Publisher, Editor-In-Chief
Our team thoughtfully selected 30 Wacoans for this month’s People of Waco feature and we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have loved putting it together. As a Wacoan, we hope you will find yourself in these pages. From the arts to business to city to the parochial to education to volunteerism to medical to somewhere in between, we strove to ensure all of the Waco community was represented.
One question we worded differently this year was an underrated spot in Waco. Wacoans give the best shout outs and we love sharing them! And I was proud that our seasoned intern, Camille Kelly, proposed the question, “What is the first thing you would tell someone from out of town about Waco?” This brought some thoughtful answers and insight. One thing that continues to be a theme is a genuine love for the people and the love for supporting the businesses that are growing in it. I am so proud and honored to share the questions, tell the stories and to continue highlighting the fantastic people that call Waco home. This feature took a huge team effort and I need to say a shout out to our wonderful Baylor editorial interns: Camille Kelly, AM Dougherty and Parker Hutchinson; our editor, Emily Ober; producers, Brittany Ross and Jenna McKillop; photographer, Breanne Johnson; and designer, Lonnie Bradley that put many dedicated hours into this feature.
Our city is seeing tremendous growth and transformation, from Downtown Waco to our industrial parks, and although we have yet to see a Trader Joe’s we do have a Sprouts that just opened and a Nordstrom Rack, TJ Maxx and more things on the way. You can read all about the growth of our city with the interview by writer, Gretchen Eichenberg, with City Manager Ryan Holt, and Jeremy Pesina, interim director of economic development on page 38.
We are incredibly excited to bring you an insider’s guide to Magnolia’s Silobration. With over 30,000 people coming to our city over the days of October 22–25, we thought it fitting to give Wacoans some tips on why you should head on down. Yes, you! By going downtown, you are supporting and becoming a part of our growing economy and sharing the excitement of the city within our city. They have expanded to a Sunday concert for Wacoans and Thursdays are a great time for Waco to head down, too. Check out our guide on page 32.
And finally, we have a special Guest List this month. Our beloved office manager Polly Brown retired, and we had a party to honor her this past month. She is a treasure and it was a blessing and I am so grateful that she has shared so many years at WACOAN. I am personally so thankful. Love you, Polly!
Keep loving Waco as we love Waco,
Michelle
Michelle@athenspublishing.com