Life + Culture

Alan Kirchoff Introduces Bariay 1492

The smoke that stays Article by Amy Tucker There's a ritual that happens on Friday afternoons in Fredericksburg. It doesn't have a formal name on a sign anywhere. Someone texts the group, people show up, and for a couple of hours the week exhales. Phones are set aside. Conversations take their place.    Alan Kirchoff started it alone. Just a man and a cigar on a Friday, making space to think. Then a friend joined. Then another. Now there are dozens: industry transplants and longtime locals...

Arts + Culture

Texas Treasure Sale

Keeping the legacy of the Texas Longhorn alive Article by Brent Ryan Burgess For men, there are few things more iconic than the idea of the American cowboy. John Hever, founder of Texas Treasure Sale, a premier Texas Longhorn cattle sale, encompasses that spirit. And though Texas ranching has changed, the legacy of the Texas Longhorn carries on.    Texas Longhorn cattle are a true symbol of the Lone Star State. But the origins of the breed tell a richer story. “They didn’t originate here,”...

Life + Culture

Gallant Gentlemen and Cowboy Culture

Dan Garrison shares the traditions carried on by friend Russell Hartmann Article by Dan Garrison Although I’m 61, I still don’t feel grown up. Yet every time I work closely with Garrison Brothers’ All-Around Cowboy Russell Hartmann, I find myself saying, “If I ever grow up, I want to be like that man.”    Russell is 6’8”, built like a linebacker and easily ten years my senior. If he’s ever been tired, felt pain or sadness, I’ve never seen anything on his weathered handsome face but a warm...

Local Services

Blue Ribbon Fits Fredericksburg

Greg Hayes and family found and build local screen printing and embroidery Article and Photography by Brent Ryan Burgess We live in an era where discussions on careers are accompanied by terms such as fulfillment, destiny and happiness. For men especially, work life often involves a need to build something of lasting purpose and value. Greg Hayes originally sought that in construction, but wanting something more, he found his purpose in building Blue Ribbon Co., Fredericksburg’s premier screen...

Arts + Culture

Painting Big

Lee Casbeer paints still frames of a living story Article by Amy Tucker Before language, there were images, marks on stone, gestures across surfaces carrying meaning when words could not. In the work of muralist Lee Casbeer, that lineage persists as a living practice, his walls holding memory and asking a community to see itself, past and present, within a shared frame.    Casbeer’s murals unfold like cinematic stills, figures leaning into one another, gestures mid-action, light falling...

Arts + Culture

Sara Drescher

Centering Women through Objects, Absence and Care Article by Amy Tucker Some inheritances are not passed down as objects, but as language.    They move across generations in familiar forms—phrases repeated at kitchen tables, in classrooms, in workplaces. Instructions disguised as observations. Judgments softened into habit, into expectation. Over time, they shape not only how women are seen, but how they learn to see themselves. Sara Drescher’s work gathers these inheritances and holds...

Professional Services

The Ladies Who Lead

Fredericksburg’s WIN Women’s Innovation Network Article by Amy Tucker What happens when a room fills with women who are not competing, but collaborating? That is the quiet force behind WIN — Women’s Innovation Network.    Founded in September 2021, WIN was created with a clear belief: in a world defined by rapid change the power rests with those who act with independence, persistence and self-motivation. Its mission is to provide a networking community for women in business to embrace the...

Food + Beverage

Blazing Bourbon Trail

Nancy Garrison brings first premium bourbon to Texas Article by Brent Ryan Burgess Visitors to Kentucky often participate in a popular experience called the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, a recommended series of distillery stops within the state’s multi-generational family bourbon production operations. Bourbon is so deeply rooted in Kentucky’s cultural history that many partakers of the uniquely American whiskey misconceive that bourbon is only made in Kentucky. But Nancy Garrison of Garrison...

Home + Design

Breaking Down “Custom” in Cabinetry

Paloma Cabinets keeps the homeowner in mind Article by Caroline Heiberg When people hear the phrase custom cabinetry , they might assume it simply means cabinets designed for a particular house. That definition only tells part of the story. For the women behind this local custom cabinetry company, “custom” begins long before a cabinet door is installed and continues through the final build and beyond.     Both owners, Jaclyn Felts and Kelli Cunningham, come from homebuilding backgrounds...

Arts + Culture

Art as Community Capital

Liza Proch "artfully" invests in Texas Hill Country Article and Photography by Amy Tucker In conversations about investment, the language most often turns to growth curves, returns and expansion. Yet in creative communities, some of the most meaningful investments are quieter, measured not in acceleration, but in commitment. In Fredericksburg, artist Liza Proch represents this long view: An artist who has chosen to stay, to build and to allow her work to evolve in direct relationship with...