🗑️ Don't Lose $134

Good Morning Waco! This is The Waco Buzz, the newsletter that feels like dodging a $134 bill you didn't see coming.

In today's edition:
🗑️ Green Bins: Do Nothing and You'll Pay $134 a Year
🎉 What Festival Do You Want in Waco?
🏊 Swim Waco's Massive New Pool
🏛️ City Council Preview
🏈 Blackout on the Brazos Scheduled

Let's get to it!
- Sam Harper

By now you've probably heard someone mention a GLP-1: a friend, a coworker, the parent next to you in the pickup line. The next question is usually the same: what does it cost?

Skin & Body Refinery's physician-supervised program is $199 a month for semaglutide (down from $400) or $299 a month for tirzepatide (down from $500), with the same price at every dose. Labs are included, there's an on-site physician, and there are no contracts and no hidden fees. October consultations are limited.

Book a consult at skinandbodyrefinery.com, call 254-235-0605, or stop by 2210 Austin Ave.**

🗑️ Green Bins Are Going Away. Do Nothing and You'll Pay $134 a Year.
Waco's green-cart era is officially over. This week, the city ended its separate yard-waste route, meaning your grass clippings, leaves and other yard waste now go in the gray cart with your weekly trash.

The good news: you can keep the green cart as a second trash can for free until Oct. 1, 2027. The bad news: if it's still sitting at your house after that, congratulations, you now have an extra gray cart and a roughly $134/year bill.

Only 11% of Waco households regularly used the green carts, according to the city. Which means there's a pretty good chance yours has been sitting in the garage holding a basketball, some pool toys and that extension cord you swear you'll use someday.

Want to avoid the $134? Return the cart before Oct. 1, 2027. Schedule a pickup through the city's online form, or drop it off at Cobbs Recycling Center. Bring your current utility bill with the cart so the city can adjust your account.

🎉 Waco Had a 24-Year Salsa Party. What Should Replace It?
For 24 years in a row, Waco's Margarita & Salsa Festival packed country music, salsa contests, and margaritas into one day, with proceeds going to the Heart O' Texas Fair & Rodeo scholarship fund. Then COVID canceled it in 2020, and it never made it back.

Over the weekend I found out I didn't get picked to judge next weekend's Tiramisu World Cup in Italy. That got me asking a bigger question: why not throw a festival in Waco? As I consider things to try in 2027, this one is on the list.

So I'm asking you. Your answers are how I decide whether this happens and what it is.

Remember that 2026 goal to meet more interesting people here? Here are three chances before the month ends.

🎟️ Quick hit: A lot of you asked about the coupon book from Sunday's Good Life spotlight, and this looks like it: the 25th annual Dining & Shopping Spree book, $60 for 150 local businesses, with proceeds going to a local school or group of your choice → diningandshopping.net

Waco to Fort Lauderdale for $282. Leave Halloween (Oct. 31), come home Nov. 7. That's a week of Florida for less than most Baylor road-trip weekends.
👉 See the flight*
*_{^{Price is subject to change and may no longer be available at the time you check the link.}}

Who do you bank with, and why?
I started asking friends that question recently, and the answers were surprisingly similar: “I've just always banked there,” “I have one account here and another there,” or “Honestly, I haven't really thought about it.”

It sent me down a rabbit trail. As I've become more of a localist, I've started thinking beyond where I shop and eat. Where our money sits matters, too. If we're going to keep building a stronger Waco, I'd rather see more of our money helping finance businesses, homes and growth here than automatically going somewhere else.

That led me to American Bank. After sitting down with their team, I was excited to find a local bank that is headquartered here, has four local branches, and is deeply invested in Waco's future.

So starting today, American Bank is presenting Business News every Tuesday. I'm proud to have them behind a part of The Waco Buzz that's all about the businesses, people and ideas moving Waco forward.

Now, let's get into the Business News.

🏊 Swim Waco Opens a Massive New Pool
In 2019, Courtney Rogers started teaching swim lessons in her backyard pool. Seven years later, Swim Waco has 25 team members and a new facility at 216 Kelly Dr (across Lake Air Dr from Barnes & Noble) built to teach Waco-area kids to swim. It's officially open.

It's not just for kids. Adults can join for lap swimming at $25 a month, and the water runs in the high 80s. If Sunday's Ironman made you want to try a triathlon next fall, this is a gentler place to start than the Brazos.

☕ Neighborhood Coffee Co. is headed to Bosque Square, with no opening date yet. Brad Vaughn at KWTX tipped me off to this one. My prediction: it'll be packed with baseball parents who leave their kids at D-Bat for an hour.

🧘 The Still Place opens Saturday, Oct. 10, an immersive yoga and Pilates studio at 201 Elm Ave, Suite 208, from local Kimberly Thornton. Grand opening runs 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM on Saturday → @thestillplace.yoga on Instagram

🦴 New in Colonnade: The Backstory Chiropractic is now open at 203 Colonnade Pkwy, Suite E, offering neuro-focused chiropractic care for prenatal, pediatric, and whole-family patients.

🥪 Jersey Mike's opens Oct. 14 in the former GameStop space next to Cold Stone.

🍔 Billy Bob Burgers has closed downtown. No word yet on what's next for the space.

More space. Still close to Waco. Cedar Hollow offers 1- to 3-acre homesites just across Lake Waco, giving you room to slow down without giving up an easy trip into town. With 33 spacious lots, no city taxes and preferred pricing for the first 12 neighbors, it's a chance to build something a little different. See the available lots and explore Cedar Hollow today.*

🏛️ City Council Preview

🏙️ The rules for four downtown neighborhoods: Council takes up the second reading of a new zoning code for 88.55 acres of downtown: Barron's Branch, Waco Square, Mary Avenue, and the Ballpark area. The Plan Commission approved it unanimously in August, and the city calls it the final step of a downtown redevelopment plan that began in June 2024. It covers how buildings, parking, and signs work, and staff say the goal is for you to feel the plan when you walk downtown 12 to 20 years from now.

🌳 Alice Martinez Rodriguez Park gets its art: Council hears a construction update on the park, which council committed more than $18 million to last year and targeted to finish this fall. Council is also asked to approve artist Carmen Rangel's mosaic design for the family restroom wall.

🏠 Rent help for neighbors who need it: On the consent agenda is $220,770 in federal HOME funds for the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network. It covers rent and security deposits for homeless and low-income households, paid straight to landlords, so the household pays only what it can afford.

Watch or speak: 3 PM work session and 6 PM business session at the Bosque Theater (100 Washington Ave). Full City Council agenda

🏈 Blackout on the Brazos
Baylor hosts TCU at 6 PM on Oct. 17, and the message is simple: wear black and pack McLane Stadium. The Bears just knocked off Arizona State after midnight local time, putting together their biggest win of the season and building some serious momentum heading into the bye week.

Baylor is 4-1, and the Bears haven’t looked this good in a while. Now they get a week to rest before the annual Revivalry under the lights in Waco. I’m expecting a packed house. Tickets start at $22 →

⚽🏐 Sunday: Two Games
Baylor soccer hosts Kansas State at noon at Betty Lou Mays Field for Party at the Pitch. Volleyball hosts Arizona at 2 PM at the Ferrell Center for Vamos Osos Night, with a post-match autograph session with the whole team. The two venues share a parking lot, so catch most of one and walk to the other.

Tuesday, October 6:
⭐ National Night Out: Block parties all over town, a built in excuse to meet the neighbors you've been waving at. Most start at 6 PM at venues all around Waco. See the full list of locations here.
Bingo Night @ Jorge's, 6 PM
Smarty Pints Trivia @ Southern Roots Brewing Co. 7 PM
Beer Garden Yoga @ Brotherwell Brewing, 7 PM
Tuesday Trivia @ Lucky Bucks, 8 PM
TurnUp the Mic @ Truelove, 8 PM

Wednesday, October 7:
KCBI Christian Business Gathering @ Reign Coffee Shop, 8 AM
The Meetup @ Startup Waco, 9 AM
AGT Oktoberfest @ The Will of Waco, 4 to 6 PM
Wild Wednesdays Group Hike @ Cameron Park Northern Gateway, 5:45 PM
Music Bingo @ Brotherwell Brewing, 7 PM
The Guild interviews Taylor LaRue about Steelborn @ Fabled Bookshop & Cafe, 8 PM

Thursday, October 8:
Story Time @ Fabled Bookshop, 10:30 AM
⭐ Levitt AMP Waco Season Finale @ Bridge Street Plaza, 5 PM: The last free concert of the season, with Altered By Mom and Midnight Desperado.
HOT Fair Opening Night @ Extraco Events Center, 6 to 11 PM
Sunset Yoga @ Carleen Bright Arboretum, 6 PM
Magic Margarita Paint Night @ Cultivate Waco, 6 PM
Trivia Night @ Brotherwell Brewing, 7 PM
Wes Cunningham Presents “Love is for Losers” @ Texas Music Cafe, 8 PM

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

Want your event featured? Reserve a spot here.

✨ Need a skin refresh? Skin & Body Refinery offers HydraFacials with deep cleansing, gentle extraction, and hydration.*

💧 Feeling the seasonal sniffles already? I-Vit's Immune Boost IV is designed for hydration and immune support, with 20% off this month.*

💪 Want to move and recover better? Waco Body Mend is built for everyday movers, athletes, and anyone who wants to feel their best.*

🚗 Shopping for a Silverado? Chevy of West is offering 0% APR for 5 years for well-qualified buyers, or $6,000 cash allowance plus another $2,000 bonus cash on select 2026 Silverado 1500s.*

Thanks for reading The Waco Buzz today. If you found something helpful, share it with the neighbor you are most likely to wave at when you take your trash can to the end of your driveway.

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