Chronic Pain Specialist in Pecan Grove, TX

Don't ever think about canceling Christmas in Pecan Grove, Texas. Not if homeowner Sean Foley is around.

"No matter what else is going on, you can't cancel Christmas. You never know what tomorrow's going to bring, so use today as your last. If this is my last Christmas, I would be happy for that," Foley told Chron.

Foley is the creative mastermind behind a 40-foot tall Christmas light display in Pecan Grove. Going a little "over the top" with Christmas decorations is just something in his DNA.

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"My mom was a big influence growing up, and she was very into Christmas," Foley said. "She always made Christmas decorations for the front yard. That's where it all started. We've been doing this for a long time. I have an 8-year-old daughter, and I want to keep the tradition going for her."

At the base of the elaborate Christmas light display is a blue Scooby Doo-like blue Chevy van complete with a manger inside. Foley even added a projector with a camera to capture all the cars driving by their home and the festivities of the street. The decorations were inspired by the cartoons of Foley's childhood.

"I have the Transformers, Thudercats, Alf, and Smurf. And for the girls, I put Rainbow Brite," Foley said. "I put an ET one up too. A few years ago, we put up Captain Planet. He-Man is in a star at the top."

Foley started creating the original, cartoon-inspired Christmas decorations more than 20 years ago.

"When I got my first house, I did Beavis and Butthead. Those are my first pieces," Foley said. "Everyone used to get a kick out of seeing them. I added more and more every year. I was really trying to stick with '80s theme or early '90s."

So, how did the Chevy van become transformed into manger?

"We decided to make a giant Christmas structure to put the cut-outs on, instead of putting the cut-outs on the yard. And after we got it done, then I thought the van would look so cool underneath and we could open the doors and make it a little manger. So it looks like Jesus is born in the van."

Foley said that Pecan Grove is known for its original and over-the-top Christmas light decorations. The close-knit sense of community defines this neighborhood, Foley said.

"We sit out in the driveway with a big fire," Foley said. "We holler and wave to the hayriders. It's a really cool community."

He said it was important for him to spread a little Christmas cheer, especially this year during the pandemic.

"Just wanted to spread a little joy instead of all the craziness that's going around," Foley said.

Foley encourages others who feel that need to pull out all the stops with Christmas lights and decorations this year.

"Go all out. Just don't hold back," Foley said. "This was such a crazy year. Christmas should be fun, should be a good time of the year. It shouldn't stress you out more than you're already stressed. Keep it going like that and remember the good times."

AUSTIN, Texas -- Efforts to preserve a historic pecan grove in the heart of the Govalle neighborhood in Central Austin have proven successful after years of uncertainty about the orchard's fate.

What You Need To Know

The decades-old pecan grove sits on 5.15 acres of land owned by the City of Austin that's designated to be developed for affordable housing.

For years, community members have fought for protections for the pecan grove, and now the Austin Housing Finance Corporation has come to an agreement with the city's Parks and Recreation Department that will eventually turn part of the orchard into a park, leaving the rest of the property for development.

“The neighborhood used to be all farms and pecan groves. You’ll see some of the row of trees other places, but this is the history. This is what the neighborhood used to be," said Jessica Eley, co-chair of the Govalle Neighborhood Association. “Everyone loves the pecan grove. When the harvest time comes around you can see people harvesting all throughout the neighborhood but especially here.”

And even when it’s not harvesting season, the pecan grove is the neighborhood centerpiece.

“It’s a focal point of the neighborhood. We use it as a park right now anyway, and so the idea of losing it is really sad,” Eley said.

The City of Austin owns the land the orchard sits on, and when Eley learned the property is designated to be developed for affordable housing, she rallied her neighbors to protect the grove.

“I just spread the word and then the neighborhood jumped into action," said Eley. "There’s five acres here. There’s plenty of space to have affordable housing, and a park. It didn’t have to be a fight; it didn’t have to be either-or. But, you know, we were left in limbo for years and years and years.”

After years without concrete protections for the pecan grove, the city’s giving the orchard’s advocates what they’ve been fighting for.

PREVIOUS: East Austin Neighborhood Fights to Preserve Pecan Grove

At a public meeting last week, officials told the community that the city’s made an agreement to sell one to two acres of the pecan grove to the Parks and Recreation Department to dedicate as parkland, with the conditions that it have frontage on Tillery Street, and pedestrian access to Charles and Henninger streets.

“Given the history of it, we knew that preservation of trees on the site generally, and then also specifically the preservation of the pecan orchard piece would be really important to the community," said Travis Perlman, a project coordinator with the Austin Housing Finance Corporation

“It’s like the best news I’ve had in months," said Eley. "Having a development that saves, preserves this community asset, while also building affordable housing, it’s the dream. It’s the perfect balance.”

What that might look like still isn’t clear. The city plans to begin receiving design plans for the property from developers this summer, and those plans must include preserving one to two acres of the pecan grove.

However, how much of the pecan grove will become parkland will depend on the development proposal the city ultimately chooses.

“We will not be selling the land to the Parks and Recreation Department until after we've selected a winning proposal, and so that would be probably in mid-September of this year," said Perlman.“ We're looking forward to releasing this request for proposal and getting proposals, seeing what those look like and then ultimately, you know, a couple years down the line, hoping that once the parkland piece develops and the affordable housing pieces develop, it’s a project that everybody, including the community, could be proud of.”

Perlman says the city has not yet decided on the criteria for evaluating the proposals, but has released three different scenarios of what designs could look like to get public feedback.

A portion of the Tillery Pecan Grove in Austin, Texas, appears in this image from May 2020. (Niki Griswold/Spectrum News)

"I think it's incumbent upon our departments, and our organization, to do our best to help make sure that the public understand the different trade-offs associated with, for instance, building single-family ownership housing at higher levels of affordability and how much that may cost to do, versus building multifamily rental units at deep levels of affordability and how that may cost to do," said Perlman. "[Also], what we hope to gain from that is kind of a better and more refined understanding of what the community is really looking for and what they value."

LINK: Tillery Street Affordable Housing Development Project

Eley says no matter what type of affordable housing development the city chooses, she hopes it saves as much of the pecan grove as possible.

“Everyone’s excited about having a park. No one wanted to see all the trees being cut down. We’re excited to see the city take responsibility for it. There’s a lot of like habitat restoration that needs to be done, and just some like tender love and care that the trees need," said Eley. "It's very exciting. It's good news. It's good news in a time when there's not a lot of good news.”

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas – A community in Fort Bend County is fed up with porch pirates stealing their packages.

The problems usually surge around the holidays but residents in the Pecan Grove subdivision said a pair of thieves disguised as delivery drivers are targeting several homes.

One homeowner said she felt attacked because the porch pirates took something she worked hard to make for someone else. The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office said they have responded to three reports in the past three weeks. Residents want the suspected thieves caught.

“I love living here. We are very well-known for the Christmas lights. The parades at Christmas,” one homeowner said.

But this July, Christmas came early.

“Yes, I would think so for this thief,” the homeowner said.

The homeowner, who does not want to be identified, is talking about porch pirates caught on camera stealing packages from a shelf on her front porch.

“I can’t believe someone would do that,” she said.

The most recent incident happened Sunday night, but the homeowner said the suspected thieves were disguised as delivery drivers.

“He is wearing an Amazon jacket, grey sweatpants, and red Crocs every single time. There are usually two guys dressed exactly the same,” the woman said.

Last week, security footage captured the suspected thief getting out of a gray car, walking up to a home on Victoria Garden Drive and looking through packages before making his picks. The homeowner said inside the packages were handmade items for customers to pick up.

“I felt personally attacked. I know several people that got hit but a lot of them are missing Amazon packages, so for these not to be in Amazon boxes, it hurts. It stings. It is my hard-earned money that I used to purchase these items,” the homeowner said.

The homeowner said the pair unboxes the items and throws the trash on the street. Now, she is wrapping up a stinky surprise for the porch pirates.

“He did receive some of those decoy packages last night. He got some dirty kid’s diapers and some dog feces. We are 100% sure he received those items, so hopefully he is watching and knows that we are on to him,” she said.

In a statement, a spokesperson from Amazon said:

“We are looking into this and working with local law enforcement to provide any information we can to assist their investigation. We encourage customers to contact Amazon’s customer service with any matters related to their package delivery.”

The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office said they are actively investigating this case and encourages homeowners to file a report if they see any porch pirates.

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A group of residents wanting to do something special for a neighbor with a sick family member started the Christmas light displays that now win recognition every year for Pecan Grove.

The tradition started in the early 1980s, according to Paula Gibson, secretary/Community Affairs, on the board of the Pecan Grove Plantation Property Owners Association, who heard the story as a member of the Pecan Grove Women’s Club board.

“Neighbors decided to do something nice for them. They decorated the whole area. They were doing it for love of street and neighborhood,” said Gibson, a four-year member of the HOA board.

She laughs after being told that people say deed restrictions are the reason for the holiday lights. “Everyone says that. I wish it were. Truly, it’s not.”

No one know for sure when the holiday lighting contest began, according to Gibson, who figures it was about 1990. Now each of the HOA board members are assigned a section each year on a rotating basis to judge the lights. Each section will have first-, second- and third-place awards. Homes also will be recognized for “Best Use of Lights Theme” and “Best in the Eyes of a Child Theme.” Judging occurs between Dec. 10-17 and winners receive yard signs as well as gift cards.

There also are two overall awards: “Neighborhood Street with Best Overall Lights” and “Neighborhood cul-e-sac with Best Overall Lights.”

Gibson drives through her section as least four times to judge houses and has some help in making her selection for “Best in the Eyes of a Child Theme” — her grandchildren who live in Pecan Grove: five girls ranging in age from 4 years old to sixth grade.

“I have a really good group to judge. I take my girls and we drive around and look at all the houses. They tell me which is the prettiest. I go over it and put a lot of thought in it.

“We just try to be very fair and very appreciative of what anyone does,” said Gibson. “Some line the driveway and sidewalk. As long as they make an effort we appreciate it.”

A new feature is owners placing arches over their driveways and decorating them with lights.

“A lot of people put music to their lights,” said Gibson who added that those homes rate highly with visitors to the subdivision. Some homeowners hire characters to bring their themes to life, ie Mickey and Minnie Mouse or the “Frozen” sisters Anna and Elsa.

After Gibson selects her winners, she visits the home, rings the doorbell and places the wooden Christmas ornament in the yard. She remembers one woman who had been trying for 11 years to win before she won.

“It’s so much fun to do. I love sharing it with everyone. We have people who literally come from all over,” said Gibson. There are those who say, she added, “When I was a kid my parents used to take me to Pecan Grove to see the lights. Now I take my kids.”

Among the regular visitors are Austin High School seniors and representatives of ProGrad, the nonprofit that plans safe graduation night activities for seniors.

Beth Hall, who has a son who’s a senior this year, said the hayride is the biggest fundraiser for Austin ProGrad. People pay in advance for Friday and Saturday night hayrides on three weekends in December that may include up to five or six trailers/wagons at one time. Each trailer can accommodate 20 people.

Hall said the rides are about 45 minutes long and include Christmas music and hot cocoa. “We try to make them as comfortable and homey as we can.

“It’s amazing we pull it off every year and it’s all done by volunteers,” said Hall.

Both Hall and Gibson mention the “ho, ho” display on Plantation Drive with snowmen, talking Santas and music that just plays and plays.

“People come from everywhere to see that one house,” said Gibson. Homes that win recognition four consecutive years are placed in the “hall of fame,” she explained. To remain in the hall of fame, the homeowners must continue to decorate their homes. The hall of fame now has 16 houses, she added.

The homeowners association adds to the festive display each year with help from members of Boy Scout Troop 1656. Gibson explained they put up more than 400 wreaths on light posts every year and then take them down after the holidays. All entrances are decorated, too.

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Back to January 2024

Stephenville, TX—The Texas Pecan Growers Association and the Texas Pecan Board proudly announce an innovative collaboration with Tarleton State University to establish the Texas Pecan Innovation Center. This strategic partnership, made possible through the Texas Department of Agriculture Innovation Pilot Project grant, marks a significant milestone in the efforts to enhance resources for Texas pecan growers and fortify the pecan industry as a whole.

Over the past year, Texas producers have played a pivotal role in providing valuable insights that have guided the development of the Texas Pecan Innovation Center. This collaborative effort aims to create continuing resources and initiatives that address the diverse needs of pecan growers, their businesses, and the industry at large.

Blair Krebs, Executive Director of the Texas Pecan Growers Association, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “The Texas Pecan Innovation Center is poised to create effective and meaningful resources through a range of initiatives, including research, infrastructure development, human capital investment, marketing strategies, and more. We are excited to embark on this team project and develop assets with great and lasting impacts for those who are stewards of the Texas state tree and produce Texas’ native nut, pecans.”

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Tarleton State University is equally excited about this collaboration. Barry Lambert, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, believes that this partnership will be extremely beneficial for all involved, saying, “The Agricultural Innovation Pilot Project grant from the Texas Department of Agriculture provides us with a unique opportunity to join forces with the Texas Pecan Growers Association and the Texas Pecan Board. Together, we will explore innovative ways to foster resilience and prosperity for pecan growers and the allied industry. Pecans, grown in every county in Texas, hold a special place in our state’s agricultural landscape. The establishment of the Texas Pecan Innovation Center will provide resources for collective brainstorming, enabling us to think outside the shell and enhance producer-level engagement and outreach. I am proud that our faculty had the opportunity to help develop this center, and [I] look forward to seeing our faculty and students work alongside the pecan growers of Texas to build a more resilient and sustainable industry.”

The Texas Pecan Innovation Center represents a collaborative effort to ensure the sustainability and growth of the Texas pecan industry. Through a multifaceted approach encompassing research, education, infrastructure development, and outreach, this initiative aims to empower pecan growers and strengthen the entire pecan community.