Seguin Today: December 2023 by Seguin Today

DECEMBER 2023, Vol 3 l Iss. 11

GROWING UP BLUE SANTA

Dave Willborn shares the story behind his father’s legacy with Blue Santa

DEAR ST. NICK

Letters to Santa to put you in the Holiday spirit

Northern Lights Shine

Merry & Bright LOCAL FAMILY BRINGS HOLIDAY LIGHT TRAIL TO GUADALUPE COUNTY

Seguin Office 109 W. Court 830-372-9466 New Braunfels Office 480 S. Seguin Ave 830-214-6002 ANDERSPIERCE.COM

Short and Long-Term Skilled Nursing Care

Services Offered: • Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapies • Cardiac Care • Diabetic Management • Stroke Care • Pulmonary Care • Wound Care • Respite Care • IV Care & Management • Secure Memory Support Unit with Social Activities and Outdoor Courtyard

1210 Eastwood Drive Seguin, TX 78155 Phone: (830) 379-9308

1219 Eastwood Drive Seguin, TX 78155 Phone: (830) 379-7777

THIS ISSUE

DECEMBER 2023, Volume 3 l Issue 11

Seguin! You never cease to amaze us here at Seguin Today. Our KWED Holiday Food & Toy Drive had a massive turnout and brought truckloads of new unwrapped toys to donate to the Seguin Police Department’s Blue Santa Program, along with nearly 800 pounds of food collected for the Christian Cupboard. This has been an annual tradition for us here at the station for years, and it simply would not be possible without the support of this community. We want to thank each and every person who came out to donate, perform, or just hang out and enjoy the Holiday vibes - which there were plenty of. Performances included the Matador Band & Choir, Navarro HS Jazz Band, and the Navarro elementary school choir. Special thanks to our sponsors for providing food, beverages and more to event attendees. Sponsors included: Steele Hyundai of New Braunfels, Joe Cools A/C and Heating, Buddy’s Home Furnishings, Bill Miller’s Barbecue, Wal-Mart, Su Casa Café, Dutch Bros Coffee, The Palms Mexican Restaurant, and Beck & Beck Buick GMC. If you missed the chance to make a donation, you can still drop items off at the KWED studio located at 609 E. Court St. Lobby doors are open Monday - Thursday from 9am to 3pm and on Fridays from 9am to 2pm. Happy Holidays from all of us here at Seguin Today!

facebook.com/KWEDradio kwed.seguindailynews @kwed SeguinToday

22 6

GROWING UP BLUE SANTA

Dave Willborn shares stories of holiday joy while following his dad’s legacy of giving

COVERSHOT

Northern Lights brings hot

EVENTS CALENDAR Community events & special promotions happening in the area this month.

cocoa and shining Christmas lights to those who drive

EVENTS CALENDAR Community events & special promotions happening in the area this month.

Located in Guadalupe County, family-owned

FOLLOW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS Behind the scenes at Guadalupe County’s biggest Christmas light trail

through their gates.

Photo by Lizz Daniels

DIY: RECIPE TO TRY Honey Pecan Pie

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS... Santa letters to lift your spirits

DECEMBER 2023, Volume 3 l Issue 11

GENERAL MANAGER Darren Dunn

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lizz Daniels

WRITERS Cindy Aguirre-Herrera Lizz Daniels

MARKETING DIRECTOR Nick Spence

ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS Laurie Ann Heideke Linda Duncan

DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCER Jarred Kindles

OFFICE MANAGER Priscilda Rodriguez

Seguin Today is published once a month by: KWED, Seguin Daily News in Seguin, Texas. www.seguintoday.com

Growing Up

BlueSanta 6

Dave Willborn shares recollections about his father’s legacy of Holiday giving

Story by Lizz Daniels Courtesy Photos

rowing up, Dave Willborn remembers Christmas as a time full of presents and community involvement. Doing cold calls on behalf of Blue Santa was par for the course a few nights a week between Thanksgiving and Christmas when he and the entire family would gather around to attempt to collect donations. “My spiel when I was 13 was, ‘Hi, my name is Dave, and I’m calling from the San Antonio Police Officers Association regarding our Blue Santa program, which helps needy children and their families at Christmas,’” Dave said. “We were doing that stuff as kids, maybe three nights a week. It was our way of giving back during Christmas.” Dave’s dad, Jimmy, was a San Antonio police officer in the 60s. Back in those days, officers still walked their beats. Beyond the confines of a patrol car, they could interact with the community they served on an individual level. This connection to the community inspired Jimmy to care for those he swore to serve and protect on a deeper level, leading him to help found the San Antonio area Blue Santa program. “I think he started in the police department in 63 - in San Antonio,” Dave recalled. “He was trying to be a firefighter. But the police gave him a job first. So he started with that. And then he noticed there were a lot of hungry kids on his route. So that was probably 65 or 66, before I was born in 74. They had a little bit of extra food

Jimmy Willborn to prepare for Christmas, and there were some hungry families on his route. And it was in the neighborhood that he grew up in or next door to it. So he started bringing food to them from his and mom’s cabinet. He told me the story a long time ago, and he’s been gone for several years, so some of the details have been forgotten, but it was always his pride and joy. They didn’t even have the association back then, but they started the Blue Santa modeled after Chicago or New York. Every year, he was always worried about whether he’d done enough yet. And then always found a way to give back more.”

Despite all the work it took to launch the program and sustain it over time, Jimmy involved the entire family, and it soon became an annual tradition at the heart of the family’s Christmas celebrations. Of course, Dave’s family went through their own struggles. His older siblings often had to share with the neighborhood as Jimmy would provide for everyone on his single income. After Dave was born, his mom eventually went back to work, and by the time he was old enough to start remembering Christmas, things had changed a bit in the Willborn household. “My siblings will disagree with me because I was the youngest of six, so to me, it was just stacks and piles and acres of toys and to them, it was stacks and piles of acres of things that were just for me, because they were all grown up,” Dave laughed. “Dad was the sole breadwinner before I was born, and mom started working maybe when I was five years old. So, by the time I was born, there were six children but two incomes. So I remember the holidays being hustle and bustle and busy and well decorated and well attended and lots of gifts. My four older siblings recall it a little differently –– more sparse. So I didn’t experience that and certainly didn’t suffer anything. But my older siblings might have suffered a little more than I did.”

From custom gift boxes to gift certificates, shop your local indie bookstore this holiday season! C

Now that Dave is grown and a county attorney, he carries on his father’s tradition by giving back to Blue Santa and other organizations in Guadalupe County. He does this by buying toys at a discount in bulk, which allows him to get more bang for his donation buck. “It’s just trying to reach as many kids as possible because my kids get to wake up on Christmas morning, and everything’s lit up, but they only have one present from Santa,” Dave said. “That’s our rule. Everything else comes from mom and dad. Santa brings them just one toy or one gift, but they get whatever they want. I remember a lot of kids growing up that didn’t. And I also remember there were times when we didn’t have much money; I recall feeling like I was a little less fortunate than others. And I don’t think that’s a great way for a kid to feel, especially at Christmas. It’s easy for me to be able to give. I think it’s my responsibility socially to do so.” This year, he donated an entire palette of Cocomelon toys to the KWED Holiday Food & Toy Drive. After unloading, stacks of toys filled the KWED office lobby and helped kick off the annual drive benefitting the Seguin Police Department’s Blue Santa Program and the Christian Cupboard, Seguin’s food pantry. “This is a smaller donation for me,” Dave said. “I didn’t have my trailer. I’ve got three palettes. But I’m going to take some to True Light Ministries, and there are a couple of other Blue Santa programs in the county and outside of the county that are in need of some extra toys. So I’m going to deliver to them as well. But yeah, that was the biggest tradition that I brought forward, or my whole family has brought forward, is sharing. We’re a sharing family. I’ve got two children, twins, seven years old. And their base inclination is not to share. But they’re very good at it now because I’m trying to instill in them that we share as a family and community.” And as the next generation of Willborn children grows up in the spirit of giving, Dave continues to build on the legacy that his father started, reminding us all that sometimes giving is the best part of the holiday season. •

WNBOOK

Follow the

Northern Lights

How an area High School teacher built a family business based on Christmas Spirit Story by Cindy Aguirre-Herrera Photos by Lizz Daniels

he twinkle of Christmas lights in Guadalupe County has never been merrier nor brighter. Away from under the bright city lights and nestled peacefully in a deeply wooded area south of Seguin comes the area’s most glistening Christmas experience. As a child, Donovan Dove only imagined what lights outside his house could look like. But as he grew older, that vision quickly evolved into the return of Northern Lights, a drive-thru Christmas light display open every night from 6 to 10 p.m. until Dec. 31 at 3171 Church Road. Dove, who by day is a high school teacher in the SchertzCibolo Universal City ISD, says his inspiration today is to continue sharing the joy of the holiday season with others. “I grew up in the Canyon Lake area and we lived on land that was kind of far off from the street, so we never really decorated the outside of our house,” Dove said. “We just decorated inside so when I grew up, got married and had my own family, I was determined that I was going to decorate my house and each year, it became kind of a challenge to go bigger. It started with just a couple of reindeer and a line of lights along the roof. That’s when we were living in a little duplex in the New Braunfels area. Then we moved into a house and from there after a couple of years, I got into synchronized lights – synchronizing lights to music.” The history behind the passion that led to Northern Lights is vital to understanding more about its relocation to Guadalupe County. Dove says with his passion fueled more and more after every Christmas, he realized that this dream was far from over. “It got bigger and bigger so big that adding more props and more lights that in 2020, I actually asked my neighbor if I could use his yard,” he said. “Not only his yard but also his house. He said ‘hey, you can come decorate my house as well.’ The one house that people would come stop by to watch the lights with synchronized music turned into two houses and the wife and I just said ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to do something where we can do a drive thru Christmas display as a side business?’ We are both teachers, so we are always looking for a side hustle but being able to do something that you enjoy and brings joy to

others and make a living with it and we were lucky to be able to make that move here and buying the land here in the Seguin, New Berlin area. I just decided to follow my dream and make it happen.” Dove says although Northern Lights has become a business venture, it remains the result of wanting to excel at a product that provides families with the ultimate Christmas experience just like he did in New Braunfels– adding that putting on such a light show comes with plenty of pressure. “It felt good, but it also put the pressure on because it’s like every year, everybody was expecting what is he going to come up with next? What is he going to add in next? So, I felt the pressure to keep adding and keep making it bigger and better because so many people were enjoying it,” Dove said. “I even had kids leave notes at my door thanking me for the lights and parents saying that it became like a family tradition for them to stop by my house on Christmas Eve and watch the light show and they were always wondering what new songs is he going to add in next year?” However after stepping up to that pressure following last year’s success, Dove agreed that locking down land in Guadalupe County was ultimately the right decision. He says the rural excursion to the Christmas destination is a unique experience that can’t be compared to others. “We were wanting something in the area,” he said. “Land in New Braunfels is extremely expensive. Seguin was more attractive and also for the fact that the Seguin area did not have anything like this. Where our house is located in New Braunfels, it’s basically five minutes away from Santa’s Ranch which is the big destination drive thru Christmas display which I think this is their 20th year that they are celebrating. So, we knew the New Braunfels area there would be competition. Seguin really didn’t have anything like this and we knew a lot of people from Seguin and he the LaVernia area as well that would drive to San Antonio or New Braunfels to go see Christmas lights. It just made sense to us to put something here that could be easily accessible for the locals and we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on that that a lot people have said it’s about time that Seguin has something like this,” said Dove. Carrying that tradition from Comal County into Guadalupe County, however, still comes with a labor of love.

“We are truly like a mom-and-pop family-owned business,” he said. “I mean I was on a skid steer mulcher that I rented for two weeks. I carved those paths myself through the deep wooded area because this land out here was leased as oil fields. Still, it had been 30 years since it had last been used for that so 30 years of overgrowth and having to carve the path, putting down the road base and bringing the buildings on – I spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears getting everything up and running because we really did transform it from an overgrown wooded property into this 1.1 mile drive thru Christmas display.” In fact, he says what before what was six or seven days working in a row after dark has now become a year-round venture. “It’s an extreme amount of time and commitment that goes into it – always looking for new ideas of things to add because again after year, there is that pressure of okay,” Dove said. “I got to go bigger and better the next year and so just like with the house display that we had, there is that feeling that we’ve got to keep adding and keep the public wanting more so it’s a huge time commitment but again, when you are doing something that you enjoy and you know brings joy to others, it makes it a little easier to push through those times where you are like ‘why am I spending so much time doing this? Is it worth it?”

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As for this season’s experience, Dove has made the light show even brighter with a more synchronized show. Plus, whether traveling with the windows rolled up or down, families will get to enjoy a snuggledup journey thanks to the tasty treats found at the Snack Shack concession stand and other fun activities along the way. “We are kind of a mix of old school and new school,” he explained. “We have the traditional classic, what we call static lights that always stay on in the form of the wire frames and the trees but of course with my background with synchronized Christmas light displays, we’ve added the new schooling as well. We have Christmas trees and light bulbs that sing along to the music that comes through your car. This year, I’ve added several of the trees in to where they have kind of an equalizer effect where they kind of bounce to the beat of the music, so our big thing is we try to have something for everyone. We also have a lot of positive feedback on our scavenger hunt that we do. On the back of the menu that we give them at the ticket booth is 10 kind of hard to find items or lights that we challenge people to see if they can find all 10 as they are going through and you’d be surprised how many people take it as a challenge and they come back around and say can we go back through one more time, we only found eight of the 10 items, we want to find the other two but also the fact that there is no waiting in lines. I think the longest line we had last year was seven minutes to get in.” Making it all feel like a part of the community was also instilled a few years ago when his light show always gave back– a priority that he says will continue locally with the operation of Northern Lights. Hailing itself as the “most affordable drive thru Christmas Light Display in the Hill Country and Greater San Antonio Area at $28 a car (online),” Dove believes there’s always the choice to pay it forward. “It became kind of a way to give back to the community and that has always been a big thing for me as a teacher,” he said. “We took donations in front of my house and donated everything. One hundred percent of all money that was donated went to Communities in Schools of SouthCentral Texas. That just made it easier to give back to the community.”

Continued on page 26.

DECEMBER

Upcoming events and special promotions happening locally!

To promote your event on this page contact advertising at 830-379-2234 or email communitycalendar@kwed1580.com

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HOLIDAYS 8th - 1st Day of Hanukkah 25th - Christmas Day 30th - New Year’s Eve

FeaturedEvents Events Featured

December 15

December 17

December 18

Registration is underway for the City of Seguin Parks and Recreation Department’s Youth Co-Ed Basketball League. The sixweek league includes three age divisions: Grades 1 & 2, Grades 3 & 4 and Grades 5 & 6. All practices and games will be played on Saturdays at a Seguin ISD middle school campus. The deadline to register is Friday, Dec. 15. To register visit https:// web2myvscloud.com/wbwsc/txseguinwt. wsc/splash.html. For more information, call 830-401-2480.

Seguin Little League will host a new Challenger Program giving children with disabilities a chance to play softball and baseball. A community meeting will be held on December 17th at 3 pm. at the little league fields at Starke Park. For more information visit the Seguin Little League Facebook page or email seguinll@yahoo.com

The Seguin Art League will offer an Illustrated Letters Class from 1 to 3 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18 at 104 S. Austin St. in Seguin. Receive an introduction to linear design through carving a block. The class is limited to 12 adults (12 years to adult). The cost is $120 with supplies included. For more information, call 830305-0472 or visit www.seguinartleague. com.

Youth Co-Ed Basketball League

KWED Holiday Food & Toy Drive

KWED radio will be accepting toy and food donations in its lobby through Dec. 21. Donations to benefit the Seguin PD Blue Santa Program and Christian Cupboard. For more information, call 830-379-2234.

Seguin Little League

Lino Print Workshop

December 28

January 5

February 8

The Seguin Public Library will have a Stuffed Animal Sleepover & Pajama Storytime at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 27. Wear your favorite pjs and bring your best stuffed friend to storytime, then leave your stuffie at the library for a fun-filled sleepover at the library. This event is for all ages.

The Geronimo Lions will have its First Friday Feast Fish or Steak Dinner from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5 at the Big Red Barn. Meals are $20. A child’s hot dog plate (chips, drink and dessert) is also available. Tickets can be purchased at the door. The beneficiary will be the Lions Kidsight and entertainment will be provided by Brushy Creek.

The Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce will have its Showcase Seguin 2024 Business Expo: Business in Toyland from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8 at the Seguin Coliseum, located at 950 S. Austin St. in Seguin. Admission is free and registration is required. For more information, call 830-379-6382.

Stuffed

Animal

Sleepover

First Friday Feast

Showcase Seguin 2024

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DIY: Recipe to Try

Seguin-style

Pecan Pie Honey Pecan Pie RECIPE

3 egg, beaten ADD 1/4c butter 1 cup raw honey 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 tspn cinnamon 1 tspn vanilla 1 Tblspn flour 1/2 tspn salt 1 cup chopped pecans

Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake 350º for 45 minutes.

This month’s recipe is courtesty Thién Gretchen at the Gretchen Bee Ranch. The recipe was created by Jane Bauld and Mark Gretchen and has been shared with permission. Enjoy!

Want to share YOUR recipe with our readers? Email our Creative Director: lizzdaniels.kwed@gmail.com

All I want for Christmas is... T

he Holidays are full of joy, but as we grow into adulthood, it can be easy to forget what makes the season special. That's why Seguin Today reached out to Santa Claus, who shared some of the letters sent to him from Seguin area children this year. Special thanks to JAAM after school program sponsored by the City of Seguin Park & Recreation Department for getting us the letters from Santa. Check out highlights on the following pages, and visit www.seguintoday.com for a gallery of all the letters we received.

700 N. King St., Seguin l seguintexasdentist.com

830-379-0664 l 830-303-0665

Cindy’s

Alterations 210-749-7793

Northern Lights CONTINUED...

For ALL your clothing repairs & alteration needs

Proms Weddings Tailoring Located in the old Post Office DOWNTOWN!

Groups set to benefit from this year’s Christmas light display include Communities in Schools of South-Central Texas, Christ Lutheran Church along with an area animal shelter. Northern Lights also invites specialty groups, such as foster homes, to reach out to it in hopes of helping them create even more memorable Christmas experiences for these very deserving individuals. New this year and found at the end of this year’s journey will be a “photo opp stop” where folks can park their cars and get off to take pictures. Photos with Santa in a large wooden sleigh will also be made available Fridays and Saturdays in December. As a teacher, one can rest assured that there will be no winter break for Dove who will be giving all of himself so that the rest of us can find some level of peace and calm during the often times chaotic holiday season. However, it’s in those moments of working hard that he realizes that the gift has always been his. “I’m like, what am I doing here? But when you hear those kids (and visitors) outside going ‘wow!’ That’s when you know it’s all worth it,” Dove said. Visit www.northernlightstx.com for online tickets and season passes. •