We’re just connecting the dots
WINTER TEXAN Volume 11 • Issue 13 January 28, 2026
Kr
isti
lo h el
fro m
I’m still feeling the excitement after a very busy week in the Rio Grande Valley. We wrapped up the Winter Texan Expos in McAllen and Brownsville, along with the Entertainer Showcase. What a turnout! It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces, meet new friends, and watch everyone make the most of their time down here. For those who may not know, these events are designed to help everyone get connected quickly. At the Expos, Winter Texans and Converted Texans can visit with businesses, health-care providers, travel partners, and local organizations to learn what’s available during the season. At the Showcase, activity directors and park managers have a chance to watch entertainers perform and make their bookings for the year ahead. It saves time, it keeps things organized, and it helps our parks—and our performers--plan strong schedules without waiting weeks or driving all over the Valley. What I enjoy most is seeing how these events bring people together. Winter Texans and Converted Texans get information and entertainment, businesses and entertainers get customers, and everyone leaves with ideas for a great season. It’s a good reminder of why this community works so well. If you stopped by our Tours & Travel booth, thank you. If not, I hope you’ll take a look at our trips around the Valley and beyond--including the Santa Maria Bullring. Let US do the planning (and the driving)!
Thank You
SEASON SPONSORS 2025-2026
Ole! Bullfights are Back
T
Matador Cayetano Delgado of Monterrey, Mexico, uses movement of the muleta to guide the bull’s direction.
Story and Photos by Eryn Reddell Wingert
rever Hamsher has been excited about bulls since he was a child. At 12 years old, he wanted to buy a fighting bull, so he contacted Plaza Santa Maria Bull Ring’s then-owner Fred Renk. Renk didn’t sell the young boy a bull, but he did encourage him in his interest and even sent him posters of Plaza Santa Maria, one of which still hangs in Hamsher’s home today. Flash forward, and Hamsher is supplying fighting bulls to the Plaza Santa Maria Bull Ring in La Gloria, Texas, for bloodless and American freestyle bullfights. After Hamsher was injured as a bull fighter (a bull fighter is one who distracts bulls to save bull riders) in 2015, he turned to his childhood dream: raising bulls. “You don’t plant a pumpkin and get a squash,” was one of the more colorful quips Hamsher shared with the audience during the first exhibition at Plaza Santa Maria. He was referring to the breeding of the Hamsher bulls.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Trever Hamsher, left, walks through the Plaza Santa Maria Bull Ring with matador Kevin Loyo.