OCTOBER 2023, Vol 3 l Iss. 9
OVERNIGHT AT THE MAGNOLIA
Checking out Seguin’s most haunted hotel
Celebrating Seguin’s
HELP YOUR KIDS FOCUS!
SISD’s Laura Patranella offers professional tips for parents & students
Seguin Office 109 W. Court 830-372-9466 New Braunfels Office 480 S. Seguin Ave 830-214-6002 ANDERSPIERCE.COM
AgRoots 20 YEARS OF AGRICULTURAL ED AT THE BIG RED BAR
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THIS ISSUE
OCTOBER 2023, Volume 3 l Issue 9 It’s officially my favorite month –– not because it’s spooky season or because my birthday is coming up, but because I love fall. Even though it’s still Texas-hot outside, there is a hint of change in the air. Suddenly, the clouds feel denser, the trees seem more lively as they start changing colors, and fall is finally here. Seguin has so many unique activities to participate in this time of year, whether it’s downtown businesses decorating their storefronts with Scarecrows and Skeletons or celebrating Pecanfest toward the end of the month. There’s the First Methodist Church Pumpkin Patch, which is, in my humble opinion, one of the most Instagramable patches in the area, and so much more. In this issue of Seguin Today, you’ll experience my story of staying overnight in Seguin’s haunted Magnolia Hotel and delve deep into the roots of one of the area’s most beloved heritage sites– the Big Red Barn. We are also introducing a new column provided by Seguin ISD’s Laura Patranella, who offers her professional advice for helping your students succeed. So grab your pumpkin spice (or chai like me), and find a cozy spot to dig into this month’s magazine. And happy fall y’all! Lizz Daniels, Creative Director
facebook.com/KWEDradio kwed.seguindailynews @kwed SeguinToday
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UP THE STAIRS & INTO THE HAUNTED MAGNOLIA
An overnight stay in Seguin’s famous hotel
COVERSHOT The Big Red Barn Texas Agricultural Education
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Texas Agriculture Education & Heritage Center celebrates 20 years
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and Heritage center celebrates 20 years of bringing ag education to
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Guadalupe County Photo by Lizz Daniels
A VISION DEEPLY ROOTED IN GUADALUPE COUNTY
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EVENTS CALENDAR
Community events & special promotions happening in the area this month.
DIY: RECIPE TO TRY
Homemade candy for Halloween
COLUMN: ZERO TO FIVE FOCUS
Creating a solid foundation to help your student succeed in school & life
OCTOBER 2023, Volume 3 l Issue 9
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
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Read, EAt & drink LOCAL! 212 S. Camp Street pecantownbooks.com 830.491.9155
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Up the Stairs &
Into the Haunted
Magnolia An overnight stay at Seguin’s famous historical hotel Column & Photos by Lizz Daniels
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hen it comes to belief in spooky things like ghosts and hauntings, I’m a skeptic. My sister has always believed, and I have somehow found myself with a circle of friends who are mostly believers as well. A few months ago, one of my dearest friends, Fran, invited me and Jarred Kindles to stay the night with her at Seguin’s Magnolia Hotel, and of course, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I’ve been inside the Magnolia a number of times at this point. Owner Erin O. Wallace is always such a wonderful host and is genuinely just fun to hang out with. She’s full of stories about not only the Magnolia but also Seguin and New Braunfels. The night we stayed, however, Erin was at her Austin home, and I found myself feeling a little anxious. What if it IS haunted? What will staying overnight be like? The questions rattled through my head like tiny bingo balls waiting to pop free. When we arrived, we checked in digitally,
just like typical guests. As we climbed up the polished but creaky staircase, I imagined the countless boots that had strode the same path over the hotel’s lifespan. The faint smell of tobacco suddenly hung in the air, and as quickly as it appeared, it vanished as though someone had passed me with a cigar. Perhaps it was just my imagination; I certainly have an active one. We got settled into the guest suites, which were beautifully furnished. Each room belongs to one of the hotel’s previous inhabitants and is decorated accordingly. The ceilings are painted haint blue, accented by intricate fixtures that give the bed and breakfast vintage appeal. For dinner, we grabbed a pizza and started to go over the plan for the night. The rules of Jarred’s and my participation were pretty simple –– for one night, we had to set our skepticism aside and just be open to the possibility that the Magnolia is actually haunted. We went over the history of the Magnolia and why it was famous. Back in the 1800’s
accused murderer Willhelm Faust stayed at the Seguin hotel after allegedly killing a young girl named Emma Voelcker. According to Erin, Faust is not the actual murderer. She has spent years researching and digging into the event and believes that a man named Mr. Deavors may have been the real murderer. In addition to Wilhelm Faust, Mr. Deavors, and Emma, the hotel claims an entire cast of characters, including a little girl by the name of Itsy, a young woman named Pink Rosebud, and more. Once the sun went down, we opened our briefcase of paranormal tools, lit some incense, and got our investigation underway. If you’ve ever watched a paranormal investigation show, you’ll be familiar with some of the tools we used. First, we got out the EMF device, which detects electromagnetic fields. Supposedly, when a spirit is near, its electric energy can be read by the device, which emits a sound, along with flashing lights to indicate the strength of the electricity read.
Emma Voelcker, one of the Magnolia’s most famous residents and was murderered in 1874. The Magnolia remains attached to her memory as both she, her murderer, and others allegedly haunt the Seguin hotel.
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At one point in the evening, we set the EMF device up in the far corner of the bed and breakfast living room beside a wooden chair. Fran had been feeling a little spooked and was trying to leave. I was in the process of calming her down when we heard what sounded like heavy footsteps coming up the stairs from the outside door. We all stopped, staring at each other –– dead silent. Listening. After a moment, Jarred got up and opened the door. There was no one in the stairwell. When he shut the door, the “footsteps” resumed, walking across the living room to the EMF device, which started going off. My first thought was, ‘It’s an old house. Old houses creak,” but this was not normal creaking. It sounded like a person walking across the wooden floor. I still can’t explain it. One of the other paranormal techniques we tried was the Estes method. One person puts on headphones and listens to a ‘spirit box,’ which is essentially a radio frequency transmitter that rapidly flips through channels. If the person wearing the headphones hears a word, they say it. While they do this, another participant asks the ghost questions. If the person wearing headphones speaks a word or words after the question, presumably, this is the entity communicating via the spirit box. A decent demonstration of this can be found in a recent episode of Ghost Files, which stayed at the Magnolia and also utilized the Estes method. We tested this out a few different ways. First, Fran wore the headphones –– she heard a few things. Then Jarred went hearing pretty much nothing. Then it was my turn.
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I placed the earbuds in my ears, closed my eyes, and listened. I couldn’t hear Fran or Jarred. It began slowly, but over the course of what ended up being about ten minutes, I started hearing/repeating what felt like half of a conversation. I’d hear a word, “you’re,” then after a few seconds of static and clicking another fragment, “testing....me.” More static and clicking, then finally, “little girl.” All together –– “You’re testing me little girl.” I felt a hand on my arm and jumped. It was Fran. She and Jarred stared at me wide-eyed as I took the earphones out. I can tell you this –– I repeated many words that I clearly heard come through the device and kept many more to myself because of how aggressive it began to feel. It was an uncomfortable experience, but isn’t that what haunted exploration is all about –– letting yourself be a little scared? Fran believes we encountered the murderer Mr. Deavors. When I watched the Ghost Files episode where they performed the Estes method at the Magnolia, it felt eerily familiar. If I weren’t a skeptic, I’d say it was him they spoke to as well. We tried the Estes method again the following morning in Itsy’s room and actually captured a recording of the event. In it, Fran’s voice can be heard asking, “Itsy, are you still with us?’ After a moment, my voice responds, “Yes.” I doubt the mysteries of the Magnolia Hotel will ever truly be solved. A popular Magnolia “ghost” photo was recently debunked via TikTok, of all places. And who knows, maybe my experience will someday be explained too. More investigators will follow in our footsteps, testing to see if perhaps, just maybe, ghosts are real. I remain uncertain myself, but I can say my overnight stay at the Magnolia was anything but disappointing 10 and more than a little spooky. •
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Rooted A Vision Deeply
in Guadalupe County
Texas Agricultural Education & Heritage Center celebrates 20 years Story by Cindy Aguirre-Herrera
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ust like in the movie, Field of Dreams, Guadalupe County has seen its own dream crop up the last 20 years – a dream that unlike the fictional film is a real testament that “if you build it, they will come.” For the past two decades, the Texas Agricultural Education & Heritage Center has worked extensively to preserve Guadalupe County’s deeply rooted agriculture community. Created in October 2023, the center, popularly identified with its Big Red Barn has continued to maintain its mission of educating the public especially the youth on the importance
of agriculture and has worked to promote the heritage of farming and ranching in Texas. In celebration of its history, the non-profit organization is taking a look back at 2003 and the strides that have since been made. Sharing that initial vision that is now planted on the Cordova Road property is Founder Wildred Bartowskewitz. It was Wilfred and his wife Betty, fifth generation farmers, who donated the land for the center. “I was monitoring the Farm Bureau Program of Ag in the Classroom in the different counties and I came up with the idea that I thought it
would be good to have a place that all kids would come to and all of the times of the year, all ages and so, that is what brought me to the idea of trying to put this together as a corporation, non-profit 501c3. Then it became time to fix the charter and board of directors and try to come up with the board and we have a nine-member board and as we progressed through that, then I decided how do I go about getting this across to the extension service,” Bartowskewitz said. Wilfred says once the idea was put on the table, it didn’t take long for folks from all over to come on board and show their support.
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Not only did it garner support from the extension office as he had hoped but he says the idea quickly collected support from those in the Texas Farm Bureau including Mel Grones who at the time was the president of the Guadalupe County Farm Bureau. He said the collection of farmers and ranchers saw the Ag Center as an investment and were able to see the benefits – the same benefits that have been proven 20 years later. Soon after the first barn, now known as Main Hall was built, the group in October 2023, began to implement its programming. The first of which was the Agriculture Awareness Fair. The fair invites students from surrounding counties for a field day in which lessons in Ag 101 are provided. Kay Willmann, operations manager and a member of the center’s board of directors, says the tours are a huge part of the center’s vision to preserve, protect and educate the public on the importance of agriculture. “These events that we have with the children, I guess officially, was called the Agriculture Awareness Fair. I call it Agriculture Awareness Days because to me, it makes a little more sense because we are not having fair type of events but years ago, before we did this, the county fair did Ag Days with kids, and I think they still do some things there but it’s not quite to the extent that we do it. We are running kids through 12 different sessions here every day. We have water, gardening, horses, farm animals or barnyard animals, poultry, cotton, GVEC is here to teach about electricity; we have some wildlife teaching going on. We have field crops going on, dairy cow, obviously, nutrition and pecans,” Willmann said. In fact, Willmann’s father-in-law Charlie was among the first volunteers who spoke to children during that first Ag Awareness Fair in 2003. Today, she is proud to continue that family tradition and dedicates her volunteerism to the entire operation of the non-profit center. Bartowskewitz says it was the instant success of the fall program that promoted the expansion of the Ag class with another round of Big Red Barn tours in the spring. “The spring came and that’s when the smaller children wanted to come, the smaller classes so that’s when we put in a program with coloring books and different educational books for the pre-k, K, first grade and second grade and third because the fourth grade is in the fall,” Bartowskewitz said. Among those enticed by the Ag Fair offerings was Jenny Siltmann, a current member of the board of directors. Siltmann, a longtime cheerleader of Guadalupe County’s agriculture community, says it didn’t take her long to find her way to the Big Red Barn. “I got involved with the Big Red Barn with the school tours and then was invited by Marilyn Altwein to help with the Pecan Fest. That was probably in 2013. The school tours gave me an insight of what the Red Barn was about --- teaching the kids about agriculture and where their food and clothing come from,” said Siltmann. As the Guadalupe County extension agent and 4H and youth development coordinator, Matt Miranda says he has had the privilege to partner with the Ag Center for more than half of those 20 years. He says the uniqueness of the center alone illustrates how the public has benefited generation to generation. “There’s no other facility in the county that can do that not with the effectiveness that the Big Red Barn has. It’s just a really special thing that we have in this county that the board and the Bartowskewitz’ Family donated to make this happen because you look at lots of other counties around the state, they don’t have a facility like this. They don’t have an agriculture wing. They don’t have a farm where they can go and teach. It has to be done at the fairgrounds or at somebody’s house or just at the 14 extension office. There’s nothing else like this,” Miranda said.
The school tours gave me an insight of what the Red Barn was about –– teaching the kids about agriculture and where their food & clothing come from. - Jenny Siltman -
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In fact, visiting the Ag Barn as a child according to Miranda has become a rite of passage, of sorts, for the youth of this community. “I’ve had a whole generation of 4Hers come through the program since I’ve been here, and they all remember coming to the Red Barn and learning about agriculture and still remember the things that they learned here 10-15 years down the road and that’s really cool. We are even getting parents come back now that came through Ag fairs here 20 years ago and remember coming to the Ag Fair and that’s a cool thing. That’s something that a lot of counties don’t have,” said Miranda. Today, all programs and displays have been developed to give visitors information and experiences in rural agricultural life as it existed and as it exists today. These programs run well beyond the school tours and include a plethora of other programs. Among the list of annual events are Pecan Fest & Heritage Days in October and Country Christmas in December. Pecan Fest & Heritage Days held at the end of October is an extension of the city of Seguin’s celebration and was created to celebrate the Pecan Industry. Helping to enhance that celebration is the Pecan Museum of Texas which a few years ago became a part of the Big Red Barn and is the site of the World’s Largest Pecan. Today, it houses the history of pecans in the area as well as memorabilia, nutcrackers, equipment and all other things pecan. Each second weekend in December, families are invited over to the Big Red Barn for an old-fashioned Christmas celebration featuring Santa, smore’s, hayrides, a nativity scene and other fun holiday activities. Country Christmas in December, however, has also come a long way since that first year of hosting the holiday event in 2004. Reminiscing those first initial years is Linda Formann, Bartowskewitz’ family member and founding member of the Ag center. “I just laughed because we had lights on everything and I said if you stand still long enough, we can hang lights on you probably. Oh, we worked (on it). I mean it was meager. We used some – I’m going to use the word – junk to decorate with. Some of it was about to fall apart, “Formann said. While the Big Red Barn is the prominent fixture on the property, it is no doubt the Heritage Village which has become one of its most featured attractions year-round. The rural village, which includes at least 15 buildings and one garden, invites the public back in time – opening doors up for visits to a blacksmith shop, a general store, justice of the peace building, and a Texaco service station just to name a few. In addition to launching the Heritage Village, the Ag Center added an education wing. The classroom space is home to displays, videos and games showing the “various aspects of farming and ranching and their importance for production of the world’s food and fiber supply.” The center has grown over the last few years to also include another barn that “houses antique farm implements and carriages as well as the Koehler Tool display.” The display chronicles the history behind tools and their evolution in building and farming. Despite the housing and commercial developments that today continue to inch closer and closer to the 35 acres of land that was deeded and gifted from the 1850s working farm, the Big Red Barn today stands strongly rooted in the heart of Guadalupe County. Afterall, the cultivation of that idea 20 years ago by the Bartoskewitz’s continues to prove that knowledge is powerful, and that those lessons gained in the Ag classroom are what will continue to feed, clothe and protect our families. •
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OCTOBER
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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FeaturedEvents Events Featured
October 12
October 13
October 14
The Seguin Area Chamber of Commerce will have its After Hours Mixer from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12 at the Dance Pavilion at the Seguin Events Complex. The event is sponsored by Beck & Beck Buick GMC, the Guadalupe County Fair & PCRA Rodeo, and Williams Supply Company.
The Guadalupe County Fair Parade will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 13 in downtown Seguin. Line-up begins at 8 a.m. with judging of the entries at 8:30 a.m. The parade will proceed down Austin St. to the Seguin Wave Pool parking lot. Parade entry forms are available at www.gcfair.org.
A second load of pumpkins will arrive at the FM Church Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 710 N. Austin St. in Seguin. The patch will remain open daily from 10 am. To 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sundays in Oct. For more information visit www. seguinmethodist.org
Chamber After Hours Mixer
Guadalupe County Fair & PRCA Rodeo
The Guadalupe County Fair & PRCA Rodeo will be held from Thursday, Oct. 12 to Sunday, Oct. 15 at the Seguin Events Complex. Follow the fair on Facebook and Instagram @ GuadalupeCo.FairAssociation. For a complete listing of events visit www.gcfair.org.
Guadalupe County Fair Parade
MORE Pumpkins!
October 3
October 21
October 28
There will be a Veteran Information Session on Wills at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19 at the Veterans Outreach Center, located at 205 E. Weinert St. in Seguin. RSVP by calling by calling 830-303-4188, Ext. 1249.
The 4th Annual De Mano a Mano Open Air Artisan Market will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Plataforma Hidalgo on the grounds of Teatro’s Cultural Arts Center, located at 921 W. New Braunfels St. in Seguin. There will be handmade wares, food, music, and performances. From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. music will be provided by Eric Sebastian.
Pecan Fest will be held Saturday, Oct. 28 in Seguin. There will be Fall Trade Days in downtown, a Film & Arts Festival, Vendors at the Big Red Barn, live entertainment, and a Wet Paint Sale. Visit www.seguingonuts. com for more information.
Veteran Info Session on Wills
Open Air Artisan Market
Pecan Fest
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DIY: Recipe to Try
A Homemade
Halloween Delight Monster Mash Lollipops
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n
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over
slowly rather than spreading very
medium heat, bring the sugar,
a
heavy
saucepan
quickly to a thin disc. Once the
corn syrup and water to a boil,
candy is ready, quickly drop from
stirring until the sugar dissolves
the tip of a large spoon onto the
and the mixture begins to boil.
prepared baking sheet, making
Cover and cook 2 to 3 minutes to
certain the drops are round.
dissolve the sugar crystals on the
Press a lollipop stick into
sides of the pan. Remove the lid.
the edge of each lollipop before
Cook, without stirring, to the hard
it hardens. If desired, spoon a
crack stage (300 F).
little more of the candy on top
Remove from the heat. Quickly
of the stick to cover. Press any
add the coloring and flavoring,
decorations into the lollipop at
stirring only until mixed. Let the
the same time.
candy cool for about 5 minutes
Loosen the lollipops from the
or until starting to thicken. To
pan before they get too cold or
check if it’s ready, spoon a small
they will crack. To store, wrap the
amount onto the prepared baking
cooled lollipops in cellophane or
sheet. It should flow and spread
waxed paper.
INGREDIENTS MAKES ABOUT 12
2 2/3 1 1/2 1/2
2 2
CUPS GRANULATED SUGAR CUP LIGHT (WHITE) CORN SYRUP CUP WATER TEASPOON FOOD COLORING OF CHOICE TEASPOON OIL FLAVORING OF CHOICE LARGE BAKING SHEETS QUART HEAVY SAUCEPAN CANDY THERMOMETER LOLLIPOP STICKS
COLUMN: This 6 Weeks
ZEROto
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ighty percent of brain growth happens by the age of 3. You read that correctly: 80%! Brain growth and kindergarten readiness are hugely impacted by the experiences of the child and family starting in the prenatal period. As an elementary teacher and dyslexia specialist, I’ve experienced the huge range in students’ readiness to learn. As a parent, I’ve also been overwhelmed by the choices and information available on how to prepare my kids for school and life in general. A recent study actually found that when parents have too much information, or information that is too complicated to understand, they feel less confident in their parenting. It’s a classic case of information overload!
Creating a solid foundation to help your student succeed in school & life!
Column by Laura Patranella
Not only that, but overwhelmed parents are also more likely to still be looking for help on the same question a year later! SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO? Luckily the answer has nothing to do with a fancy app or private tutor. In fact, the millions of connections being made inside a baby’s brain are best made with what is called “conversational turns” or “joint connection.” Which is just a fancy way of saying: talk with your child!
and scanned the child’s brain to track growth in the parts of the brain responsible for language and intelligence. The amount of back and forth conversations that babies had with caregivers was directly linked to the growth of the language and intelligence brain areas. The differences in brain growth were seen as young as 6 months old! Long before a baby is even talking. Not only do the differences start early, but they also predict language and intelligence into the teenage years.
WHY TALKING WITH INFANTS MATTERS Researchers at the University of Washington placed voice recorders in the homes of families with infants and toddlers
EARLY MATH SKILLS ARE ALSO CRITICAL When you think about math, you probably think about equations and geometry.
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But for infants and toddlers, early math skills are all about understanding the world around them. Counting, comparing, and other basic skills go a long way to prepare your child for the classroom. And the stakes are high: math skills at kindergarten entry predict math achievement through high school. IT’S TIME TO TAKE ACTION Now more than ever, communities have a responsibility to ourselves and neighbors to celebrate and support families raising young children. In August, the Texas Legislature failed to include $2.3 billion in child care center funding in the state budget. This money was designed to fill the gap created by an end to COVID funding. According to the Texas Tribune, “Of the over 1,500 child care programs surveyed by the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children, 44% suggested a likelihood they will close their programs within the next year.” And while the Legislature did approve $35 million for child care subsidies, waitlists for daycares stretch for months to years, so this funding will provide little actual relief for families. The failure of politicians to support young families is ironic. Nobel-prize winning economist, James Heckman has proven through his research that every $1 invested in prenatal to age 5 public health and education programs provides a $7-13 return on that investment.
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Caption: The Heckman Curve illustrates how important it is to invest in families early, ideally in the prenatal period.
Supporting families from pregnancy to kindergarten is quite literally, one of the best financial decisions we can make for our community. ENTER THE BASICS PARENTING PRINCIPLES Families are stressed for time, resources, and drained by the overwhelming and conflicting parenting advice available online. Which is exactly why Seguin ISD is bringing The Basics to our town. The Basics is a nationwide network of communities who understand the importance of the early years and their impact on school readiness and long-term health outcomes for their youngest citizens. The Basics are 5 parenting principles based in the brain science of early childhood. It is designed to create an awareness across the community that everyone can help raise our children to become the amazing people we know they can be. If you know an infant or toddler, The Basics is for you!
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This Six Weeks is a column brought to you by Seguin ISD once a six weeks to offer advice in helping your students succeed. Laura Patranella has 9 years of teaching experience in elementary and middle school, most recently as a dyslexia specialist. She has a master's in elementary education from Texas State University, and loves to RV with her family.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PRINCIPLES When we think about a child being ready for school, “Maximize Love, Manage Stress” is not the first thing we think of, but feeling secure and having self-control are the foundations of learning and life. When you “Talk, Sing, and Point” with a child, you are helping form those brain connections that build their vocabulary and increase their intelligence. “Count, Group and Compare” is all about learning and thinking about the world. It’s never too early to ask “how many,” talk about shapes, or the location of an object. These are all examples of the math talk that helps your child understand how the world works and prepare them for math class too. When babies and toddlers “Explore Through Movement and Play” they start school with the confidence to discover new things. Watch your child as they play to see what interests them the most, and encourage them to keep exploring! “Read and Discuss Stories” helps children become confident thinkers. It is also a great way to relax and connect. With babies and toddlers, don’t worry about reading all the words- have fun, point to the pictures, and talk about what you see. READY TO LEARN MORE? The first Basics event, The Basics for the Holidays, is at the Seguin Public Library on November 4th, from 10-12. Bring your babies and toddlers, enjoy hands-on activities, and leave empowered to enjoy the hectic holiday season with your family. To learn specific strategies for The Basics, go to https://thebasics. org/brain-boosts/. If you would like to bring The Basics to your school, church, healthcare setting, or business, or have any questions, please contact Laura Patranella via email: lpatranella@seguin.k12.tx.us •
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