolite and gabbro. The range extends some 60 miles from
Nick’s Picks
Be sure to check out the Visitor Center at the Refuge. It has tons of information, a gift shop and educational displays.
The corkscrew drive up Mount Scott is breathtaking. From its apex at 2,464 feet, you can see 360-degrees, including Lake Lawtonka and Medicine Park (elevation 1,276 feet). Or, you can hike it.
There are numerous lakes throughout the Refuge, including Jed Johnson Lake, Lake Elmer Thomas, Rush Lake, Quanah Parker Lake, and French Lake. Each offers its own unique views.
While entry to the Refuge is free of charge, camping is fee-based. Also, there’s no potable water inside the Refuge, so come prepared.
southeast to northwest, creating a major topographical hiccup across an otherwise nondescript plain. No doubt the native Wichita tribe and those who came after relished the rich hunting opportunities it presented.
Highway 49 through the Refuge is only open sunrise through sunset. Be advised: It is open range with cattle and bison roaming freely; deer and elk may also be spotted. Give them berth and keep your distance when photographing—this would be a good time to pull out your zoom lens. There’s no need to make the headlines.
Outdoor activities abound in the Refuge, from boating and canoeing, to hiking, biking, photography, camping, birding, fishing, swimming and general sightseeing. I visited in mid-May when wildflowers were peaking, yielding vast oceans of Indian Blankets and other gorgeous blooms. Mountain vistas with waterfalls—who would have thought?—filled my viewfinder.
There are many miles of hiking trails in the Refuge, mostly within the 1- to 6-mile range. Watch for snakes, and be advised that not all venomous Oklahoma snakes come with rattles. And remember once more that it is open range. I encountered a bison on the return leg of one hike, and had to carefully—and quietly—pass by without raising his ire.
I hiked the Bison Trail and Kite Trail, which are on opposite sides of West Cache Creek. Both are drop-dead gorgeous.
The City of Medicine Park, founded in 1908 as a resort community not long after the Refuge was created, is a delightful departure
If you plan to hike, bring appropriate footwear (e.g., trail runners or hikers). The trails are rugged in places, and not suited for flip-flops or casual shoes.
Cell phone coverage is spotty to nil in places. I highly recommend the AllTrails app and downloading your route in advance.
If you must get a bigger city fix, Lawton is only 15 minutes away. But why spoil a great outdoorsy adventure with chain food and lodging, right?
The Medicine Park Aquarium is a family-friendly destination that everyone can enjoy.
Take a loop drive around the majority of the mountain range by including Meers as your destination one day.
from the usual touristy districts. It is surrounded by mountain biking trails, providing endless miles of two-wheeled amusement as well as amazement, including an April festival. The town sits at the southern edge of Lake Lawtonka, the largest lake in the state. Picturesque Medicine Creek drains the dammed lake, offering photo ops along with the chance to pay only $3 a day to wade into its pools during the warmer months.
I stayed at The Plantation Inn, a 2009 structure built atop the foundation of the Oklahoma Press Association’s Clubhouse that had opened there in 1916. There are 20 rooms, along with several standalone cabins nearby. The Old Plantation Restaurant is a short walk north, where hotel check-in is housed, as well as dining and drinking.
The best part is that you can ditch your car. Everything is walkable, including an after-dinner stroll north to the lake and along its shoreline. Many of the shops, restaurants and bars are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so plan accordingly. Multiple festivals happen throughout the warmer months, so expect crowd surges.
There are numerous dining and drinking establishments in and around Medicine Park, and I can vouch for the Healthy Hippie (if you wish to feed your herbivorous habits or just want to graze lightly on the vegan fare), Tu Familia for amazing Tex-Mex, and Joe Mountain for perhaps the most amazing rendition of avocado toast I have had.
You will relish your visit just as I did. The mountains were calling, but not from the usual direction, and it was the soul medicine I needed.
Fuel up before you travel at a convenient Pak-ASak store location in Amarillo or Canyon
EMERGING ARTISTS
Talent and creativity are widespread among the youth of our area,” says Shawn Kennedy, head of Fine Arts at Caprock High School. He’s also the executive director of Blank Spaces Murals and president of the Texas Panhandle Arts Educators Association. “The quality of work being produced in the Texas Panhandle by these emerging artists is phenomenal.”
That talent and creativity are visible across the city, from the public art designed and painted by high school members of Blank Spaces Murals to community events hosted by the Texas Panhandle Art Education Association, Window on a Wider World, Arts in the Sunset and the Visual Arts Scholastic Event.
“These types of events are vital for young creatives to see their work in a public space, be inspired by peers and receive constructive feedback while sharing the widespread talent of kids with our community,” Kennedy explains. Along with other TPAEA instructors, he has been working to give young artists opportunities to express complex ideas through creativity.
He points out that emerging artists—including those on these pages—are more likely to become active participants in the life of local cities, using their gifts on behalf of businesses, nonprofits and local governments. “Investing in young artists and the creative culture of the High Plains is imperative to building a vibrant, socially engaged and astute community,” he says. “The more well-rounded they are from the benefits of arts education, the more change and impact they can have on the people of the Texas Panhandle.”
n 1976, my sister dressed up like Paul Revere, mounted a horse named Eagle Eye and rode into the square in Wellington ringing a bell as she yelled, “The British are Coming!” during the Collingsworth County Fair parade.
And while my teenage sister made a good show of pretending to be an 18th-century silversmith and part-time revolutionary, Eagle Eye really got into the act, devising a new gait that was like a cross between slam dancing and the bunny hop. You see, Wellington, like many towns in the Panhandle, had and still retained a large amount of brick paving, and once Eagle Eye stepped from the comfort of asphalt onto the bricks a block off the courthouse square, he couldn’t find his footing and forgot all about his patriotic duty. He basically freaked. My sister still managed to get everyone properly warned of the redcoat menace, and Wellington was able to keep the Spirit of ’76 alive in spite of this distracting spectacle.
I recount this story to illustrate that brick streets are like a pair of fancy boots. They look great but they’re not always built for comfort. First, there’s the issue of traction control that Eagle Eye was forced to work through, but that’s mostly a horse thing. Also, the ground shifts over time and the bricks tend to become uneven in places. Try driving to the church potluck with an oven-hot green bean casserole in the front seat and you’ll really notice this.
So why do we have brick streets? Well, the fact that more than 16 miles of Amarillo’s streets are still paved with brick says something about their durability. They might get bumpy with age but they’re a lot more visually appealing than asphalt, which gets old and bumpy in just a few years. For these and other reasons, Amarillo folks are still fond of their cobbled caminos.
It all started in 1907 when workers began laying rail for a streetcar system on Polk Street. Since everything was going to be a hot mess for a while anyway, city leaders figured they might as well start a paving project, and what better place to begin than on the Champs-Élysées of the Panhandle. A story in the newspaper on Aug. 29, 1907, stated that the Amarillo Street Railway Co. was compelled by its franchise agreement to pave between the tracks and two feet on either side. On streets where the streetcars were to run, the city would cover a third of what was left, leaving property owners on each side of the street to pay for the remaining two thirds.
City Hall considered several different paving options, but brick pavers from Coffeyville, Kansas, won out. Work commenced in 1908 with workers laying bricks over a crushed rock base on the west side of Polk between Fourth and Fifth avenues. Then, midcourse, it was decided that the base of the eastern half of the block would be “six inches of rich concrete” with a layer of sand on top.
In January 1912 the papers reported that 30 blocks of brick paving had been put down in 1911 alone for a cost of $300,000, the largest capital project in the city that year. Amarillo continued to pave with bricks through the 1920s, notably in the first phases of the Wolflin developments. But by the time federal dollars started flowing through the New Deal paving projects of the 1930s, asphalt had taken hold as the preferred way to tame the dust of Amarillo’s growing network of streets. In the ensuing decades, many of the original brick pavers were entombed in asphalt, largely forgotten until it was time to make a utility cut.
Just recently, in preparation for a sewer upgrade on a stretch of South Polk where the first bricks were laid 116 years ago, a road grader scraped up a layer of asphalt revealing the original paving laid out in a finely fitted running bond that transitions at the intersection to a 45-degree herringbone pattern. It’s a bit like a new discovery at Pompeii, but instead of volcanic ash obscuring this beauty, it was “progress.” It’s hard to believe it was ever a good idea to pave over something so aesthetically pleasing— and which can stand up to the Panhandle elements like nothing else.
If Eagle Eye were still around, he’d vote to cover those bricks back up when the sewer work is done, and no doubt he’d have support among the fiscally frugal folks who view every downtown beautification project as a waste of money. But Eagle Eye’s opinion wouldn’t matter much because nobody heads downtown on a horse these days unless the Ranch Rodeo is in town. And maybe the pennywise would see the pound-foolishness of maintaining asphalt surfaces that fail a lot faster than Coffeyville brick.
It’s just a thought. Those bricks aren’t going anywhere, so maybe their time will come again. Meanwhile, we can still ride over the ample brick streets that remain, enjoying that distinctive hum that sounds a lot like a voice from the past, when Amarillo was young and horses weren’t so sensitive.
EVAN BANNER
“Electric Evan” Good Times Radio DJ, FM90
The best advice I ever heard is: to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
My three most recommended books are: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird of course (I mean, it’s a classic), and Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Ultimate Visual History by Michael Klastorin. The last one is an inside look into my favorite movie of all time and is great for film enthusiasts and cinema geeks who love all the behind-the-scenes stuff, concept art and all that “making of” goodness.
To me, success means: listening to God, following His advice, loving those around you the best you possibly can and living a life that you are truly happy with.
People who know me might be surprised that I: sometimes need to just be alone. I know some people can’t stand being by themselves, but I like my solitude, as it helps me reflect and be in my own little world for a bit. I also tend to be most creative in that environment.
My biggest pet peeve is: dishonesty.
Everyone in Amarillo needs to experience: a nice walk in the summer during a beautiful sunset or a cool evening. It makes you appreciate life a little more.
If I could change any one local thing it would be: to have some old-school block parties or clubs on Sixth Street and other areas downtown, where people could boogie down like they did back in the day!
This city is amazing at: feeling like a small town while also being a big one.
My favorite place in Amarillo is: my house. My parents have always been a huge comfort to me and have provided such a loving home for me. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
A local organization I love right now: has to be Amarillo College’s FM90. Amy Hart, my instructor, has been super supportive and encouraging about my Tuesday night specialty show, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity of realizing my dreams of “Electric Evan” being on the airwaves. Truly a blessing, no doubt.
