Iconic athletes, the coronavirus pandemic, and food combined to inspire a novel business model for a group of local entrepreneurs. In 2019, Derek MIssimo, a longtime restaurateur and marketing mind, developed a concept and co-founded a company called Playmakers, which links well-known – and beloved – local athletes to businesses in the cities where they made their names. Several years later, Mark Caffey, an Arlington entrepreneur, joined the venture after his primary business, which focused on the oil and gas industry, suffered during the global coronavirus pandemic. The idea was an easy sell ..read more

The 2024 concert season for Levitt Pavilion Arlington is underway, once again featuring the venue’s signature genre-rich lineup of headliners and opening acts on a calendar packed with free concerts and events. Noteworthy artists scheduled to take the Levitt stage this spring include Vandoliers (alt country/Americana, May 11), Solido (Cumbia/Norteña, May 24), Kaitlin Butts (country/dance, May 25) and Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears (blues, May 26). A new feature this year is a “music stars of tomorrow” program where promising school-age musicians will perform a song or two before Levitt o ..read more

The Arlington Veterans Park Foundation will begin an annual tradition of observing Memorial Day in the park on Monday, May 27, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. The location within the park will be at the Memorial to the Fallen, dedicated last November on Veterans Day. Veterans Day honors all who have served in our military, while Memorial Day honors those who have died while defending our country and its values. Therefore, the mood of this service will focus on the sacrifice and patriotism of our fallen. The Memorial to the Fallen honors the 110 young men who died in our country’s wars of the 20th and 21st ..read more

Gregory Boyington, who often went by the name “Pappy” because he was much older than the men he commanded, was a US Marine Corps fighter ace in World War II. His tenacity as a child shaped his career as a fighter pilot and earned him the nation’s highest award for valor in combat, the Medal of Honor. Boyington was born on December 4, 1912, in Idaho. He was raised with the surname Hallenbeck after his stepfather, though Boyington would be unaware of his biological identity until much later in life. As a child, Boyington was fascinated by World War I aviation heroes such as Frank Luke and Eddie ..read more

Stanley Hockenberry had always been an active person, serving more than two decades in the U.S. Navy, enjoying camping with his wife and walking his golden retriever, Yeager. Until the summer of 2022, that’s when his physician saw something on his echocardiogram. Hockenberry, who lives in Mansfield with his wife, Lisa, had noticed that he had been getting more fatigued after retiring from the Navy and going to work at Bell Helicopter. “I would come home and hit my chair,” Hockenberry, 59, said. “My wife wasn’t happy. My dog wasn’t happy. No walks. “My wife made me start getting annual physical ..read more

Mansfield residents can’t stop talking about going grocery shopping. For more than eight years, the community has anticipated the opening of the area’s first H-E-B grocery store, and now it’s so close they can almost taste it. The San Antonio-based grocery chain broke ground on the Mansfield store, the third in Tarrant County, in February 2023 at 1670 E. Broad St., after purchasing the 28-acre site in 2016. The Mansfield store is set to finally open this summer, H-E-B officials say. “We are excited to continue strengthening our presence in the area and are dedicated to serving even more resid ..read more

Americans have been officially celebrating Mother’s Day for more than a century, but human beings have celebrated their moms since the beginning of time. Their mother’s heartbeat is the first sound that a child hears, the first person they see and the first one to cuddle them close. For some children, their mom isn’t the one who gave them birth, but the one who chose to love them and put the child’s needs before their own. We asked some local moms what Mother’s Day means to them, the best way to spend the day and their most memorable Mother’s Day. –––––––––––––––– I am thankful that Mother’s D ..read more

Not since Tiger Woods has one person had such a significant impact on a game, a sport, a nation. Caitlin Clark has taken women’s basketball to the next level. The NCAA Women’s basketball tournament had huge ratings and actually out-drew the men’s tournament in overall ratings. Last month Caitlin was drafted into the WNBA where it has been reported that she will earn 73,000 dollars to play for the Indiana Fever. That is an embarrassingly paltry sum compared to what the first overall pick in the NBA draft will be paid. However, she also signed a twenty million dollar deal with Nike, appeared on ..read more

The young man arrived on the University of Alabama campus armed with a high school diploma and a full ride to the state’s flagship institution. He also arrived clueless. He had no idea where to go or what to do. He had no parents, guardians, or friends in tow. No class registration, no housing. He just showed up at a school office, asking, so what do I do now? They didn’t know. So, they called someone who might. Lowell Davis learned that the young man had come from a children’s home. He was a foster care kid who needed guidance but wasn’t sure where that guidance could come from. Once kids age ..read more

A group of local community members is bringing the works of William Shakespeare to life in Arlington in April 2025. Shakespeare LIVE is a non-profit organization developing a series of live, outdoor Shakespeare performances. The inaugural run will feature the bard’s pastoral comedy, As You Like It. Raphael Parry, former director of Shakespeare in the Park in Dallas, will serve as Shakespeare LIVE’s production director. Currently, the organization is calling for community support, both financially and through word of mouth. It is set to hold its first official fundraiser in April. The event wil ..read more