Texas Border Business
Macy’s is thrilled to share the magic of believing: ʺYes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.ʺ
Ever since these famous words were printed in response to a young girl’s letter to the editor, children everywhere have BELIEVED in Santa Claus.
Today at a press conference inside Macy’s at La Plaza Mall in McAllen, McAllen invited the children of McAllen and the Rio Grande Valley to continue to BELIEVE by celebrating their National Believe Day on Friday, Dec. 6 by celebrating at this year’s Christmas in the Park festival opening that evening at Municipal Park, 2001 N. Bicentennial Boulevard, the accompanying free, family-friendly event to the Best Parade in the World, the McAllen Holiday Parade, presented by H-E-B. On Friday, Dec. 6, Macy’s will host writing letter-writing events in stores across the country as part of their partnership and support of the Make-A-Wish foundation. Macy’s will double the donations to Make-A-Wish® for every letter to Santa collected in stores or online at macys.com/believe that day.
Macy’s 12th annual Believe letter-writing campaign seeks to capture the joy and generosity of the holiday season by asking the community to come together to help grant wishes for children with critical illnesses. From Nov. 4 through Dec. 24, 2019, Macy’s has pledged to donate $1, up to $1 million, to Make-A-Wish for each letter collected in-store or submitted online at macys.com/believe.
On National Believe Day, Macy’s will double its donation to Make-A-Wish, pledging $2 for each letter collected, up to an extra $1 million, above the existing $1 million campaign goal, to help children’s life-changing wishes across America come true.
For more information about Macy’s Believe campaign, visit macys.com/believe.
Also unveiled at the press conference was this year’s Make-A-Wish-Rio Grande Valley chapter’s Wish Ambassador. Yaraedith Yara Ramos, age 13, is battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL, and her wish is to go to Hawaii. The local chapter will be sending Yara and her two brothers, sister and her parents there for her wish. Anyone wishing to donate to the Make-A-Wish-Rio Grande Valley chapter for Yara’s trip or any other of the Wish ambassadors can contact them on their local Facebook page.
The holidays would not be complete without amazing style, and this year, Macy’s will be styling three of the McAllen Holiday Parade celebrities for their appearance in this year’s parade. Those celebrities include Mane de la Parra, the special guest star of this year’s pre-show Musical Holiday Extravaganza, and Carolina Sandoval and Jorge Bernal, co-hosts Carolina Sandoval and Jorge Bernal, of Telemundo’s Suelta La Sopa.
This year’s McAllen Holiday Parade, presented by H-E-B will be held on Saturday, December 7, 2019, stepping off at 6:00 p.m. from McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium, 2001 North Bicentennial Boulevard and is generally thought of as the best seat in the house. General admission and reserved tickets are now on sale. General admission tickets are $10 and are exclusively for the east side of the stadium, while reserved tickets are for $20 or $35 for the west side of the stadium.
Tickets may be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com; expect additional service charges or at face value at the McAllen Convention Center Box Office, located at 700 Convention Center Boulevard. VIP chairs along the route are available for $8 or free seating is found on a first-come basis. Go to www.mcallenholidayparade.com for tickets and information.
The McAllen Holiday Parade, presented by H-E-B, features 55 floats that boast a wattage power of 153,000 watts from just under five miles of rope light; 39 giant character balloons utilize 34,000 cubic feet of helium, and 50 vehicles provide 12,000 horsepower to pull floats along the streets of McAllen.
The McAllen Holiday Parade is presented by H-E-B and powered by Bert Ogden & Fiesta Dealerships, Budweiser, Reliant and Driscoll Health System/Driscoll Health Plan. Other sponsors include: McAllen Public Utility; McAllen International Bridge System; McAllen Recycling; Metro McAllen; McAllen International Airport; McAllen Chamber of Commerce; Peña Eye Institute; McAllen Economic Development Corp.; Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson; Sprint; IBC Bank; Gordita’s Doña Tota; AEP Texas; Chick-fil-A; PepsiCo.; Tres Lagos; Lacks; University of Texas-RGV; McAllen I.S.D.; Hermes; Laredo Taco Company/Stripes; Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers; Carollo Engineers; Palenque Group; KSA Engineers; Macy’s; BBVA Compass; South Texas College; Med-Care EMS; Cigna HealthSpring; Plains Capital Bank; Raba Kistner Consultants, Inc.;Texas Lottery; Halff Associates, Inc.; Melden & Hunt; S&B Infrastructure, Ltd.; Juanita’s Foods; O’Reilly’s and U.S. Army.
Media partners for the event include Telemundo 40 and TeleXitos; KGBT-Ch. 4 Valley Central and TV-Azteca; KRGV-Ch.5 and 5.2 Somos el Valle; Entravision TV and radio stations, including Q 94.5 THE ROCK STATION FM; 107.9 MIX FM; La TriColor 99.5 FM; La Suavecita 101.1 FM and television stations FOX-South Texas, The Valley’s CW 212, UniMas and of course, Univision-Valle del Rio Grande; R Communications stations including, Digital 101.5, Super Tejano 102.1, La Ley 102.5, KURV-710 AM and La Lupe 89.1; Wild 104/KISS 106 and KTEX from IHeartRadio; Univision Radio, including KGBT LA JEFA 98.5 / RECUERDO, 96.1 / UNIVISION DEPORTES 1530 AM; Más Music Radio; Advance News-Journal; El Periódico, U.S.A.; Revista Expresión; and The Monitor.
