Meet Me in McAllen!

The McAllen Hospitality Forum, a team of professionals from the hotel, car rental, restaurant and convention services industries, were privileged to have at yesterday's monthly meeting the Mayor of McAllen, Richard Cortez. Mayor Cortez spoke of his style of leadership, his desire for input with ideas from the public and of his resulting vision for McAllen. Mayor Cortez is committed to facilitating additional features in McAllen that will make people want to come here. Some of the attractions that can happen within just a few years are:
The development of 67 acres into a mixed use destination. This property is right in the middle of town but currently "under water." It's a holding lake for our water. This lake will be moved to less valuable land by 2012.
The development of additional parks including soccer, softball, and tennis facilities that will serve not only our local population, but bring in tournaments from around the state.
McAllen is fortunate to have this type of leadership in place and we all left this meeting determined to do our part to make McAllen better than ever. Let's meet in McAllen!

We have been having a whole lot of rain in McAllen the past two weeks-well, a whole lot for us! Everything is incredibly green and the temperature is probably 5 to 7 degrees cooler than usual. This makes it a great time to be outdoors. If you like birding, fishing (the lakes are really full of bass) or any type of sports like golf, hiking, baseball, biking etc., this is the place to be. Actually, I like to swim but have not hit the pool yet because it's been so cool (I'm getting chicken in my old age) but now's the time to start. I'm also remembering a great kyaking trip we took in the Rio Grande last summer-and looking foward to doing it again. Let's meet in McAllen and have fun!

People meeting in McAllen can now enjoy baseball at both the collegiate and professional level. With the season just beginning I'm happy to brag about our University of Texas Pan American team. We have a new athletic director and a new coach who bring a really high degree of professionalism to this prestigious University-recently more famous for academics than athlethics. UTPA has a rich history of success in baseball and I expect it to regain that stature. Let me know if you want a schedule of games. Our pro league team, the Roadrunners, has won it's league in recent years past and also provides a quality experience. Both teams play in a relatively new and very comfortable stadium. So, let's meet in McAllen and let's go out to the ballgame! By the way, if you are bringing a group to McAllen and want a group outing to the ballpark, we can make that happen. Call me or email at 956-682-2871 jdeuser@mcallencvb.com

Expo Outdoors

The past weekend, we had a booth free of charge for the Outdoors Expo, International exhibition for hunting, fishing and adventure, where we delivered the McAllen Chamber`s members information and also many visitors stopped in our booth because they`re interested in traveling to McAllen.

Increasing the amount of $50 to $300 dlls for crossing

On March 18 begins increasing the amount of $ 50 to $ 300 dlls per passenger for the crossing of goods., so the "regiomontanos" (people from Monterrey) are beginning to prepare for travel to McAllen and shop: bathing suits, sandals, shorts , towels, luggage, etc.. prior and during the Easter holidays

I'm really excited about the next McAllen International Travel Show-even though it won't happen until next January. The reason I'm excited is because we already have strong interest expressed by an RV Dealership and a Dargel Boat dealership. These two types of exhibitors are new to the Travel Show but they really do complement the destinations and attractions that have been popular for years. I'm also hoping to attract a motorcycle dealership as well. These three new attractions will help fill up the huge exhibit hall at the McAllen Convention Center. We will be bringing back the "South of the Border Grill" and, as another new feature, we plan to have places, quite and semi-private where you can book a trip, a tour, a fishing trip, or whatever you want. I'm sure I'll be posting more about all this as the year goes along. In the meantime, let's meet in McAllen!

We've been talking about fishing around here lately. Turns out that Falcon Lake is one of the hottest bass fishing lakes in the country and it's only about an hour and a half from here. The Arroyo and bay between South Padre Island and Port Mansfield has long been one of the best places in the country to catch trout, redfish, and flounder for years. It's also only about an hour and a half from here. As a matter of fact, I'm fishing there next week! March is one of the best months, but actually, the fishing is almost always good there. Several hotels have expressed an interest in hosting people who like to hunt and fish. We are prepared to connect guests with outfitters and hunting guides to increase the odds of a successful trip. So give us a call and "let's meet in McAllen!" For mor information call me at 956-682-2871 or drop me an email at jdeuser@mcallencvb.com.

The McAllen CVB has embarked on a project to revise our web page. The web page we currently have is over two years old. Two years ago, people were raving about it because it was vivid, imformative, and easy to navigate. But, as an example of how fast technology and our expectations evolve, the web page is now a little cluttered, a little "busy" and not as vibrant in impact as it was. We started to "tweak it" and then decided it needed more than tweaking. MPC, our award winning web developer, has already designed a new home page that we like a lot and will, within a few weeks, fill the page up with photos, information, calenders, and perhaps most important, easy to navigate links to hotels, attractions, meeting planner information as well as other critical content. Soooo, give us a look in April and tell us what you think! Your feed back is valued and you can reach me at jdeuser@mcallencvb.com or 956-682-2871

Santiago

As part of the redevelopment of its main square of Santiago, called "Pueblo Magico", held the event in the planting of a tree, where the mayor Edelmiro Cavazos named Mr. Bruce Williamson "guest of honor" and I had the opportunity to attend.

Santiago is a small city with a very Mexican touch and is located 20 minutes from Monterrey

Crossing Anzalduas Bridges you will saved 30 minutes

Last Monday we traveled to McAllen to have some meetings and to attend the McAllen Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting. Arriving in Reynosa, we started to shoot with our camera, the path that would take us to the Anzalduas Bridge and saw with pleasure that the signs are already in place. This will help more for the people of Monterrey has a faster and secure access to McAllen, since we saved about 30 minutes.

McAllen in Spring...Field Study of Birds

Spring .....one of the most delightful seasons in the Valley. The weather is mild and the landscape responds with colors & wildlife. Enjoy lectures & day trips, but no tests! We have brought together the best talent creating four outstanding workshops at Quinta Mazatlan.
Join us for the first workshop coming in March!

Raptor Behavior
March 21-27, 2010
$799.00 p/p
Instructor: William S. Clark
Join raptor expert and field guide author Bill Clark for an adventure in search of amazing birds of prey during peak hawk migration through the Rio Grande Valley.

Sunday, March 21
Program: Raptors of the Rio Grande Valley

Monday, March 22
Program: Raptor ID I
Field trip: Bentsen State Park

Tuesday, March 23
Program: Raptor ID II
Program: What is Harlan's Hawk?
Field trip: Anzalduas Park and boat trip on the Rio Grande

Wednesday, March 24
Program: Raptor ID III
Field trip: Santa Ana NWR and Valley
Agriculture Fields

Thursday, March 25
Program: Raptor ID IV & V
Field Trip: Laguna Atascosa NWR, Boca Chica and the Laguna Madre

Friday, March 26
Program: Eagles Quest
Field trip: Valley Agriculture Fields

Locations and site visits may vary depending on weather and rarities. Transportation to and from Quinta Mazatlan, hotel accomodations and evening meals are the responsibility of each participant. For lodging and restaurant information, visit www.mcallencvb.com

Register online at www.mcallenchamber.com
Phone: 956-682-2871 Fax: (956) 631-8571
Email: mmunoz@mcallencvb.com

Valentine's Day in McAllen at El Patio on Guerra

I heard an ad on the radio today for special Valentine's packages at El Patio on Guerra in McAllen. The restaurant will feature a special menu and live music beginning at 2 pm. If you haven't been to this restaurant yet, I highly recommend it. It's on 17th Street in the Entertainment District and has terrific food and a wonderful ambience- laid back and yet upscale. The restaurant is accepting reservations on line at http://www.patioonguerra.com/dotnetnuke/Reservations/tabid/57/Default.aspx.
See you there?
Yum!

Happy Valentine`s Day

This weekend a lot of regiomontanos will travel to McAllen to make their purchases, chocolates, candies and of course engagement rings, also they will enjoy an excellent dinner on the occasion of Valentine`s Day.

Usually, when a meeting planner or tourist is thinking about McAllen, the first thing they do is check out our web page. We think we have a pretty good page, but we are committed to making it great! We'll be working with our web master on a monthly basis for the next few months to initiate new informational "buttons" and to simplify and make the page more user friendly. we have already moved the "hotel" button to the front of the CVB page and we are working on linking every member hotel's page to our page.

We will be creating a section of the web pages to our McAllen Entertainment District soon. This exciting part of town has developed over the past two years to the point that it's a significant destination in McAllen.

Take a look at our web page and give us some ideas. All the good ones come from our friends who talk to us about how we can serve you better. You can contact me at Jdeuser@mcallencvb.com.

Let's meet in McAllen!

January Sister Cities Association meeting

During the monthly meeting of the Sister Cities Association last week, I had the opportunity to self-present with the mayors of Marin Mr. Jose Cruz Sr. and Cerralvo José Estevan Cerralvo O.. I also welcome the mayor of Santiago Edelmiro Cavazos, the Consul of the United States of America Bruce Williamson and city officials of Allende, San Pedro Garza Garcia, Cadereyta, Garcia, Montemorelos, Hidalgo, General Teran, the Secretary of the City of Guadalupe Gabriel Tlaloc Cantu, the Director of Institutional Relations of the Monterrey City Hall Mr. Jose Ortiz, as well as to International Trade Coordinator State Government of Nuevo Leon Lic. Marco Antonio Garza and Artisan Development Coordinator State Government Nuevo Leon Lic. Arnoldo Reynaldos. This will form part of our public relations objectives of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce

Mexican Artisan Expo

On February 5 & 6 the McAllen Chamber of Commerce will host a new event for the Rio Grande Valley Community. "A Vibrant Heritage" Mexican Artisan Expo will bring together a group of artisans and artists from different Mexican regions who will sell their paintings and other works of art to the public. The expo will also include the Music After Hours concert series featuring the music of Karen Eubanks, Happy Hour, Square Roots and Highway 7. There will also be food booths which will provide food and fun for the entire family.
The Mexican Artisan Expo will be held at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce parking lot and its conference room areas from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Friday, February 5 and 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday, February 6. For more information, please contact Luis Cantu at 682-2871.

FREE-peat

FREE, FREE,and FREE. those are the prices for three events taking place in McAllen this Friday, Feb. 5th.

The first event is the 1st Friday Artwalk. Artwalk is a self-guided tour of art galleries and local art hosts and is held in one of the oldest areas of McAllen. Guests can start their tour at any location and proceed at their own pace. Artwalk begins at 6:00 pm and lasts until around 10:00pm. For a list of venues and a map,go to http://www.mcallenartwalk.com.

In conjunction with the Artwalk, will be a Mexican Artisan Expo entitled, "A Vibrant Heritage" which will run from 5:00pm to 10:00pm on Friday, as well as Saturday from 11:00am to 6:00pm. The expo will be located tin the parking lot across teh street from the Chamber(1200 Ash). Visitors will be able to appreciate and purchase arts & crafts from Chiapas, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Taxco as well as other Mexican states.

Finally, Music After Hours, the free concert series, has been moved up one week to coincide with these events. Music After Hours will begin at 7:00pm and will be located in the Chamber parking lot. Featured performers are: Karen Eubanks( Acoustic/Indie), Happy Hour(Acoustic/Powerpop), Square Roots(Indie/Rock) and closing out the evening will be Highway 7(Country/Rock).

I understand the weather is supposed to be wonderful and it sounds like any or all of these events would be a wonderful way to spend an evening in McAllen. Come out enjoy.

February 1ª is a Mexican Holiday

This will be a long weekend for people from all over Mexico, then on Monday, February 1 rest instead of February 5, when we celebrate the Promulgation of the Constitution of Mexico.

We hope that many of the regiomontanos travel to McAllen to gradually make their purchases early to Valentine `s Day.

We just completed the McAllen International Travel Show which happens during the first week of January every year. We are proud that this was the 22nd consecutive year for this show which features exhibitors from literally around the world. We had over 120 booths featuring about 112 exhibitors from Mexico, the Rio Grand Valley, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nebraska, Kansas, Canada, Europe and Asia. We had eight cruise lines who also conduced special presentations featuring Alaska and other favorite cruise destinations. Over 12,000 people attended the free show and the exhibitors noted that this may have been the most productive show ever. Next year's dates are Wednesday and Thursday, January 5 and 6.
Tell your friends to come and "let's meet in McAllen.

McAllen Convention & Visitors Bureau Celebrates Record Number of Conventions in 2009!!!

Well, today is December 29, 2009 and 2010 is right around the corner.

2009 has been an amazing year!!!!

Here is the list of some wonderful city-wide conventions that were held at the

New McAllen Convention Center in 2009:



1) Texas Health Occupation Students of America

2) Catholic Daughters of the Americas

3) American Legion of Texas

4) State Fireman & Fire Marshals of Texas

5) Texas State Chess Scholastic Championships

6) Texas Association of Sports Officials

7) Texas Association of Mexican-American Chambers of Commerce

8) Episcopal Diocese of West Texas

9) American Association of Airport Executives

10) National Association of Hispanic Publications

11) Southwestern Texas Synod



I would like to thank everyone that made these conventions possible in the Great City of McAllen!!!

Happy New Year!

Ernie Arredondo
Director of Sales
McAllen Convention & Visitors Bureau