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Elgin was recently featured on a broadcasted episode of Expedition Texas, Dec. 18, highlighting the city’s Christmas celebrations and colorful past.
Bob Mauldin has been hosting the series for 10 years, exploring localized history around Texas to help educate and enlighten viewers. The show airs twice a week on The Heartland Network, with Elgin’s episode televised on KNVA, channel 54 in the Austin market area.
“We had a great time working with Bob and his team,” said Mayor Theresa McShan.
McShan met with Mauldin at McShan’s Barber Shop, on the corner of Central Avenue and N. Main Street, where she discussed the area’s legacy alongside her son “Big T,” who now runs the shop.
“I love that there are little bits and pockets of the town that are preserved,” added Mauldin.
McShan told Mauldin about how the area used to be segregated, and how much it means to her that the land and business her grandfather started so many years ago is still a part of the city. She went on to share the stories of the five local black icons depicted in the mural on the face of the building.
As McShan left to sing in the choir, the Mauldin toured downtown Elgin during its holiday bazaar and hot cocoa stroll, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, Dec. 2. He visited the local artisans and holiday vendors, interviewing residents along the way.
“It’s just so much fun, I love when the decorations start to come up and you have that little kid Christmas feeling again when the lights come on,” said Morgan Louvier.
Mauldin ventured into staple downtown stores to further share some of the legends around town.
“As a local business owner, Christmas is everything to us. We really want people to come in and feel like it’s Christmas,” said The Owl Wine Bar’s Molly Alexander.
Alexander discussed the mural from which the shop got its name, an advertisement for cigars painted on an exterior alley wall around 1900. Covered by plaster, the mural wasn’t revealed until 1991 when a film crew came into town to shoot and removed it. The shop’s three other walls were built around the existing piece of history.
The Expedition Texas camera crew stayed through the evening for Elgin’s lighted parade, filming the illuminated floats and interviewing children on the street.
As the night wound down and residents gathered under Veterans’ Memorial Park’s Christmas tree, Mauldin continued to explore what it is that Elginites love about the season.
“Elgin is really about people, it’s about the community and the people that are here that we love,” said Dan Kleiner, who proposed with a poem and a ring underneath the same tree this time last year.
More information on Expedition Texas can be found at https://expeditiontexas.tv/home, and Elgin’s spotlight is up on their YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@ExpeditionTexas.
— Expedition Texas host Bob Mauldin
