🎈 Waco’s Labor Day game plan

Good Morning Waco! This is The Waco Buzz. Welcome to Labor Day weekend, which means you now have permission to break out the flannel and start making chili.

In this edition:

🎈 Your Labor Day Weekend Game Plan
🗺️ The Real Waco Experience, According to You
🏈 Bears Kick Off, Just Not Here
💼 5 Hot Jobs Worth Knowing About

See you out there this weekend!

— Sam Harper

Every September it's the same story. Kids go back to school, the weather starts flipping between hot and less hot, and within a couple weeks everybody I know is trading the same cough back and forth. This is exactly the kind of month I'd want I-Vit's Immune Boost IV.

It's designed to support immune function, hydration, and overall wellness, which is exactly what you want when your body's getting hit from every direction. Right now it's 20% off for the whole month.

I-Vit does more than IV drips too. They also offer IV therapy and express drips, peptide therapy, vitamin injections, GLP-1 weight management, and memberships through their discount club if you want to make this a regular thing instead of a one-off.

📍300 S 2nd St | Questions? Text (254) 362-2245*

🎈 Holidazed: The Labor Day Game Plan

Hat tip to you if you took PTO today. For the rest of us, it's Friday before Labor Day weekend. Summer is waving goodbye, the long weekend is calling, and Waco has a lot of things worth leaving the house for.

First Friday Downtown Waco kicks off tonight, with a Hispanic Heritage celebration happening alongside the usual First Friday fun. Expect local shops running specials, live music from Conjunto El Rebelión Norte, and art in the streets. The event kicks off at 7th Street Plaza at 6 PM with free food, music, and a good excuse to enjoy the “cooler” weather.

Over at Cameron Park Zoo, the newly renovated Butterfly Garden reopens to the public just in time for the holiday weekend after $20,000 in renovations made possible by the Junior League of Waco (the gibbons are back on their island as well!). And if you want to see Cameron Park from a different perspective, the Bear Country Night Trek brings runners onto the trails after dark with 5K, 10K, 15K and half-marathon options, plus a 10K ruck.

🥡 The Takeaway: Pick one, pick all three, just don't spend the weekend on your couch.

🗺️ The Real Waco Experience, According to You

On Tuesday, I asked what you'd show someone visiting Waco for the first time. Here are a few of my favorite responses.

"I would take them to Brazos Bluffs Ranch to ride, then go sit by the river at Slowrise on the Brazos for drinks and pizza. Then show them Cameron Park, the Bosque and Brazos, get a snow cone at Coco's, and drive them around Baylor." — Ruthie W.

"Our world-class zoo. We have both the oldest king vulture and the oldest reticulated giraffe in the world." — Amy H.

"The Waco Trifecta: George's for breakfast, Vitek's for lunch, and Poppa Rollo's for dinner." — KW

📌 Quick Hits

🎬 Waco Symphony just dropped their 2026-27 season, and I'm already circling the Top Gun: Maverick live-to-film night. Season tickets are on sale now.

🪗 Westfest, Central Texas' Czech heritage festival, runs Friday through Sunday with live music, a parade, and local vendors.

🎧 Your 2000s Are Calling: Beyoncé, Eminem, Justin Timberlake, questionable fashion choices and all the hits you forgot you knew by heart. It’s A 2000s Party takes over The Backyard Saturday night. Grab tickets.

🏈 Baylor opens its season Saturday against Auburn, 2:30 PM CT on ABC. It's the Aflac Kickoff Game in Atlanta, so this one's a sports-bar watch party, not a home game.

🎉 Academy Sports & Outdoors is celebrating its new Lacy Lakeview store all weekend. The first 150 people in line each morning get gift cards.

🚛 Trash day is changing next week: If you're normally a Monday pickup, your trash will be collected Wednesday instead. Everything else runs on schedule.

Who's hiring in Waco? 5 trending jobs

Store Manager at Garden City Grocery ($65K-$80K plus benefits and bonuses). Help bring downtown Waco’s newest grocery store to life as the team gets ready for opening day.

Entry Level Sales Representative at Summit Vision Marketing ($40K-$60K). Base pay plus commission, no door-to-door, full training provided.

Area Coordinator at Clayton Homes. Full-time, on-site in Waco, helping coordinate the day-to-day operations of one of the country’s biggest homebuilders.

Sales Associate at Tecovas. Part-time, 15-20 hours a week including weekends. Free boots + a generous employee discount make this one worth a look.

Vice President, Brand & Marketing at Sendero Provisions Co. ($72K-$108K). Lead brand and influencer strategy across Sendero’s Western, Outdoor and Alt Sports brands, reporting directly to the CEO.

Hiring? Post a Job
Hunting? View all open roles

Retire Ready

Saving for retirement is one thing. Knowing how to spend it is another. Which accounts should you draw from first? When should you take Social Security? How do taxes affect your income? What happens to your spouse if you die?

Winnacle Wealth’s Chad Castle and Jessica Burch have taught Retire Ready at MCC since 2012, helping 950+ students make sense of the financial decisions that come with retirement. Over two evenings, they’ll cover income, investments, taxes, insurance and estate planning in plain English. No stock picks or sales pitch. Just practical education to help you understand your options and make smarter decisions with the money you’ve spent decades building.

Sept. 14 & 21 | 6–8:30 PM | MCC | $29
👉 Reserve your spot*

🎈 Friday, Sept. 4:

1st Friday Downtown Waco - 6 - 10 PM
Bear County Night Trek @ Cameron Park - 8 PM-12 AM
Westfest kicks off

Friday Live Music
TRo & Johnnie @ Uncle Dan's BBQ Ribhouse - 6:30 PM
Eric & Thomas Unplugged @ Segovia Wine Bar - 7 PM
Touch of Grey @ The Will - 8 PM
Rodeo & Juliet @ The Backyard Bar Stage & Grill - 8:30 PM

🎈 Saturday, Sept. 5:

Central Texas Audubon Society Birding Walk @ Cameron Park - 8:30 AM
Waco Downtown Farmers Market @ Bridge Street Plaza - 9 AM
Homestead Heritage Labor Day Festival - 9 AM-3 PM
Funky Town Card Show @ Extraco Events Center - 10 AM-5 PM
Cultivate Waco's Artisan Market - 10 AM-2 PM
Hawaiian Falls Splashdowns & Touchdowns - 11 AM–5 PM
Baylor Volleyball vs. Florida @ Ferrell Center - 1 PM
Baylor Football vs. Auburn (Atlanta) - 2:30 PM CT, ABC
The PACC 2-Year Anniversary Celebration - 6:30-9:30 PM

Saturday Live Music
Pat McKee Trio @ Segovia Wine Bar - 7 PM
Aaron Williams @ Marie's Wine Bar - 7:30–10 PM
The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Experience @ The Will - 8 PM
It's a 2000s Party @ The Backyard Bar Stage & Grill - 8:30 PM

🎈 Sunday, Sept. 6:
Kolache 5K @ Westfest - 8 AM (Free Kolaches after the run!)
Westfest Live Music: Huser Brothers - 8:30 PM; Wade Bowen - 10 PM

🎈 Monday, Sept. 7:
Happy Labor Day, Waco.

🤖 AI Is Either Your Problem or Your Advantage. YOU × AI Summit is September 12 at PACC, built for entrepreneurs and small-business owners who want to figure out which one it is. 23 practitioners. Four tracks. Hands-on workshops. You'll hear what people are actually doing with AI, then get your hands on it yourself.

🍽️ Want to Meet New People? Dinner Club is back September 17. Take a quiz, go to dinner with five strangers across Waco, and meet others at the after party. It's one of our favorite nights of the month.

🧠 For People Who Like Learning Stuff: Social Studies is back with Baylor Master Teacher Dr. Andy Hogue on September 24. He teaches philanthropy, social innovation and politics, and has spent his career helping students figure out how to make the world around them better. This time, he’s tackling the “Era of Seductive Despair” and asking a pretty interesting question: when the city and world problems feel too big to fix, how do we stay engaged and useful? Grab a drink, bring your brain, and come think about it with a room full of curious Wacoans.

✨ For a Skin Refresh: Skin & Body Refinery offers HydraFacials that combine deep cleansing, gentle extraction, hydration and LED light therapy. The goal: smoother, more hydrated skin with a healthy glow, without a lot of downtime.*

🚗 Silverado Selldown: Chevy of West is putting some serious numbers on 2026 Silverado 1500s right now: 0% APR for 5 years for well-qualified buyers, or $6,000 cash allowance plus another $2,000 bonus cash on select models. A pretty good time to take a look.

🔴 Try Waco’s Full-Body Red Light Bed: Waco Bodymend has a TheraLight 360+ Bed that surrounds you in red and near-infrared light in a private treatment room. It’s designed to support muscle recovery, circulation, sleep, skin health and overall wellness. You can book a single session or go unlimited for the month.*

🎨 One More Thing: Pottery Night with The Waco Buzz is September 26 at Outpost Pottery. BYOB, make something, and hang out. We're down to the last few tickets.

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