SAN BENITO, RGV – Celeste Sanchez, mayor of San Benito, said the city recently adopted a new downtown revitalization plan to open up unique businesses.
Sanchez said San Benito is known for its beautiful resacas, former channels of the Rio Grande River and its history for being the home to musical legends such as Narcisco Martinez, who is known as the Father of the Texas-Mexican Conjunto. Conjunto is a genre of music using instruments such as the accordion and the bajo sexto, or the twelve-string guitar.
Sanchez hopes the downtown renovations aims to bring in capital from the music industry, attract more business owners and shoppers to the city.
“Our vision for the city and for the community is to become a city of choice – where people want to live in San Benito because we have good amenities, we have good restaurants, safe streets, good shopping, wonderful neighborhoods, parks [as well as] walks and trails for people to enjoy,” Sanchez said.
The new plan for downtown came from the new insurgence of the San Benito’s Chamber of Commerce. Sanchez said for many years, the chamber of commerce had been stale and almost nonexistent.
“Under the new leadership and the new commission, our chamber has blossomed,” Sanchez said. “It’s growing by leaps and bounds. It is now focusing on the marketing and promotion of all our businesses. We’re very proud of what the chamber is doing right now. The business owners … are now finding a reason to want to join the chamber because the chamber is very supportive and very active in promoting our businesses.”
In addition to San Benito’s plans to revitalize downtown, a ribbon-cutting was hosted Sept. 5 by San Benito Housing Authority and Amigos del Valle. Amigos del Valle is a non-profit organization that opened a new facility in San Benito and aids the elderly with housing as well as food programs.
Richard Molina, mayor pro tem of Edinburg and president of Amigos del Valle, said it was a regional effort.
“I never wanted to take that approach,” Molina said, referring to leaders who are only interested in their own community. “We get pretty possessive with our own communities and our own cities, but when you get to serve on these regional boards, you get to touch a lot of lives in a positive way. We get to touch other communities.”
Prayer Breakfast
Mayor Sanchez has also announced her 2nd Annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, otherwise known as ‘Unity in the Community.’ It takes place Sept. 23, 2016, at the Knights of Columbus hall, which is located at 826 E. Stenger Street.
Vietnam Veterans
Mayor Sanchez has also announced a “Salute to Vietnam Veterans” event. The free event – sponsored by the City of San Benito and the League of United Latin American Citizens – is being billed as a “50th Anniversary” remembrance and seeks to honor all Vietnam War era veterans that live in Deep South Texas or northern Tamaulipas.
The event takes place at the Veterans Memorial Academy, 2115 N. Oscar Williams Road, San Benito, on October 24, 2016.
“We will provide a formal Thank You and Welcome Home Tribute to this special group for their service in the U.S. Military,” Sanchez said.
Events begin at 6 p.m. with a social hour. The tribute ceremony starts at 7 p.m., with refreshments served from 8 p.m. Call 956-361-3804, ext. 301 for more information.
