The thread where we marvel at Waco as a tourist destination

6,107 Views | 46 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by Yogi
Edmond Bear
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I live in Oklahoma and hear my wife's friends talk about going on girls' weekends to Waco and how much there is to do. I also travel nationally and hear Waco come up in random conversations with clients. At my one visit to Magnolia Table, we sat at the community table by people from Cali and Chicago and both sets came directly to Waco. It wasn't a stopover to somewhere else but a destination.

When I was in school ('88-'92), downtown Waco was boarded up and Valley Mills was the hotspot. The FBI did it's thing on Koresh a year after I graduated. We've always loved Waco because of Baylor and the hidden restaurants and things to do. But, no one else thought that way.

Now Waco has become a hot freaking tourist destination. Tripadvisor shows multiple companies doing $40-50 per head tours. There is a Rivercruise and helicopter tours. Hotel and VRBO occupancy rates are high. We bring kids from my daughter's high school down on Baylor tours and the trip ends up with more moms than kids.

My wife and I frequently look at each other and marvel at how rapidly the change in Waco has happened! I feel pretty darn lucky to have Waco as a second hometown.
Volunteer
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3 or 4 times in the past year we have met people moving to Waco simply because they watch the Fixer Upper Show and liked what saw. That's amazing to me.
BBear77
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It shouldn't be amazing. We now have some city leaders and new breed of entrepreneurs who are willing to capitalize on the Gaines, Baylor, and all the other attractions Waco has to offer.
Old300Bear
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The change is nothing short of phenomenal. We retired to Waco in 2008 and found people ashamed and apologetic about all sorts of things. Many locals shunned Baylor and rooted for winners like Texas and A&M (their perception, certainly not mine), the water wasn't good, the streets were bad, many more things that made Waco sub standard in the eyes of many locals. We didn't feel that way. Then Briles and RG3 happened, followed by Magnolia and McLane Stadium. The whole town changed. It is wonderful. We have family coming from Arkansas this weekend. We will do Magnolia Table, the Silos, Homestead, Baylor Club, and of course Baylor campus and Cameron Park. And as the poet said "the best is yet to come"!
Fred Barber
PartyBear
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I can understand some talk of down town in these dramatic terms of what it was like 10 years ago compared to now. However for the Waco area, it has been growing steadily for decades. Central Texas Marketplace opened up in 04 and Legends Crossing opened up about 5 years later. There has been healthy development for a while, occurring at a slow but steady pace. Just over the weekend I saw someone claim in a report that Waco (Waco area) is the fastest growing city in Texas. I dont know what that claim is based on and doubt it is accurate. The Waco market is very hot though right now.
Old300Bear
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I am pretty sure that Central Texas Marketplace was much later than 2004, It came a good while after we moved here in 2008. Or that is the way my fuzzy memory recalls it.
Fred Barber
UBBY
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Old300Bear said:

I am pretty sure that Central Texas Marketplace was much later than 2004, It came a good while after we moved here in 2008. Or that is the way my fuzzy memory recalls it.
No, I think PartyBear is right. I graduated in 2007 and remember it already having been there at least a couple of years.
I think the new Hillcrest hospital was built in 2009. Legends crossing has really grown too.
Now new development coming next to CTM and also across from CTM on I-35.
Just need higher paying jobs in Waco. I hope that heritage square development or one similar to it takes shape in the near future.
BearConvert
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I did the tour at Balcones Distillery last week with some friends visiting the area and struck up a conversation with a couple from Tampa who were on the tour. They said they stopped in Waco on their way to meet friends in Phoenix and were blown away by how many things there are to do in Waco...in. Waco.

I've been here since '94 and never dreamed I'd ever hear those words uttered.
PartyBear
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The grand opening of the Central Texas Marketplace was Memorial Day weekend of 04. Not every store was finished so not every store actually opened then. But several things did open that weekend. Legends Crossing opened more piece by piece rather than some grand opening of several things at once. Yes as I recall Hillcrest moved and opened the new location in late winter/early spring of 09. Chuy's opened up in December of 09. The first thing I really remember in Legends Crossing was the Nissan Dealership, which moved out there in spring of 07. I remember that because we bought a vehicle there a month or so after they moved there.
Old300Bear
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That is what happens when you get old , CRS sets in - can't remember squat.
Fred Barber
BBear77
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Old300Bear said:

That is what happens when you get old , CRS sets in - can't remember squat.
Not a bad crowd to be in.
Hob Howelll
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Chip and Joanna Gaines have done a lot to change the city's image from being a kind of run-down blue collar town to something chic and fun. it's ever going to be a Fredericksburg, but it's come a long way in the last decade
trey3216
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The Hound said:

Chip and Joanna Gaines have done a lot to change the city's image from being a kind of run-down blue collar town to something chic and fun. it's ever going to be a Fredericksburg, but it's come a long way in the last decade


Yet, we dwarfed Fredericksburg in tourism. The area as a whole could be a Fredericksburg if we imagined a little deeper.
Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man.
Wichitabear
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BBear77, I can say that Waco today is nothing like it was in 77. I am so proud for Waco and our school.
CTbruin
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I am a long time resident of the McLennan County. 1968 grad of Midway HS and 1972 grad of Baylor. Many, many Baylor ties....too long to list. I can say I live in McLennan Co because of Baylor.

And I can honestly say I believe the redevelopment of downtown Waco began with the construction of McLane Stadium. Yes, Chip and Jo have been tremendous of for us, but it all started with our new, on the river, beautiful stadium and surrounding entertainment area. And the use of the Brazos is a big part of it.

And......we can all thank Art Briles for the construction of McLane. His success "on the field" made it happen. Yes, that is my opinion and it is shared by many....including the chief fundraisers for Baylor Athletics. And they are very good friends of mine.
Wichitabear
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I can see that.
Edmond Bear
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CTbruin said:

I am a long time resident of the McLennan County. 1968 grad of Midway HS and 1972 grad of Baylor. Many, many Baylor ties....too long to list. I can say I live in McLennan Co because of Baylor.

And I can honestly say I believe the redevelopment of downtown Waco began with the construction of McLane Stadium. Yes, Chip and Jo have been tremendous of for us, but it all started with our new, on the river, beautiful stadium and surrounding entertainment area. And the use of the Brazos is a big part of it.

And......we can all thank Art Briles for the construction of McLane. His success "on the field" made it happen. Yes, that is my opinion and it is shared by many....including the chief fundraisers for Baylor Athletics. And they are very good friends of mine.


I love McLane stadium and the enthusiasm that Art Briles brought to Baylor and Waco. It changed things on campus and amongst alumni completely. I hope that Matt Rhule can generate that same level of enthusiasm.

So, from an enthusiasm, emotional perspective, I get it.

But, it takes actual dollars to generate development and that came from Magnolia and it's not even close.

The year that McLane stadium opened, there were 41k FEWER attendees than the prior year in Floyd Casey. McLane's best year had 275k total attendees. You could argue that the nature of football attendance changed as people came earlier, spent the night, ate in restaurants and then went to the game and I would agree.

But, Magnolia is drawing 1.7 million people a year or 6X McLane. It's not even in the same ballpark so to speak.

While I appreciate the enthusiasm of the Development team, they are clearly not looking at real numbers.

Now, if you wanted to say the combination of enthusiasm and actual tourist dollars generated development that's great. But, nothing would have happened on enthusiasm alone.

CTbruin
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I was addressing development, not out of town visitors
CTbruin
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The rebuilding and renovation of downtown Waco started before Magnolia
PartyBear
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It did but it also started before McLane. McLane and Magnolia accelerated it perhaps but it was happening before then. Some of the things happening now , I was hearing as far back as the late 00s as things planned. Lofts such as Behren's Lofts were opening up around 2009/10. In fact some of the buzz back then may have contributed to Baylor jumping on the action of going ahead building a stadium on campus right in the area.
ctxbear
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Longtime, approaching 20 years, Wacoan here.

It's become a sport around here to speculate and argue over who is responsible Waco's growth. Magnolia? Briles/Griffin? Longterm strategy? The answer, of course, is yes, yes, and yes. I'll even add one that hasn't been mentioned, which was the election of George W. Bush shortly after he purchased his Crawford Ranch. This gave our hotels and downtown restaurants a steady stream of revenue for almost a decade, as he would bring an army (literally and figuratively) of people for long weekends every month or so. I think this put us in a good place to capitalize on all the things that would come after it.

Another sport that has developed is around how great Waco was BEFORE all of this growth. Some of us moved here and stuck around long before the development happened, and loved Waco AS IT WAS before any of this. We also love the "New Waco," and also enjoy pointing out that many of the people who have invested in this city and whose names are identified with it moved out of town (either to the suburbs or exurbs) long ago. This isn't a hit on the Gaineses. I have slowly come around to having a great appreciation for their work here. But much of the "brand" of the city, the stuff people from outside of town know us far, come from folks who don't live within the city limits.
trey3216
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ctxbear said:

Longtime, approaching 20 years, Wacoan here.

It's become a sport around here to speculate and argue over who is responsible Waco's growth. Magnolia? Briles/Griffin? Longterm strategy? The answer, of course, is yes, yes, and yes. I'll even add one that hasn't been mentioned, which was the election of George W. Bush shortly after he purchased his Crawford Ranch. This gave our hotels and downtown restaurants a steady stream of revenue for almost a decade, as he would bring an army (literally and figuratively) of people for long weekends every month or so. I think this put us in a good place to capitalize on all the things that would come after it.

Another sport that has developed is around how great Waco was BEFORE all of this growth. Some of us moved here and stuck around long before the development happened, and loved Waco AS IT WAS before any of this. We also love the "New Waco," and also enjoy pointing out that many of the people who have invested in this city and whose names are identified with it moved out of town (either to the suburbs or exurbs) long ago. This isn't a hit on the Gaineses. I have slowly come around to having a great appreciation for their work here. But much of the "brand" of the city, the stuff people from outside of town know us far, come from folks who don't live within the city limits.
I know 3 or 4 of them who invested millions upon millions into the city, who began remodeling buildings no one wanted to touch, that most certainly live within city limits.
Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man.
Edmond Bear
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CTbruin said:

I was addressing development, not out of town visitors


Gotcha. The thread is about Waco as a tourist destination. Talking about the major tourist destination seemed relevant.
Volunteer
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BBear77 said:

It shouldn't be amazing. We now have some city leaders and new breed of entrepreneurs who are willing to capitalize on the Gaines, Baylor, and all the other attractions Waco has to offer.
Gotcha and I agree. There's been lots of work behind the scenes to get Waco moving and that's clearly due to investment and leadership. But it's still amazing to me that people are moving to Waco without any ties to the region and, in many cases, sight unseen. My partner and I are doing an extensive remodel for a couple moving here from California. They have no Baylor or Central Texas ties and they'd actually never even been to Waco prior to coming in to town and buying a home. They flew in on their first trip to town, bought a house, and contacted us to begin the remodel.

I asked them what made them pick Waco and they said they had heard good things about the city and liked what they saw on TV. I told them they made a great choice and would enjoy living here.

I've always thought Waco was a great place to live. Now it appears to be catching on.
Wichitabear
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Totally agree. I would love to retire there.
BaylorHistory
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PartyBear said:

It did but it also started before McLane. McLane and Magnolia accelerated it perhaps but it was happening before then. Some of the things happening now , I was hearing as far back as the late 00s as things planned. Lofts such as Behren's Lofts were opening up around 2009/10. In fact some of the buzz back then may have contributed to Baylor jumping on the action of going ahead building a stadium on campus right in the area.
There were some downtown lofts that were opening up in 2007/2008 for sure downtown. I tried to convince my roommates to live in one, but the $700/m rent was too high. Imagine getting a 2 br remodeled loft downtown for $700 now.
“People who live in glass houses...have to answer the door."
OsoCoreyell
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I grew up in Austin during the 70's and 80's. The parallels between Austin in the 1970's and Waco now are kind of scary. Only thing missing to make the comparison apples to apples is state government. There is a lot to look forward to in Waco, and the fun thing is that it feels like all of the oars are in the water an pulling in the same direction - City government, Baylor, Athletics, Magnolia, Riverfront development, downtown real estate. There's just a sense of positivity around Waco that is infectious.

It's fun to get a call from your friends in Missouri saying that they are coming to Texas to visit Waco. It's cool to have dinner at a local restaurant and meet a couple from Minnesota that is in town visiting. I even have to very close friends who grew up in Dallas and went to UT in the 90's that went to visit Waco for a weekend trip and...couldn't believe how much fun it was. I know there are some issues still to be worked through, but for the first time in a long time, it feels like we can do it!
cowboycwr
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PartyBear said:

I can understand some talk of down town in these dramatic terms of what it was like 10 years ago compared to now. However for the Waco area, it has been growing steadily for decades. Central Texas Marketplace opened up in 04 and Legends Crossing opened up about 5 years later. There has been healthy development for a while, occurring at a slow but steady pace. Just over the weekend I saw someone claim in a report that Waco (Waco area) is the fastest growing city in Texas. I dont know what that claim is based on and doubt it is accurate. The Waco market is very hot though right now.
I have lived in Waco for a long time now and agree that it has been growing very steadily before the silos. However, I also see the explosion that has happened, especially downtown because of the Gaines'

Downtown was a major focus for a long time and there were new things built there like the Sams lofts building that had Sams on the square, a jimmy johns, lofts, etc but it was one of the few new lofts for a while. The hippodrome was redone and opened, Austin's on the avenue, Muddle, Dichotomy and other bars/restaurants would open up downtown. Some would last, others wouldn't. Then the Silos happened and there was an explosion of growth downtown.
cowboycwr
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Edmond Bear said:

I live in Oklahoma and hear my wife's friends talk about going on girls' weekends to Waco and how much there is to do. I also travel nationally and hear Waco come up in random conversations with clients. At my one visit to Magnolia Table, we sat at the community table by people from Cali and Chicago and both sets came directly to Waco. It wasn't a stopover to somewhere else but a destination.

When I was in school ('88-'92), downtown Waco was boarded up and Valley Mills was the hotspot. The FBI did it's thing on Koresh a year after I graduated. We've always loved Waco because of Baylor and the hidden restaurants and things to do. But, no one else thought that way.

Now Waco has become a hot freaking tourist destination. Tripadvisor shows multiple companies doing $40-50 per head tours. There is a Rivercruise and helicopter tours. Hotel and VRBO occupancy rates are high. We bring kids from my daughter's high school down on Baylor tours and the trip ends up with more moms than kids.

My wife and I frequently look at each other and marvel at how rapidly the change in Waco has happened! I feel pretty darn lucky to have Waco as a second hometown.
Waco has become a top tourist destination not only in Texas but in the US.

There was a waco trib article that showed that Waco/the silos had more tourists in 2018 than the Alamo. The top tourist destination for years. Replaced by a store from a TV show.

and trip advisor ranked the silos as the #2 trending destination in the US.
cowboycwr
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Old300Bear said:

I am pretty sure that Central Texas Marketplace was much later than 2004, It came a good while after we moved here in 2008. Or that is the way my fuzzy memory recalls it.
The first stores opened in 2003 according to this trib article.

https://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/new-stores-bound-for-central-texas-marketplace/article_869e19fa-b817-5e21-bbf6-10e990c1d040.html
cowboycwr
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The Hound said:

Chip and Joanna Gaines have done a lot to change the city's image from being a kind of run-down blue collar town to something chic and fun. it's ever going to be a Fredericksburg, but it's come a long way in the last decade
I am thankful that when I tell people I am from Waco it has gone from "oh the branch davidians" to "oh The Silos!!! I love Chip and Joanna!"


And then I can laugh and tell them I have never been to the Silos or Magnolia Table
Longstreet
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Just wait until Chip & Joanna's new TV show starts! It's going to rocket Waco even higher.
OsoCoreyell
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Longstreet said:

Just wait until Chip & Joanna's new TV show starts! It's going to rocket Waco even higher.
New network! They've taken over Discovery DIY.

cowboycwr
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Longstreet said:

Just wait until Chip & Joanna's new TV show starts! It's going to rocket Waco even higher.
But but but..... There have been numerous "experts" on this site that have said for years that their flame would burn out.......

Then they pointed to the show ending as "proof"

Then they ignored the creation of the network as proof their flame would not burn out.
PartyBear
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cowboycwr said:

Old300Bear said:

I am pretty sure that Central Texas Marketplace was much later than 2004, It came a good while after we moved here in 2008. Or that is the way my fuzzy memory recalls it.
The first stores opened in 2003 according to this trib article.

https://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/new-stores-bound-for-central-texas-marketplace/article_869e19fa-b817-5e21-bbf6-10e990c1d040.html
I honestly think the Trib business editor was wrong in that piece. I'm fairly certain it was Memorial Day of 04. At no time in 03 was construction complete on it.
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