Discover Levelland Community Guide Winter 2022

FASHION DUO

Taking over the reins of a western-style fashion brand, a moth er-daughter team have setup shop in the Levelland downtown area.

Carye Gruben and her daughter Kaelyn Blayne have combined their efforts to open Silverado.

Originally owned and operated by a woman in New Mexico, Gruben and Blayne had become regular customers of the brand that had their clothes for sale in a Lubbock store.

“In our personal closets, we owned Silverado clothes, and we started buying Silverado clothes for

our store in Lubbock,” explained Gruben. “When we were at market and all of the clothes were gone out of the showroom, the salesperson said that the lady in New Mexico was retiring and there was nowhere to manufacture her clothes because she sold her building. So she was it was just gone unless someone bought it.”

A Rotan, Texas native, Gruben made her way to west Texas to attend Texas Tech University. There she graduated with a bachelors de gree in clothing, textiles merchan dising and fashion design.

Heading to the Dallas area, Gru ben went to work making a name for herself and feels like she achieved her goals during that period in her life.

Following in somewhat the same footsteps as her mother, Blayne attended Texas Tech with an apparel, design and manufacturing degree.

It wasn’t until the duo went shop ping at a Lubbock western store that Gruben put two-and-two together during a lunch.

“I was sitting there and thinking, why don’t I just buy it because we both have fashion design degrees, we could work together and it’d be fun,” said Gruben.”

After a phone call to her parents, Gruben worked to get them on board

because it was important to her to have the support of her mother and father.

“I had talked to my mom, and she hung up after 15 minutes,” explained Gruben. “We thought the call went terribly. We were thinking they’re not going to call us back; they’re not going to think this is a good idea and think we’re stupid.”

After a 30-minute phone call, Gru ben’s father told her he had looked at the website, social media pages and concluded they would be crazy not pursue the business.

With the support of her parents and daughter, Gruben eventually made her way to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she met the 70-year-old wom en who was the heart and soul behind

Silverado.

“The woman who owned it had been running the business for the better part of years, said ruben. She had several offers, but she chose us because she ad mired our style and genuinely liked us. With that, we went down there and packed up everything Silverado and brought it back with us.”

Making the decision to settle in Lev

elland, Gruben’s real estate agent point ed her toward the downtown area where more space would be reasonable for the price compared to setting up shop in Lub bock.

“I ended up buying two buildings and now we are here designing and man ufacturing,” said Gruben. “Additionally, we’re going to do women’s apparel and also custom home goods.”

With the location set, getting to work remodeling the area was one of the biggest tasks for the duo.

“If I’m going to be here all the time I want the place to look a cer tain way and I want to want to be here, e plained ruben. So, gut ted the building and did all the work with my two kids, my dad, brother and nephews. We did most of the work and then when it got to the end I had to hire some people because I was trying to get this side of the store going as well as trying to n ish up remodel.”

With the vision of what the store was supposed to look like in the be ginning, one building was intended for manufacturing and the other was set for o ce space. owever, ru ben was convinced to change the of ce space into a retail area.

“A few people downtown kept saying that we needed to have a retail spot and that Levelland needed it,” said Gruben. “I said okay, now I have a retail side and the only thing that we carry in there are our clothes. Now we have a couple of friends we carry their clothes, jewelry and other stuff.

Everything made and within the store is made in America.

“I won’t buy anything that’s made in China. Everything has to be S ade and ost of it s ust friends of ours that have companies,” explained Gruben. “We just bought from them, and our hats are custo ade fro a friend in Santa Fe so we try to keep everything

pretty local. I think most of it’s designed and manufactured in Texas. We have one line that s anufactured so e stuff in , but it’s designed in Texas.”

While having a retail section readily available, Gruben and Blayne enjoy trav eling and setting up booths for various western events.

Silverado has also set booths up for various Levelland events in order to meet new people and show off their uality of work to the community.

Traveling across Texas and showcas ing their work is one thing that the duo enjoys, but the amount of work and attention to detail manufacturing their clothes is what makes the trips worthwhile.

For anyone interested in visiting their retail location downtown during business hours, they will ost li ely nd the duo working tirelessly sewing and making sure each piece of clothing meets their standards.

The name of the game for them is in ventory. With little inventory and some

patterns sold from the previous owner of the brand, Gruben and Blayne have had to work from scratch and put the pieces of the puzzle together to get the basics.

So eti es we wor regular busi ness hours, but it depends. If there’s a show coming up we’re here till midnight or until whenever we need to be working,” said Gruben. “With some of the bigger shows we’d like to attend in the future such as NFR, we need to have a large inventory to last multiple weeks.”

The previous owner of the compa ny didn’t focus on the retail side of the business which meant there was little inventory.

Little inventory and the goal to stock pile quickly could mean cutting corners in manufacturing, but Gruben has no de sire to let the quality of their work drop off.

“Our fabrics, retail prices and wholesale prices are not cheap, but that is be cause of the quality that is put into every step of creating these clothes,” explained

Gruben.

Gruben was presented with the op portunity to have clothes manufactured in LA, but the overall quality of the product would have taken a hit. After dealing with that situation, she knew her name and brand would be on the line if her product came back lacking the ex-

pected and desired quality.

For Blayne, she is fresh out of col lege and is learning the ins and outs of owning and operating a business in the eld she desires.

Also, Blayne has taken the roll as social media coordinator or guru when it comes to the company brand and spreading the message about their prod uct.

“We’ve been working on our Face book and Instagram accounts, and we’ve picked up three or four stores just off of our own personal postings, said layne. Since the previous owner was older, she didn’t have a Facebook and Instagram presence. We’ve been work ing really hard on increasing that presence.”

Being with each other all day and ev ery day, Gruben and Blayne have found a good wor ow with one another.

“We live together and work togeth

er right now, said ruben. So e times she’s telling me what to do, and sometimes I’m telling her what to do. So eti es she s teaching e how to do so e stuff sewing, and so eti es I’m teaching her.”

With decades of experience with

a sewing machine, Gruben has been sewing since she was ve or si years-old. It was until Blayne was in college posting her sewing work on social media that Gruben knew she had natural talent.

She s really good, and this is

PASSION FOR THE ARTS & THE WALLACE

The dedication and passion toward the renovation of the Wallace Theater has continued to push the project closer to its completion.

eading the efforts in generating community support and fundraising for the project is Executive Director, Alycyn Keeling.

Keeling was excited to share that the project has raised $2.1 million for reno vations.

“Additionally, we have been invit

ed to apply for a $1 million grant by a West Texas based foundation. Our goal is to raise $2 million by Decem ber 2023 and see renovations complet ed in 2024.

hat has ade the difference for the Wallace to be eligible for these large grants is that foundations see the investment of all sizes from numerous individuals in the community.

“We are so thankful for community support,” said Keeling.

The renovation process in the auditorium will be con tinuing for at least the next 12 months depending on supply chain issues.

She e plained that copleting the renovation project is the goal that will enable the

allace to ful ll its ission of Creating Experiences that Entertain Inspire and Empower.

e are ful lling our is sion today through our live theatrical productions, eld trip opportunities, concerts,

and camps, but we can only do so much with a building that doesn’t fully function for us,” said Keeling. “With the renovations complete, we will be empowered to provide the best service and experiences that this community and west Texas deserves.”

When creating those ex periences, Keeling can lean on her Artistic Director Anna Hogan and Education Advisor, Cathie McMahan.

Between all three minds, the focus across all program ming centers around creating educational opportunities for students and audiences. The Wallace plans to serve all 4,500 students across Hock ley County with arts educa tion programs within the next ve years.

Aiding Keeling, Hogan and McMahan in their ef forts is a 12-person board and e o cio that has continued

to be a committed group of people.

he original board started in with ve members who committed to staying on to see the renovations through,” explained Keeling.

Making up the current board is President, Ta nia oody, who serves as the ainStreet anager and owns adio. She has e perience as a community organizer and marketing exper tise. Vice President is Denver Bruner who brings facility management and construction experi ence. Sarah sburn is the treasurer. She is the Director of Finance for the City of Levelland and a certi ed public accountant. orie ar ue is the City Appraiser for the Hockley County Ap praisal istrict and brings business and nance expertise to the board.

Nicole Campbell is the General Manager for S ith uto a ily who shares her s ills in business development, marketing and graphic design.

oe ubb served as thletic irector of South Plains College for 33 years and is now a member of the Board of Regents. He shares his expertise from a lifelong career in education and organiza tional leadership that has garnered national rec ognition for evelland and South lains ollege. His family was one of the founding families of Levelland.

eg Slater is the usiness anager for al

let Lubbock and has a bachelor’s and mas ter s degree in heatre rts. rey Saldana is the Market President of First Capital Bank of e as and brings e pertise in nance, leader ship and construction projects.

Randal Ramirez is the Theater Director at Sundown S and has served as a irector for Wallace Theater Camp and is a Regional ctor. ris hillips is the Store irector for nited Super ar ets of evelland and brings business operations expertise to the Board. Michelle Pearson shares her expertise in architecture and design.

She is an ssociate rofessor of esign and Program Director of Interior Design at Texas Tech University. Iris Keeling, owner of George R. Keeling Insurance Agency and re tired South lain ollege professor serves as an cio e ber.

“One thing that sets us apart as an organi zation is that together we’ve built everything from the ground up,” said Keeling. “Board

e bers, staff, and e bers of the co unity have generously shared their resources, they’ve volunteered, and have done it all to build something that will improve our community.”

Signi cant renovation wor began in the Wallace auditorium in April of 2022, which meant everything had to be cleared for the new HVAC system, electrical updates, and plumb ing updates to be installed.

“Dylan Popelka who works part time for The Wallace was an incredible help in getting the auditorium cleared,” explained Keeling. e also had co unity help fro the Swain and Sonneburg fa ilies.

The renovations have created a challenge for he allace staff, but they are wholly comitted to continuing to serve the community with events and experiences no matter where they are in this project.

The Wallace utilizes other spaces in the building for classes and rehearsals and has partnered with other venues in the communi

ty including South lains ollege, the ou ise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Studeba er vents, and he rasch itchell Building to host their productions and events. The group can continue to serve people with their mission statement which is creating ex periences that entertain, inspire, and empower.

For Keeling the most meaningful aspect of the job is creating relationships with the community.

“I hope that every person who has given to the Wallace has a sense of pride when they attend or read about one of our events. I hope they know they have made it possible for us to create these experiences for the commu nity.” said Keeling. “These events could not exist without the support of the generosity of individuals, businesses, and foundations in our community.”

Keeling told the story of a pair of young boys riding their bikes by the Wallace.

“It was probably in 2019. My mom, Iris, and I were setting up an event. These two lit tle boys were riding their bikes downtown. They came over and started peering in the window of the lobby,” said Keeling. “We in vited them to come in. They had never been inside the Wallace before. They asked, “What is this place, what are you doing?” We told them people in the community were working to renovate and restore it so they could have theater in their hometown again.”

The boys continued asking questions and eventually asked Keeling when the Theater would be done.

“My heart sank, I knew we were still years away from being able to raise the funds we needed, and I just wanted to give them a beautiful theater to enjoy. I told the boys ev erything would be done once we raised the money. Then one of the boys asked, “How can I help?” I will never forget what happened next, I didn’t know what to say, but

this little boy looked around and he saw the donation box,” explained Keeling. “He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out two dollars. He walked over and put those two dollars it in that box.”

Those two dollars were deposited and when combined with another two dollars and another have helped the Wallace get to the current milestone of $2.1 million for renovations.

“To me the most rewarding part of my job is working with people to invest in something that is meaningful to them and e powering the to a e a difference, said Keeling.

While Keeling is working with com mittees on renovations and raising the necessary funds, Hogan is currently work ing to make the Wallace a performing arts sanctuary.

In 2020 Hogan relocated to Lubbock from New York where she was primarily

working in theater. Ramirez, a friend she et at South lains ollege invited her to attend a production in Levelland.

Familiar with the west Texas area, Hogan is a ubboc native and attended S before receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Music Theatre from West Texas A&M Uni versity.

Coming out of the pandemic, Hogan felt the opportunity to see a live performance would be great.

“I remember driving up and I saw the exterior of the building. I was asking my self how I never saw this place before,” said Hogan. “I remember walking into the auditorium and loving it. I wanted to know more so Randall helped me connect with Alycyn.”

Hogan got to know more about the his tory, the mission, the whole concept of the project and the desire to be a part of the project took over her.

Moving forward, Alycyn and herself wor ed together in different capacities and then came on as artistic director.

e ve al ost co pleted our rst full season of theatrical productions and those have been really exciting,” said Hogan. e ic ed off last ctober with Sweeney Todd in The Wallace as it was a site-specif ic immersive production that kind of em braced the foundation of what the Wallace is.”

That was the last production in the Wal lace auditorium before renovations began.

“Instead of trying to mold it into a more traditional theatrical setting we said we want this production to live with in the bones of what the Wallace is and celebrate that when people walk in,” explained Hogan. “They are not only going to be trans ported because of the content of the show but they’re going to be transported because of the theater itself.”

Throughout 2022, Hogan led the suc cessful productions of Shakespeare in Hol lywood, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and A Doll’s House.

She is currently in pre production for RENT that will open in February 2023. It is the nal install ent of the rst season entitled “Gather.”

Audiences described performances as “inspired, impeccable, unbelievably incredible, mesmerizing and engaging” Additionally, The Wallace received nine regional nominations for its productions from Broadway World Dallas.

ith the near co pletion of their rst full season of theatrical productions, Ho gan and her team are already working on the 2023 season which will be molded as

an invitation to spectators to look forward to the vision of the Wallace with the theme of Setting the Stage.

“We’re really excited about our 2023 season as it is an invitation to get people to come on board with us, gather with us, let’s meet the community again, let’s reen gage with people again and let’s bring new faces and new people into it,” said Hogan. “It’s an invitation to look forward to the vision of the Wallace and to invite the audience and our community to go with us on the journey.”

The community can expect to see a combination of plays, musicals and free programming for actors and students of different ages.

With the possibility of creating numerous opportunities through the Wallace, the educational aspect is a focus for every event.

With the creativeness between Keeling and Hogan, McMahan is taking the lead when it comes to community and educa tional program involvement.

“I got involved in the Wallace just on my teaching philosophy,” said McMah an. “One thing I have learned over time is when asking somebody for help the worst they can say is no.” or ing with evelland S , she had a project for National History Day students. McMahan needed a place to do a show case event and she reached out to Keeling and asked if she would be willing to host the . She e braced c ahan along with all the students and was extremely gener ous and hospitable. c ahan now wor s for South lains College. With her K-12 teaching back

ground and a bachelor’s degree in incorporat ed education her skills also include working with non pro t organi ations.

“Through my education and career, I also have experiences with community theater and things of that nature in my own youth,” explained McMahan. “I’m not somebody who just lives in Levelland or somebody that teach es in Levelland. I’m also a parent and I’ve seen the gift of the Wallace that it has been to my own kids and I’m totally on board to just help them in any way possible.”

McMahan attributes Keeling for wanting to build a curriculum for an education program that they can implement across Hockley Coun ty.

“We’re really going to start diving in here in Levelland because of geographic proximity, but the goal is to encompass Hockley County and even create something that could be developed and implemented in other theaters that are similar especially in rural communities that don’t have as much access to the arts from an educational standpoint,” said McMahan. “The pressures especially that Texas educators have in our school districts have so many constraints right now from time, money and resources.”

ith the Start of the rts eport in , he e as ultural rust found that Suburban

Schools offer percent ore arts courses than rural schools. That is the statistic behind the motivation for the Wallace to build something that is feasibly implemented into a classroom setting or an after-school program.

“For us, we could make that exponentially better because of our rural factor and so the arts are for everyone; they’re not just for the cities and I think that that’s an important message to teach our kids,” explained McMahan.

Funding for the education department at the Wallace has been provided by the Hockley County Endowment, the Community Foundation of West Texas and the Rea Charitable Trust.

Both Hogan and McMahan are well on their way to establishing positive relationships with surrounding school districts and have worked with students in different capacities to offer op portunities to grow through the arts.

“I want to help keep building these kids and also establish a grow your own aspect,” said McMahan. “I want to start building a commu nity where the arts are valued, and it’s seen as a legitimate investment of time and energy. We’re building a legacy for the Wallace that it 10, 15 or 20 years we have kids who’ve come up through these programs; who’ve been here; who are com fortable; who embrace the arts; who celebrate the arts and then they want to invest their time mon

MCDONALD’S OF LEVELLAND OPEN 24/7

On your way around town today, look for McDonald’s. We’re always close by. Just remember, good food and good fun are right on your way every day.

605 College Ave. • Levelland TX

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS!

“That’s the Man! That’s the Man! He’s the real Santa shouted a young boy after laying eyes on Santa laus, who ade a special appear ance at his school in Levelland.

A little girl nearby questioned him saying ow do you now that s the real Santa Claus?”

he boy pointed to Santa s big blac leather boots topped with pure white fur and shouted, ecause the real Santa laus doesn t wear ten nis shoes!”

This is one of thousands of little things chil dren from all over west Texas say when they see their most favorite person during the Christmas season, Santa laus, a a obby ac ell.

ell has been nown as the Santa Claus for the past 46 years in Levelland. He has

been the hype of the holiday season for surround ing schools, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, hospitals and several holiday events.

t all started when dressed up as Santa for y daughter, Susan, who was one year old at the time,” said Bell. “And after that, I began visiting the hospital, where my sister was a charge nurse in the labor and delivery wing. I made special ap pearances at their Christmas parties every year.”

“It just snowballed after that,” he said with a nod and a wink.

Santa also has a very big helper to assist hi in all his visits and Christmas endeavors, Mrs. laus, also nown as, Sussan ell, who happens to be his lovely bride of 30 years.

“This is our busiest time of year,” said Mrs. Bell. “After each year, we may be burned out and want to retire Mr. and Mrs. Claus, but when the

Your SanitaTion Department Works For You

WHAT WE DO

To insure a high quality of life for Levelland citizens and visitors through effective and efficient municipal services and economic growth.

HOW WE DO IT

Sanitation Department provides a way for the citizens to dispose of their trash in a way that meets State requirements and health standards. We strive to provide the best possible waste management service to our customers through weekly household waste collection. This service is outsourced to Republic Disposal. For any concerns relating to our trash service, please call 806-894-0113.

Levelland offers recycling programs for many items and the majority of the recycling programs are free to the citizens of Levelland. Examples of the free programs include free wood mulch; drop off locations to dispose of used oil (limitations apply); drop off location for cardboard and paper. The used oil drop off locations are at the Recycling Center at 902 A&M Lane and 302 Ave. G.

RECYCLING OPTIONS

The City of Levelland has many reduction/recycling programs and a recycling center drop-off.

• Brush, Tree Limbs & Christmas Trees (Seasonal-Chipped into mulch. Free to the public)

• Cardboard & Paper

• Metals & White Goods

• Tires (Disposal Fee May Apply)

SECURE YOUR LOAD

When hauling debris to the Recycling Center or Landfill station your load must be secured. State law requires that “...vehicles hauling waste to the facility are enclosed or provided with a tarpaulin, net, or other means to secure the load in order to prevent the escape of any part of the load blowing or spilling.” Failure to properly secure the load can result in a surcharge being applied or the load being denied access to the facility.

LEVELLAND RECYCLING - 902 A&M LANE

OPEN - Mon, Wed, Thur, and Fri 8AM-5PM

We Accept: Bagged Household Waste, Construction Debris, Metals, Concrete (Restrictions Apply), Appliances (Restrictions Apply), Tree Limbs. Recycling trailer available Tuesdays at the Recycling Center and at City Hall on the weekends.

We Do Not Accept: Chemicals or Chemical Containers of any kind, Plastics, Radioactive or Hazardous Materials of Any Kind.

LEVELLAND LANDFILL - 3590 BOBWHITE

OPEN - Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM & Saturday 8AM-Noon

We Accept: Aluminum Cans, Automotive Batteries, Metals, Cardboard Boxes, Paper, Magazines & Newspapers

We Do Not Accept: Paper Plates, Plastics, Napkins, Paper Towels, Glass Products, Oil Containers, Paint Cans, Plastic Bags, Liquids/Aerosols, Hose/Pipe, Adhesives, Hazardous Waste.

evelland, e as is a vibrant community of hardworking eo le on the south lains of northwest e as. ocated in the heart of the state region com rised of e as, ew Me ico, olorado, ansas, and Oklahoma the community is blessed with natural resources that drive a thriving economy dominated by agriculture and energy roduction. griculture roducts include grain, gra es wine and eanut roduction among others, but cotton is king. bout twenty ve ercent of the world’s cotton is grown in the evelland area. ommunity ride is evidenced throughout the city from the school system to city arks, the downtown business district, evelland ndustrial ail ark and more. irst class college education and workforce training are rovided through outh lains ollege a ma or community artner. or more information on how your com any can grow in our community, ontact s n evelland, we are rogressive On ur ose

Grow Your Business In Levelland

Levelland Industrial Rail Park

he remiere rail industrial ark in orthwest e as ites available from to acres for both rail and non rail users.

Investing in the future of Levelland

See JustinBalderas, Levelland Economic Development Director, for your site location needs or for any information about opportunities to grow your business or industry in Levelland. We are in the business of doing business.

Progressive on Purpose!

holidays arrive, the spirit of good old Saint ic rises up inside us and we gear up for another mag ical year!”

One of the biggest events of the holiday season is the ighting of the ree s at South lains ollege and evelland s hrist as on the S uare.

ressed in his nest suit, polished boots and his beard on his chin trimmed and white as snow, Santa gives the order with a win of his eyes and a twist of his head, to light the trees to ic off an evening full of fun lled hrist as delights.

“The spirit of Christmas really rises up inside e when we switch on the lights at S , said Santa. t s e hilarating to see the trees co e alive with lights and hearing the excitement of the crowd just goes right to my core.”

The college has more than 4,000 strands of Christmas lights adorning 40 trees on campus.

“It’s truly magical,” he said.

Santa is then escorted to the head of the hrist mas parade where he rides atop a bright shiny red

“sleigh,” pulled by 350 horsepower, to the down town square where children of all ages await his arrival.

“When I’m riding along in the parade, waving and hollering my best “HO! HO! HO!” children and adults alike get so excited, they scream and jump up and down, it literally raises the hair on the bac of y nec , said Santa with a grin, his cheeks like roses and his nose like a cherry.

Santa is then escorted to center stage in the middle of the courthouse gazebo where hundreds of children are lined up to share their heartfelt Christmas wishes.

“No matter how cold it is or how long the line is, Santa will ta e his ti e to visit and listen to every single child and genuinely lets them know that they matter,” said Mrs. Bell. “He has even been caught goo ng around with the parents.

“I thought I had heard everything from these sweet ids, added Santa. othing prepared e for the wishes of one little boy, who sadly came up and shared how he was being bullied at school.”

Santa was oved when the little boy turned and cried into his beard. Right there in the middle of the gazebo with hundreds of little kids anx iously waiting, Santa bowed his head and prayed for the youngster to nd peace and prayed the Blood of Jesus over him and encouraged him to put on the armor of God every morning so he will be protected from the bully.

Santa hu bly shared how it war ed his heart to see him look up at him with a sweet smile and his little face all lite up.

“He whispered to me that he could feel Jesus and new e would ta e care hi , said Santa.

few wee s later, Santa attended another Christmas event where the same little boy ran up to Santa with a great big hug and shared, uess what Santa did what you said, and put on God’s armor and I’m not afraid anymore! The bully moved!”

Santa s eyes twin led with tears and his di ples were merry.

“This is one of hundreds of special moments

that has kept the Christmas spirit alive in me over the past years, said Santa. he elder ly and those who are sick warm my heart just as much.”

Santa also ta es the ti e to visit those whose family requests for him to visit their loved one who may be ill or on Hospice.

One elderly woman’s last wish was to see Santa laus, so her fa ily re uested for Santa to come to the hospital and surprise her with a visit.

Mr. Claus arrived and enjoyed the sweetest ti e with the wo an. Shortly after leaving her bedside, the family called to share that she had passed away just minutes after he had left.

“These memories will stay with me forev er, said Santa. rs. laus and are wor ing on our memoirs for an upcoming book that will include several special moments we have been blessed with and are excited to share with oth ers.”

Mrs. Claus is also a professional children’s

photographer for the past 25 years and is the owner of Fire Angel Photography in Levelland.

The vision of the studio is centered around

HOME OF THE NEW MORNING MOSAIC by John & Bette Hope

Christmas. This year, Mrs. Claus put together Santa s or shop in the studio for those who would li e professional photos with Santa and children wear elf ears and help Santa paint toys for the North Pole. Afterwards they become an honorary elf for helping Santa.

“The photo shoots are so much fun! And not just for children either! Adults have just as uch fun So eti es wonder who is ore e cited to see Santa, the ids or the parents said Santa with a olly laugh as his little round belly shook like a bowlful of jelly.

ne year, Santa actually visited with , children between November 3 through De cember 24,” said Mrs. Claus. “That right there shows ust how dedicated and how uch Santa loves what he does.”

r. and rs. Santa laus are residents of Levelland, with Mr. Claus born and raised. To gether, they have ve elves and seven grand elves.

is the season to be olly So, dec the halls with balls of holly and stockings are hung by

FA LA LA TRADITION

The 10th annual Fa La La event hosted by the Levelland Chamber of Commerce continued the long-standing tradition of proving a quality-of-life event at the Mallet Event Center.

A committee of 15 ladies who met once a onth for the entire year put their efforts together to provide an entertaining evening geared towards ladies who wanted to spend a fun and relaxing evening with friends.

Chamber President Mary Siders and three ladies, Lisa Huggins, Jacky Shaheen and Kelly McDonald traveled to Angleton, Texas, 10 years ago to witness their event.

Siders recalled at the rst eeting in the former Honeycomb Pie Show in downtown, the group weighed the pros and cons to see if how it would be received within

the community.

Eventually the group came to a similar understanding and went through with the event. Additionally, the Chamber Board has continued to approve and show support for the event throughout the years.

“We have 15 ladies, and they plan the event as soon as January,” said Siders. “We’ll start planning the 2023 event, with the dates already set for December 14, 2023.”

In previous years, the Chamber and committee are able to donate additional funds generated by the event, but all of the proceeds from this event went back into next year’s event due to rising costs.

“It’s just a really neat quality-of-life

event for ladies to attend,” said Siders. “Entertainment varies as the committee makes those selections just based upon what the theme is. The committee selects the prizes, and we purchase all of our gifts from local people.”

With 10 years of successful Fa La La events, the much-anticipated night has continued to sell out with waiting lists.

“The event sells out every single year, and three years ago because we sold every seat through sponsorships, we added 50 more seats, and those seats we continue to sell out so the event continues to show growth,” explained Siders.

Siders praised the overall support of members of the community who regularly anticipate the event.

“We have a wait list for the attendees, and it sells out,” said Siders. “The sponsorship is phenomenal, and this community has a lot of

businesses sponsor so that they can send their female employees. Sometimes it’s a Christmas gift for some of the female employees as they get a nice dinner.”

A favorite of attendees were the pamper stations where people could get massages, hair done, or eyebrows done. However, with Covid-19 the committee removed the pamper stations.

“Even with some of the changes, it is a fun upbeat quality-of-life event for a community of this size,” said Siders. “We’re really blessed to have this, and of course having the Mallet is conducive to this type of event, especially that banquet hall, so we’re excited. It’s fun!”

This year the event held 352 seats and 27 vendors with a little over 400 people in attendance.

“This is a remarkable group of ladies, and the decorations are beautiful,” explained Sid-

ers. “The consistency of planning and attention to detail has allowed the Chamber and Fa La La committee to do this and grow.”

Siders explained that the holidays are busy

to enjoy the style show, the entertainment and just have a fun night of networking with other ladies in the area.”

With the amount of vendor requests and

EAGLE RUBBER & SUPPLY

n arch , , Stan aters o cially opened the agle ubber Supply doors to the public.

Serving the west e as area, dessa and Midland area, the Waters family has weathered di cult ti es and has continued to prove that quality service and treating individuals who walk through their doors the right way will keep a business running strong.

efore agle ubber Supply, aters met his wife Teresa in 1978 and shortly after they were married in 1979.

Teresa’s family owned Deeco Rubber Company in Lubbock and Waters opened a Deeco location in Levelland in July1980.

It was at that time that Waters got the urge to

build his own co pany. Shortly after, e resa was on board handling the books and the nancial side of things.

fter nding success in their eld, the family business decided to incorporate and split into three different entities to counter what was a lot of liability.

“We’ve put a lot of years into this operation, but thin the big difference in a ing Eagle Rubber what it is today is Matt and Mike,” explained Teresa. “When those two came back to Levelland and began loo ing at the business and nding ways to change and grow, it kept us in a great spot moving forward.”

The twin brothers both had the goal of leaving the west Texas area after high school and both attended Texas A&M University.

However, after deciding to move on from college in 2004, Matt made the oneway trip back to Levelland and begin his career in the family business.

Eager to handle the operational side of the business and the capability of growing a company, Matt went to work.

“As soon as I got back here, I loved it,” said Matt. “I love the people, what we do and the different responsibilities that this job and business has us handle day-today.”

For his brother Mike, he chose the busy city after college and started a family in Houston.

With the busy working hours between him and his wife in Dallas and in Houston, it was di cult to anage as the couple both had kids by this time and family time felt like it was at a premium.

Wanting to be there for their children

as they grew, Mike and his family made their way to Levelland and enjoyed their time.

“It’s been my prayer, my heart’s desire to have these two here,” said Teresa. “To have them here and see them be happy is a dream come true. Both of them have been there for their children while the grow up and they have been able to enjoy it while at Eagle.”

Diversifying their services, Eagle was able to nd success in the idland and Odessa area as one of the things Matt brought into the business was water transferring.

“Moving water from point A to point B or the drilling wig with large bore hose that is what got us going in that area,” explained Matt. “In Levelland, reverse units, wireline guys and getting into the ins and outs of that e uip ent and different types of hoses and parts for those hoses helped us a lot.”

agle offers products ranging fro hydraulic hoses, industrial hoses, vales and ttings along with rubber products and gasket materials.

The biggest advantage for Eagle is the various markets they can service along with all the various parts they can sell and replace.

That success earned the family business two new locations in Midland and one in Odessa.

Their second location opened in Odessa on March 10, 2011, while the Midland location opened February 11, 2013.

Recently, the family made the decision to consolidate and keep the Midland location running as the long-term store owner decided to step away from the business.

“I think what has kept Eagle going for so long is our service,” said Teresa. “We pride ourselves in the service we offer.

ith absolute trust in his sons, Stan retired in 2015 and let Matt and Mike handle the bulk of the work.

Teresa is still handling her responsibilities and has a goal of holding onto her position until her 70th birthday.

She e plained that i e would be ta ing over the nancial side of things as he works well with numbers and knows he will excel in the position.

“It’s hard to step away from something that has been a part of your life for so long.”

Whenever the time comes for Matt and Mike to handle the responsibilities of operating agle ubber Supply, both Stan and eresa now their sons will en oy

it and continue to nd success.

At the time the business needed a name, Teresa was listening to Pastor Robert Schuller and he was nown for having the sculpture of eagles. Also, the verse saiah played a signi cant role for eresa and Stan in the na ing process.

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SIGHTS & SOUNDS OF THE SEASON

FESTIVALOFLIGHTS&CHEER

For the Levelland community, the Festival of Lights and Christmas on the S uare has beco e an event co unity members mark in their calendar annually.

ainStreet progra and ainStreet Manager Tania Moody continues to go through extensive planning and preparation to have this event become a continu ous success.

Providing quality of life events and making the downtown area of Levelland an appealing and welcoming place to spend free time, Moody and the Main Street board wor to provide the co unity with holiday cheer.

With more than a decade’s worth of hrist as on the S uare events, the Levelland community has seen various the es and different attractions.

e ve had different parade the es

and typically we meet with our commit tees to get our decisions nali ed, e plained Moody. “We chose a theme every year and for this year it is a West Texas Christmas, which is geared toward the different ele ents of west e as.

or this year s event, South lains College was able to join the festivities to incorporate student and overall campus life with the Levelland community.

With their annual tree lighting of all 34 trees on the main campus grounds, the event ic ed off with co unity e bers listening to holiday music from the S band while S resident obin Satterwhite gave a short speech to begin the lighting process.

he current S iss aproc capped off the short presentation and resulted in all trees brightly lit for spectators.

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Following the tree lighting, the lighted parade began at the S ca pus and went through the heart of the campus before traveling down College Avenue to make their way downtown.

Once the parade made its way to the s uare Santa and rs. laus ade their way to the Gazebo on the courthouse lawn for families and children to visit.

Spending the re aining part of the evening under Christmas lights surround ed by holiday activities and a bustling downtown, community members were able to relax and

a ing sure this event goes off with out a hitch, the unsung group of the event is the Marigold group according to Moody.

hey wor with us on a few different things such as the lighted window decorat ing contest,” said Moody. “They take the time to cover the courthouse trees in lights and spend time behind the scenes making these holiday events great.”

“We want to be as fair as possible and we now a lot of people put a lot of effort into parade oats and a lot of effort into decorating,” explained Moody.

Additionally, while holding exciting quality of life events, groups such as Mari golds encourage shopping local with their local contests during the month of Decem ber.

For this event, the inclusion of fami ly fun and being together was one of the main goals for Moody when piecing this event together.

“Helping the kids and families have a

good time is one of the things that we have listened to our community about,” said Moody. “They really wanted us to gear the event more towards family friendly activ ities.”

“Back in the day, mom stayed home and when mom and dad went out, they didn’t al ways take the kids,” added Moody. “Now adays people really take their kids a lot of places and so we want to we want to t into that. They want to make sure that we espe cially for the holidays that we’re really cre ating that family atmosphere.”

Families can always expect a safe en vironment when attending events as big as hrist as on the S uare.

Alcohol is prohibited for the event and roads are closed off and barricaded for safe travel throughout the town square.

Volunteers monitor the area and each event to assure safety for children playing in various activities and Levelland PD is within the area to give individuals peace of mind.

dditionally, S students and ca pus life staff volunteered to help with wor ing the event.

For individuals who are looking forward to hrist as on the S uare for , oody is including a handful of new ideas that are sure to wow the community,

“Next year we’re going to be adding a con test for our oil eld and fabricating co panies,” said Moody.

ainStreet will be starting a co petition with each oil eld co pany, and oody will be going different co panies and iron out the kinks in the plan.

he co petition will be called S and what that’s going to be it’s going to be a co petition between the large oil eld co pany and small oil companies or anybody that wants to do it,” explained Moody. “They will need a fabricator, an engineer, a decorator and a welder.”

Companies are allowed to have multiple teams, but the basic premise and what Moody is asking them to do is to weld and put together a large ornament for the square.

The ornament can be a big present that you walk into, and it can be a large in the form of a Christmas ball ornament or something in that fashion.

Moody equates the competition to some thing similar to the TV show Forged in Fire.

“Our goal is to have something more manly for the guys to really sink their teeth into and show their abilities to weld and fabricate,” said Moody “It is also a way to give back to the community and there will be a large trophy. We will contract out with one of our local welding artists and they’re going to design a cool tro phy and the winner will get to keep that trophy. It’s not going to be a traveling trophy.”

ainStreet will also have a co unity downtown decorating event similar to the planters and the community planting event.

“We’re going to do a community decorat ing activity, so we’re going to have families,

organizations and clubs that can get together and adopt,” said Moody. “We have six of those trees that are in the in the medians downtown and we want to adopt those out and we want to

NEW HOME, SAME GOAL

The Hockley County Food Box has found a new ho e with South lains o unity Action.

illing a need within the co unity, S CAA has made the decision to house the food bo as it has beco e a de nite need for those who are needing food.

“When the church closed down that was housing the food box, we felt comfortable enough making the decision to reach out as we had the space available,” explained Exec utive irector at S ill owell. art of us bringing in the food box is that the organi zation has to utilize volunteers and we cannot allocate money for them to operate.

he way the S assists the food bo is through soliciting contributions and food.

“We got to thinking around here and we realized that of all the people we work with and the clientele that we have, they have dif culties so eti es even with basic things like buying and having enough food,” said owell. e have ead Start children that leave school with their poc ets stuffed with as much food as they can on Friday because they’re not going to eat much between Fri day and Monday when they get back to school.

Powell explained that they can’t let peo ple be hungry in their own community.

“This is the reason we’re here,” said Powell. “We’re here to advocate and to help people get out of a poverty. If they’re not well fed or if they’re not with the essentials, they will have di culty with everything else.”

a ing the ove in Septe ber, owell feels that the transition has gone smoothly.

“Change is always hard, and we under

stand that,” explained Powell. “I’ve been in this business for nearly 50 years and people don’t like going through major chang es. It can be a lot for people, but they have worked hard and handled it well because they’ve got the same idea that we’ve got they’ve got.”

The food box is currently serving roughly 25 people a day and with that the organization is always accepting donations in the form of food or monetary contribu tions

“The food box will always need food, more volunteers and always money,” said Powell. “We have been fortunate enough to have generous contributions from Unit ed, Costco, Walmart and others and it is all 100 percent donations. Food is barely keeping up with need, so we hope there continues to be more donations in the fu ture and more people have the opportunity to volunteer their time.”

Individuals wanting to volunteer, do nate or are in need of assistance from the food bo can go to the S at ouston St.

LADIES NIGHT OUT

One of the biggest shopping events in downtown Levelland during the holiday season, Ladies Night Out has become a big attraction for women within the area.

he evelland ainStreet board ic s off the holiday season with this event to increase the quality of life

around downtown and support local businesses around the square.

As an opportunity for women and anyone who enjoys spending their free time shopping, visiting, and relaxing, over 600 invitations are sent out to la dies.

“For one of the biggest seasons for the downtown, we do personalized invi tations to give to their customers,” said Moody. “We get customer lists from them and we revise the labels each year and so we sent out over 600 invitations to ladies, and then we also leave some of the invitations with the merchants, and they use the time leading up until the event to invite people.”

ainStreet anager ania oody and the Ladies Night Out volunteers spend months in advance planning and

working with downtown merchants to pre pare for the event.

Holding the seventh annual event, 19 merchants participated and some of the downtown businesses sponsored various portions of the event to offset costs.

For each business participating, a red carpet is placed in front of the business doors as well as a wreath and a doorman.

“They always have a wreath on the door and each one of them will be decorat ed for the holidays,” said Moody. “They will have different things to eat so e times it’s cookies and punch, or it will be a bottle of wine. So eti es there will be champagne along with pop-up shops.”

ith the nu ber of different activities happening during the event, Moody feels that there is something for everyone who is interested in attending.

While live music might not be pro vided, there is always music for the la dies traveling the square and the individuals taking part in the event can walk the streets safely, as streets are barricaded for easy walking and a safe night.

here s lots of different things going on so we encourage anyone to not miss any of the stores and to try to get to all of them,” explained Moody. “You can capi-

The positive relationship between lovis orse Sales and the allet vent Center has proven to be a substantial “quality of life event” as the horse sales have become a calendar event for many across the nation.

Covid-19 plagued many aspects of life, including the business of Steve ris up who owns and operates Clovis Horse Sales.

“We’ve had a horse sale in Clovis, New Mexico, at the Clovis Livestock Auction for a long time,” said Friskup. “I’ve been there over 30 years and then during Covid-19, New Mexico went on lockdown.”

In 2020, Friskup was tasked with mak ing a di cult decision as a une horse sale was on the books and a May sale had al ready been canceled.

“At the time, we had our eyes al ready set on Levelland for a long time,” explained Friskup. “The timing of every thing opened the door for us to come over here and make this town our new home.”

Hosting their 11th sale in November, Friskup and his family that help operate the sales feel like they have been able to carry over the history of the sales and build onto it in Levelland.

“Coming to Levelland, the Mallet Event Center has been such an upgrade and the town has been amazing to work with,” said Friskup. “We saw this an op portunity to up our game so to speak with a better uality of horse esh, do a better job of marketing, do a better job for our customers.

As a family business, Friskup praised the support the family business has re

CLOVIS HORSE SALES

ceived since making Levelland their new location.

“We love the town, and the sup port has helped us to do a better job at what we do and has made it very enjoyable for us,” explained Friskup. “We do this as a family and our whole family loves it here.”

With four annual sales, one in February, May, August and November, he feels the partnership with the event center and city of Levelland has beneted everyone involved.

Friskup explained that making the decision to join the March and June shows in 2020 were a bit of a stressful situation as he combined the shows to put on in Levelland. However, the show was a success and now that the group putting on the sales have a few more under their belt, they can con tinue to focus on the quality of their product.

“With the facilities we are in now we can’t grow much in numbers which is kind of a nice,” said Friskup. “Were limited on what we can do, and we can sell 250 horses in one day. For this sale we turned down 100 head.”

With 250 horses being the maximum amount and still receiving re quests, Friskup and his team can be more selective on the quality of the product. That in turn allows the buyer side of the equation to grow exponen tially, and they are seeing big increas es there.

That quality of horse and product means that individuals coming to sell or purchase are not only from the state of e as, but the entire nited States.

Friskup hasn’t seen any horse cross

the seas yet, but the people willing to conduct business in person or through the internet span the entire nation.

For Friskup and his team, their fo cus is on the riding horse, performance horse, ranch horse, rope horses and team roping horses.

“That’s our kind of our lane so to speak,” said Friskup. “We also have a yearly program and a big futurity pro gram. With our annual futurity event we’re just trying to do a better job of marketing and elevating the quality of the product at the same time.”

With the sale, the events bring some of the top consignors in the nation. That means some of the highest quali ty horses are brought to Levelland and then they go all over the nited States.

Besides hosting the sales, Friskup

also auctioneers horse sales throughout the country. In turn, he has a keen sense on the potential and quality he would like to achieve in his own sales.

“Our hope is not so much to cre ate a bigger business, but we want to do a better job for our customers,” ex plained Friskup. “The bigger the brand, you can showcase the quality with as many horses we get and then give the buyer a good product. That’s the whole goal.”

After a handful of successful sales and odi cations to their planning and prep, Friskup feels comfortable and con dent that each sale is set up to be a success.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” said Friskup. “We’ve done some scheduling rearranging, changed some events, and

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