🎨 How Waco Drive Became an Art Gallery

Good morning, Waco. This is The Waco Buzz, the local newsletter dedicated to helping you become a local art guru.

In today's Sunday Sip:
🎨 How Waco Drive Became an Art Gallery
🏡 Home of the Week: 4924 Cobbs Dr #9C
📅 Four Events to Circle This Week
💛 Waco Gem: Turkey Trot
☕️ Origin Story: Bru Cafe

Let's get to it!
- Autumn Newman, Sam Harper

🔧 Who’s Working on Your Truck? Meet Angel Zayas.
When you bring your vehicle in for service, you want to know it's in good hands. Meet one of the people making sure it is.

Angel Zayas grew up working in his family's auto body shop, where he learned early the value of hard work, attention to detail, and taking pride in a job done right. Today, he brings those same lessons to his role as Shop Foreman at Chevy of West.

A big part of Angel's job is building a team that works together, communicates well, and holds itself accountable. For him, quality workmanship and mutual respect go hand in hand.

Away from the shop, his wife and young son are his biggest motivation. He brings that same sense of dedication and responsibility to the people who trust his team with their vehicles.

His philosophy is simple:

“The only way to take care of something is to treat it like your own.”

It's the standard Angel believes in, and the one he wants his team to bring to every vehicle that comes through the shop.

Need service for your vehicle? Meet Angel and the team at Chevy of West, and tell him you saw it here.*

You’re cruising down Waco Dr, hitting green after green until you get stopped ten cars deep at the Valley Mills light. You sit patiently, waiting for the switch, and you look over to see…singing alligators?

If you’re a frequent flyer on Waco Drive, you might have noticed the wrapped utility boxes that started popping up a year ago. It’s all part of an ongoing collaboration between Waco’s Beautification, Arts & Culture Program (BAC), Creative Waco, and TXDOT. The goals are to deter graffiti and make Waco a little more beautiful by turning functional gray boxes into canvases for local artists. You can find them all on this map.

Here’s how it works: any qualified artist who lives in McLennan County can submit their original artwork for consideration. BAC selects the designs, giving a handful of artists a three-year showcase on a popular street corner.

Shoutout to Zander Lim, the artist responsible for my personal favorite: the happy squiggles chilling at the corner of Waco Dr. and 26th. I pass it several times a day, and it makes me smile every time. 

That’s why beautification projects like this are so special. Art that lives in a gallery is one thing, but art that comes to you on your daily commute feels like a reminder that you’re human. In a commercial world where billboards block out the clouds and the radio seems to run an hour of ads every hour we need glimpses of simple beauty to remind us what it means to be alive. Every time we come together as neighbors to create and appreciate this beauty, we make our city more lovely to live in.

So instead of letting the utility box canvases fade into the background of your daily drive, what if you take a longer look? Let the singing alligators start a conversation in your car. Let the smiling squiggles make you think about what you’re happy about. And if you can’t think of anything, remember this: you get to be a Wacoan!

Welcome to Home of the Week. We'll give you a few clues about a local home for sale. You guess the price.

This elevated home with practically panoramic views of the city could make anyone consider the condo life.

👉 You guess the price, then take a look here.

Want to see it in person? Connect with Lezlie Roark if you’re interested in buying.^*
Listing courtesy of Willow West, NextHome Our Town. Lezlie Roark, our Home of the Week partner, is not the listing agent on this property. She represents HBL Realtors and can help if you're buying.

There’s lots to do this week, whether you spend it honoring veterans, celebrating local art, or doubling your to-be-read list.

🇺🇸 Veterans Day Parade
Wed, Nov 11 | 11 AM | Austin Avenue | Free
This annual event honors those in our city who have served in the U.S. military with a parade, flags, marching bands, and plenty of patriotic spirit. With local businesses, schools, and organizations involved, it's truly a community-wide event. Set up your lawn chair anywhere between 13th St and City Hall to join the fun.

📚 Library Book Sale
Thurs, Nov 12 - Sun, Nov 15 | BASE @ Extraco Events Center | Free admission after 5 PM Thurs
Friends of the Waco-McLennan County Library will present the annual Library Book Sale this week at the BASE. For $10 on Thursday and then free the rest of the weekend, you can come in and shop thousands of novels, textbooks, cookbooks—even CDs and DVDs—all for super low prices. On Sunday, bring any-sized bag and fill it up for 5 bucks! Check the schedule here.

🖼️ Austin Avenue Art Fair
Fri, Nov 13 & Sat, Nov 14 | 9 AM to 6 PM | The Silos | Free
Another stellar contributor to the Waco art scene is the Austin Avenue Art Fair, returning next weekend at the Magnolia Silos. The fair features artist booths and live music performances from local creatives all day, as well as two big events: Art Walk of Waco on Friday (a trolley tour throughout different notable stops around town) and Art Duel on Saturday (watch and vote as skilled artists compete in live painting). Find out more online.

🏀 Sunday Fun Day at Baylor
Sunday home games | $18 for four tickets
Looking for an affordable family outing? Baylor women's basketball is making Sundays a family affair all season. Get four tickets for $18, with additional tickets just $4.50 each. There will also be fun activities for families to enjoy on game days. Get your tickets here.

P.S. A little cure for a case of the Mondays: Blue Bell is bringing its Lone Star Scoop Tour to Waco on November 9! Stop by either Walmart for FREE Blue Bell ice cream and giveaways:
🍦 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Walmart, 1521 I-35
🍦 2 – 4 p.m. Walmart, 600 Hewitt Dr
If you're nearby, it's worth a stop.

Hosting an event, organizing a Saturday bike ride, or planning a pottery night? Add it to The Waco Buzz Events Calendar.

Thousands of people visit our site every month, and 16,000+ Wacoans get this newsletter. The calendar searches by interest, not just date, so someone looking for a jazz night can actually find yours.

I’m putting my own events on there too. The more of us who add ours, the better it gets for everybody.

👉 Click Submit Your Event at the top of the page. Already built your page somewhere else? Paste the link and it fills in the details.

There’s nothing like a 5K on Thanksgiving morning to help you optimize both your pie-eating capacity and your midday food coma. The Poultry-in-Motion Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot has race options for every member of your family to run it up before you chow down. 

With a route starting at the Suspension Bridge before heading down the East Riverwalk, this trot promises a beautiful morning run. Races include a 5K, a 1K, and even a “Side Dish” discounted option created to get even your non-runner friends excited about coming out to run with you. If none of those options dress your turkey, there’s even a pie-eating competition kicking off at the finish line.

Proceeds benefit local cancer patients through the Community Cancer Association. Want to join the fun? Use code WacoBUZZTrot for a discount when you sign up to race here. Prefer to help behind the scenes? Sign up to volunteer here.

If you're shopping for health coverage this month, it's worth knowing your options. Average Marketplace premiums are increasing 13% for 2027, though what you actually pay depends on your plan and whether you qualify for subsidies.

Earlier this year, our family made a switch to a holistic health plan. It's different from traditional health insurance, and it won't be the right fit for everyone, but it's been a good change for us.

Here's what I like: Instead of paying out of pocket for every wellness visit, our monthly membership includes up to 15 visits a year, at up to $150 each. That includes things like functional medicine, chiropractic care, massage therapy and physical therapy. We also get a card through the app to use for eligible visits, rather than waiting for reimbursement.

The medical sharing component is designed to help with larger expenses, too, including emergency and urgent care, hospital stays, childbirth and delivery, and lab work. The program also offers 24/7 telemedicine and virtual mental health services.

For our family, that means more of our healthcare budget goes toward the kinds of care we actually use.

👉 See the plans, pricing and details here
A couple of things worth knowing: This isn't traditional health insurance. Medical expenses are shared based on the program's guidelines. Take a few minutes to read through the plan details and exclusions to make sure you understand what is and isn't included.

Full disclosure: The Waco Buzz may earn a commission if you sign up through this link. We're sharing it because our family uses the plan and has had a good experience with it.

Origin Story is a recurring series where you learn a little more about Waco's coffee shops, because a new one seems to open every month. Find the one you like best, become a regular, learn the baristas' names, and maybe they'll learn yours (and your drink order).

☕ Bru Café 📍 800 Austin Ave., Waco

Located inside downtown Waco's historic Anthem STORIES building, Bru serves specialty coffee with a little history behind every cup. The shop uses an antique 1898 roaster to flame-roast its beans in small batches and makes its syrups in-house. I sat down with front-of-house manager Colten Coe to talk about the shop's approach to hospitality, what to order (including the seasonal Golden Hour), and the story behind one of downtown Waco's unique coffee shops.

Read the full story by Alexandra Brewer →

The goal of The Waco Buzz is to help you get local again: know your neighbors, meet new people, and make this big small town feel even smaller.

📅 See what else is happening this week →
🤝 25 ways to make Waco better this week →
🍝 Where to meet people in Waco →

Thanks for reading The Waco Buzz today. If you found something useful, share it with a veteran in your family.

Whenever you're ready, here are a few ways to get more involved: