MARCH 27, 2024 www.wintertexantimes.com 24 WINTER TEXAN TIMES www.WinterTexanTimes.com (956) 580-7800 • 1217 N. Conway, Mission, Texas 78572 email news items and questions to news@wintertexantimes.com or for advertising opportunities email ads@wintertexantimes.com Thank you for allowing us to serve you for the past 37 years! We appreciate and enjoy the wonderful feedback and compliments we have received from our readers and advertisers. Without our advertisers we would not be able to bring our readers all they look forward to in the Winter Texan Times. Thank you so much for your support. Everything we do is for our Winter Texan family we enjoy spending time with each season. Have a safe trip and hurry back home in the fall! Stay healthy and safe travels, Dan & Carina Brunson is headquartered in Progreso. Jerry, who is a former trucker for a large grocery company, is like an honorary member of the motorcycle club since he no longer rides now that he is in his 70s. The couple also help at the Red Snapper Restaurant in Progreso and have become friends with the operators. In fact, their friendship has led to trips with them including to Mexico City. Jerry was glad to leave the driving to them. For entertainment, Marlynda said they love to dance and indulge in it three or more times a week. On stage Mr. Tourist, a Tejano singer, songwriter, and actor, received a plaque and a fancy jacket to go with his honor. He later spoke to the large audience, noting he’s a seventh generation Texan, who spends a lot of time in Mexico, which he called a “wonderful country.” He likened Tourist Day to what the border should be, a peaceful and friendly place. Tourist Day is an appreciation extended to Winter Texans who cross over for curios, medicines, dental work and to eat out. They are a vital part of the Progreso economy. They are part of the increase in both visitors and truck traffic. David Place, a first-time visitor to Tourist Day with his wife, Carol, said he understood Winter Texans generate $800 million in sales to the Rio Grande Valley. “The event is really nice,” David said, “I’m impressed.” The Places, who have been in the Valley for four winters, stay at Long Island Village in Port Isabel. They related they are active during their stay. David is part of a group of elderly cyclists, most in their 80s, who ride six days a week, usually 15 miles each time out. The group has breakfast after the ride and are joined by wives. Sometimes they take special biking tours in the lower Valley, or they may take the boat ride in the Brownsville Ship Canal. The couple came to South Texas after some friends invited them, Carol said. It was good to get out of winter’s snow and cold. “It’s like being on vacation during the two months down here,” David said. “They are always doing something.” David found quite a difference between Florida, where they had been going, and the Valley. He found the Valley to be less expensive, with friendlier people and a slower pace. “People embrace you here,” he concluded. PROGRESO From pg. 18 The chosen Tourist Day King, Jerry Roiger, from the U.S. and queenly wife Marlynda, born in Canada, along with charitable efforts in Mexico, was enough to represent three nations for this occasion. Photo by Herb Moering The dancers enacted a Mexican wedding as they kicked up their heels. Photo by Herb Moering
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