Features

Jack Rogers is a luthier, a person who builds or repairs stringed instruments. It comes from the French word for lute. To become one, you have to serve as an apprentice; in Jack’s case it was ten years. 

That’s just a side bar to his story. He graduated from high school and went to college at North Texas, but due to his “procrastination and being lazy,” he decided to be a musician full time.

He grew up with music; his dad stored his violin under the bed. Jack learned to play the violin and the guitar. “At twenty one I could play the violin as if I was breathing… as soon as I picked it up doors opened,” Jack said. “Right away I was a working fiddle player…I couldn’t ignore the call of music.” 

It’s a Wimberley story with laughter, smiles and “oh yeahs,” that is sure to be repeated to kids, and grandkids for years to come. It all started in 1983, that’s when the Buzzard Bar got its hardwood dance floor at Cypress Creek Café on the Wimberley Square. 

A few of the locals, namely; James Stricklen, Dave and Bruce Calkins, and Danny Hickman built the floor and put in a drawer-like box with articles of the day inside, and then closed and sealed the dance floor. Undisturbed until the present, the box was untouched by the recent devastating fire that gutted the Wimberley icon.

Local Homebuilders, Grady and Kathy Burnette recently bought the location, which is a story in itself. Grady’s grand parents Lynn and Maxine Storm, owned the restaurant back in the 1940s. When the Burnettes heard about the time capsule, they had a little party for the unveiling.

For the past 20 years,  EmilyAnn Trail of Lights has been warming the hearts of locals and visitors alike, no matter what the weather. Thousands each year walk the exhibits, with faces lighting up along with the lights. But from tiny beginnings it is now an event not to be missed.

“Norm and I lived near Zilker Park, and I couldn’t wait each year for the Tree Lighting in Zilker,” Ann Rolling the Executive Director of EmilyAnn recalled. The cantilevered flagpole was acquired from the Hays County Courthouse. Norm, her husband saw no reason why a tree like Zilkers’ could not be done. The flagpole tree went up in 1997.

In ’98 they were surprised by the crowds that would travel up the hill, with their flashlights, to see the lit tree. It had become a Wimberley tradition. They got their first Christmas plywood placard, made by Gary Pigg, of the Holy Family with a donkey.

The idea started at the Wimberley Fourth of July parade. The floats always give away candy and other treats during the long parade. The Regen family was watching the parade when 3 year-old Joel looked at his mother and asked, “why in parades do you get things instead of giving…what about people that don’t have food or water or money to buy food?”

The idea of Thanks for Giving Parade became a reality and is now in its fifth year. Both Joel and his 11-year-old sister Caroline are now old hands at this  giving parade.

Both the Regen kids were encouraged by mom, Catherine, and dad, Presbyterian Church’s Rev. Clint Regen, and a plan was developed. The kids would go door-to-door explaining what the parade was all about with a flyer. If the neighbors were not home they would leave an invite to participate in Thanks for Giving. 

Boo Hole was a frighteningly successful first run at a Halloween themed community event at Blue Hole Regional Park. 

Dozens of children showed up in costume, and a few adults too. 

There were three categories for the 12 and under costume contest. Carver Vaughan, who dressed up as a pumpkin carver, won the originality category. Blake Bara, who wowed the crowd with a series of tiny monster roars, won for presentation and Riley Dunig, a very scary zombie, won for best detail. Andrew Webber was the overall costume winner for adults.  

There was also a special release of Tricolored bats during the event by the Southern Wildlife Rehab out of San Antonio. The next big event at Blue Hole will be Blue Christmas, where blue lights turn the cypress trees into a majestic wonderland, on Dec. 16. 

Wimberley’s low power radio station has been on the air for a year. Wimberley had wanted one for decades. Finally it came into being. Although the first few months were somewhat hectic, the volunteers who make up the station have done an outstanding job of creating a station for, and made up of, Wimberley.

At the top is Station Manager Mike Crusham. He also is an also volunteer like the on-air hosts, and the radio’s board. When it comes to being lucky, the station is. Crusham is a veteran radioman, from serving as a part-time talent at a college station; to running major market media radio stations. He’s done it.

Saturday nights in Texas are always special. Time to put your cares away and have some fun. Whether your pitching washers in the back yard, or on a date with a pretty girl, usually there is food involved, with hamburgers to steak often on the list.

But on October 14, Saturday night will be special. The Wimberley High School’s FFA is having a diner with a tasty twist. It’s the Sixth Annual Wild Game Dinner, and it is all for a worthy cause, namely the FFA.

The group is one of those things that makes Wimberley “country.” No matter what farm animal they are raising, it gives them responsibility, pride in ownership and just being around the animals puts a smile on their faces.

The fundraiser is the largest for the organization and helps fund most of the kids activities, such as attending and showing their livestock in front of judges. 

It happens once a year. Local artists open their studios to the public to see how the creation process works. Wimberley is noted for its art and artists in all areas, but this weekend visitors got to go where the creative magic happens – an artists’ den.  Some showed in a studio while others were right in their homes.

There were 18 Wimberley Valley Art League artists at eight studio locations around the valley. Artists such Linda Calvert Jacobsen, Lynette Clauser, Jan Fitzhugh, James and Rosemary Barta and others opened up their studios, some in their homes, and shared their space with other artists’ works also being exhibited.

The Fig Tree is a group of Wimberley mothers determined that kids in the WISD school district would not go hungry on the weekends when the kids are at home. They provide nourishment in a backpack, making sure that no student has an empty tummy on Saturday and Sunday.

It all began in 2015, when Christy Younens teamed up with Shanna Watson and they decided to provide the weekend foods for those students in need. Soon there were other volunteers to take care of the weekend backpacks. 

“About a third of the districts’ students are on a free or reduced lunch program,” Watson, a dietitian teacher, said. “By the end of the school year we had 70 kids.”

The need was there. They provided over 600 bags to Good Sam in the summer and headed into the school year. As for the food, they wanted to keep it healthy.

Sean Grennan’s “Making God Laugh” opens on the Wimberley Players stage Sept 8 and runs through Oct 1. 

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans . . .” Meet Ruthie and Bill and their three grown children: a priest, an aspiring actress, and a one-time football star. It’s 1980 and all three sibs return home for the holidays. Stewed either in tradition or the obsessions of the times, we listen as they announce their life plans, half-baked or better, and witness Ruthie and Bill’s own issues. It doesn’t take long for familiar tensions to surface and momma’s iron-clad apron strings to clank. The persistently unloved fantasia dip shows up too.