Commentary piece by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
Top Picture: Joanna and Chip Gaines: Picture from Shop, Watch, Blog, & Visit Magnolia
06-24-25
Having lived and worked in Waco, Texas during most of the 1990s, the downtown area was depressed with loan shops, small seedy bars. There was also a mom-and-pop jewelry store with burgler bars on the outside windows.
Nearby, on the banks of the Brazos River and the iconic Waco Suspension Bridge with a multi-level Hilton Hotel and the Brazos Queen Restaurant located within a thin upscale fringe area bordering on the bad part of town. Baylor University is situated just to the east inside what we locals called “the Baylor Bubble” Inside of the bubble it was reasonably safe. Step outside of that bubble onto LaSalle Avenue in the blighted part of town, could and sometimes did mean trouble for adventuresome students.
I remember a report of a businessman staying at the Hilton that ventured too close to a dicey downtown area and ended up getting robbed and knifed.
As an ad representative for the Thrifty Nickel, a free weekly classified newspaper, that little jewelry store was one of my customers. I remember parking about a block down from the store and walking down the sidewalk near an antique store housed in an old brick 3 story building.
As I walked past the entrance, a man in his mid 20s bolted out of the door running so fast his mustache tips curved up due to the air flowing around his face.
Then I heard a shout from inside the store. “Stop him!” a voice said.
By the time I realized what was happening, the thief dashed around the corner.
Similar to the Uvalde Tragedy, Waco had just emerged from the harsh glare of a world media spotlight. The siege and ultimate burning down of the Branch Davidian Compound which claimed over 70 lives.
Although the compound was located a few miles out of town, much of the world believed the Branch Davidian Compound was located inside the city limits. Through a distorted media lens, many thought Waco was a backwards town of convenience stores, Dairy Queen restaurants and populated by religious extremist nuts and trailer trash rubes.
On the phone during a business call to a city in another state, I remember being asked. “Are you one of those whackos from Waco?”
After moving in 1999 to Temple and several years later to the Uvalde area, I lost track of Waco,
Then something happened. Chip and Joanna Gaines created a huge reality show hit: The Fixer Upper. Instead of a backwater city, the Waco downtown area was transformed into a trendy, upscale nightlife scene with expensive restaurants and coffee bars.
When Waco was brought up, the words, Magnolia and The Silos came to mind, Waco became a trendy place for affluent young professionals to move.
Waco still has its blighted areas, but the image of Waco was transformed from the overlooked floor scrubbing Cinderella into a beautiful princess.
While Uvalde is not Waco and I would argue not as blighted as Downtown Waco used to be, I often wonder if reality TV show depicting Uvalde as a town with promise could enhance the economy and new businesses here as well as boost tourism.
That said, such sudden rags to riches transformations of cities and towns can endanger local culture and heritage and spawn gentrification which can leave existing residents marginalized.
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