Although last year I was able to write about the Cheeseburger Capital of Texas, Friona has grown quite a bit since then! We’ve repaved our main roads, added a new welcome sign, opened some new stores, expanded older ones, and much more! I hope that through this blog, in remapping my hometown’s common wealth, you are able to get a great feel for what Friona is all about!
I always like to start off with the ‘spirituality’ aspect of mapping my commonwealth because of the major part it plays in my life. My church home is still Templo De Adoracion (T.O.A) which is located cattycorner of our city park on Main-street. We still have multiple church communities such as Templo Bautista, Church of Christ, First United Baptist Church, Calvary Baptist, FUMC Friona, Victory Family Worship Center, St. Teresa’s Catholic Church, and a newly built church called Iglesia Evangelica Nueva Jerusalem which is reaching out to the growing culture of Guatemala. Many of these churches still hold Wednesday services for their youth and provide a ‘sense of place’ by doing so!
Continuing onward with the commonwealth factor of ‘sense of place’, Friona offers a sense of place in its various activities! One of the biggest activities in which individuals find their sense of place is in participating in extracurricular activities of the school. The most popular of these are the Friday night football games in which the whole town basically shuts down and goes to support the “Friona Fighting Chieftains!” Stands will be filled and you’ll be able to hear the announcer throughout any area in town! Other activities that offer a ‘sense of place’ are our Maize-day parade and of course our CHEESEBURGER FESTIVAL!!!
In the health aspect of commonwealth, Friona offers a gym across our post office, Bi-Wize pharmacy, PMC, and the most amazing place of all FRHC (Friona Rural Health Clinic)! In the foodshed area we have a meat processing plant that distributes food all over the U.S. and to other countries called Cargill Meat Solutions. As well as Cargill we also have a Lowe’s grocery store, a Snack-Pak for Kids program, and all our local farmers who grow various crops and raise cattle! Now to help our farmers, the areas of commonwealth including soil & mineral cycle and water cycle play a crucial role.
Our soil & mineral cycle aspect includes having Friona Wheat Growers which help our farmers grow and store their wheat as well as other crops. Our water cycle aspect includes a local lake, a huge farmer sprinkler systems that are implemented on various farms around the area, and both our water towers! Reeve’s lake (our local lake) and our farmer’s livestock make up the portion of Wildlife & Natural World.
One of the newest and coolest things that Friona is experiencing is the implementation of greater renewable energy projects. Before our only real source of renewable energy was Cargill’s methane program which was using the remains of their dead cattle to produce methane. Now various wind turbine farms have been constructed on the outskirts of our city limits in order to provide sustainable energy to many of the major cities of our great state!
Friona has a rich history in the panhandle of Texas. It once surrounded a Frio-draw (hence the name Friona) and has a 2 story old church which now serves as a museum for the whole county. It was also the first to integrate an African American student into a Texas school! In the aspect of ‘education’ for commonwealth Friona has a Head Start program, a primary, elementary, a junior high, and a high school.
For the ‘arts & culture’ section, Friona has become very heavily enveloped by the Hispanic culture. There are various activities that mostly all the community attends including a Hamaica that occurs the first Sunday in August and is sponsored by St. Teresa’s Catholic Church. Then Quincenieras often occur throughout the year to celebrate a young girl becoming a woman at the age of 15. For art in general, we have various paintings that surround local business like Hometown Hardware store which displays a chieftain painting to support our FHS team.
Lastly, for leisure & recreation, Friona provides multiple sites for fun! Beside our restaurant named Hernandez, we have Western square. Mostly high school kids go park their car there and enjoy turning up their speakers and dancing or simply talking. Reeve’s lake also provides a place for relaxation and fishing. Then we have a swimming pool on 5th street and a park on Main-street that many people go to have fun with their kids. My favorites however at the football stadium/track and the soccer field in front of the Friona Interbank!
I have learned a lot over the past two years mapping our commonwealth and have come to appreciate all Friona has to offer and what it does for its citizens. Hopefully by writing the findings of what I mapped out, I hope that you come to appreciate Friona as I have!
