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Annual Vattman Picnic A Big Success

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The biggest Thanksgiving celebration in the Coastal Bend can be found in the small ranching and farming community of Vattman.

It's just southeast of Kingsville and each year since 1913, with the exception of 1943, the Thanksgiving picnic there attracts thousands of folks.

Kevin Foley Exits Vail Town Council After 22 Years Of Service

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

This was the mentality — inherited from his mother — that first led Kevin Foley to run for Vail Town Council in 1995.

Now, 28 years later Foley is coming to the end of his seventh term on council, having served 22 of those years. He exits as the longest-serving member of the Vail Town Council to date.

On Tuesday, Nov. 21, Foley attended his last council meeting. As his most recent term comes to an end, Foley isn't leaving anything on the table, knowing that he has done his best for the town over the years and that it's in good hands.

Coming to Vail

Foley made the journey to Colorado from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1979 for a job in Breckenridge.

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"I rode my bike from Massachusetts up to Montreal, took the train from Montreal to Vancouver, biked from Vancouver to Seattle and said, 'Enough of this biking stuff;' put the bike on a bus, spent a month in San Francisco staying with a buddy of mine. And then, I got to Colorado on Nov. 1, 1979, and haven't left," Foley said.

However, after searching all over Summit County for housing and coming up short, Foley began eyeing other ski towns and interviewed for a position at Vail Mountain.

"I came to Vail on a Friday and interviewed with Vail Associates, and they called me on Monday and offered me a job, so I ended up staying," Foley said, adding that — with nothing against Breckenridge — "I'm so glad I ended up in Vail and not Breck."

"The world comes to Vail," Foley remarked. "I've made friends from all over the planet in the years that I've lived here and been able to travel and see other places. And Vail's still the prettiest place on the planet."

Foley's first job in Vail was working as a bartender at a bar in the old gondola terminal, kicking off a career of working at restaurants and bars in town. Over the years, he's worked at the Cook Shack at Mid-Vail, Red Lion, Montauk Seafood Grill, the Lifthouse, and most recently, Bart & Yetis and Garfinkel's in Lionshead.

About 10 years after arriving in town, two things happened that spurred Foley into public service.

"When I was running the Red Lion back in the late '80s, early '90s, we went to the town to enclose the deck that's on Bridge Street. And they gave us some pushback because they said it was going to ruin the ambiance," Foley said. "Then, when Vail Commons came into being, down in West Vail, I couldn't figure out why they were putting two supermarkets next to each other in a town of 4,000 people. I thought it should have all been housing."

While Foley said he's come around to the benefits of having two grocery stores, these two things — with the adage from his mom playing in the back of his mind — led him to run for Town Council in 1995.

"I just sat out in front of Town Hall with a handmade sign that said 'Foley for Town Council' and waved to people as they went in and out. And it worked. I managed to get elected, then found out I enjoyed it," he said.

When he first ran, Foley did not have an agenda or list of goals to accomplish. "I just wanted to be part of the process," he said.

Along the way, however, Foley has great pride in a number of projects and improvements that he's been a part of.

The list includes approving the funding for the Dowd Junction bike path in West Vail, giving land to the school district at Red Sandstone so the school could have a playground and field to play on, and revitalizing Lionshead with the area's redevelopment master plan. Foley is also proud of the town prevailing in the Booth Heights court case and recent housing developments such as the Residences at Main Vail and the pending West Middle Creek and Timber Ridge redevelopment. He also recalled "the renaissance of Vail when all the cranes came to town and all the hotels and all the new businesses came up."

There have also been disappointments along the way. For Foley, the Ever Vail project stands out.

"I was disappointed because we spent almost two years with Vail Resorts working on the Ever Vail project and getting that approved in 2010, and we gave them 10 years to do all that, and nothing ever came from it," Foley said. "Which is unfortunate, because it really would have pushed Vail even more to the forefront with everything that they had planned for mountain services and everything like that. So it was disappointing that that didn't go through."

Foley's first Town Council term went from 1995 to 1999. In 1999, he ran again and was elected for a two-year term. He took a brief four-year hiatus but ran again in 2005 where he was elected to another two-year term. In 2007, he was elected for another two years. In 2009, he was elected to a four-year term. Then, Foley briefly took two years off, in which he was elected to serve on the Vail Recreation District board. He returned to Town Council in 2015, where he served until 2019 when he was once again re-elected to his most recent term.

Foley continued to return to Town Council not only because his name recognition and reputation made elections cheap to run — "I've never had to pay for yard signs … my friends and neighbors elect me" — but because he truly enjoyed it. He loved knowing what was going on in the town, and above all, enjoyed serving with his fellow council members and serving his community.

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"You're involved and you can answer questions for people when they come to you and you know how to get things done, which departments to go to if people are having problems and just being part of it," Foley. "We live in the most beautiful place on the planet, and anything we can do to keep making it better and keep making it enjoyable for people to come to because we only have one industry: Tourism. And if we don't do well there, then we're not going to do well anywhere."

Bringing a working-class mindset

While Foley's two decades on council saw a multitude of changes in the town, for him, it was always about the people and community. That includes constituents, but also all the people he's served alongside over the years.

At the time, Paul Johnston — whose son Mike Johnston was recently elected as the mayor of Denver — was serving on council.

"When I got on, Paul said, 'Hey, you know, this isn't the hardest job in the world, but do your homework, show up, be respectful, make your decision, move on,'" Foley said. "'He said, 'Go from there.'"

He's kept the advice in the back of his mind for all the years he's served.

"He really listens to his constituent base and he votes with his heart," said Jen Mason, who has served on the Town Council with Foley for the past eight years.

When asked what is unique about what he brings to the council, Foley said, "I think just the fact that I'm working class, that I'm out in the community a lot."

"I hear and talk to people and I usually have a pretty good idea of how people are thinking about things," he said.

It's something that his fellow council members would agree with. Mason said "Kevin has a valuable voice" on the board.

"He truly represents the working class people of our community. He hears all of their issues and struggles that they deal with daily while working in Lionshead at the restaurant scene," Mason said.

She added that Foley's position is only bolstered by the fact that he's "an avid bus rider."

"I know this may seem insignificant, but his perspective on how the buses run and our public transportation is a very valuable asset to his voice," she said. "He knows firsthand what is really going on with our public transportation, which is a big part of making it easy for people to live in Vail."

The main thing Mason learned from him was to "vote with conscience."

"If you believe that, you are truly doing the right thing, it will all come together in the end," she said.

While Jonathan Staufer has only served the last two years with Foley, he's long understood the value Foley's connection to the community plays in his ability to serve.

"For longer than I can remember, Kevin has been the person I relied upon most as a citizen when working on issues that came before council and to keep me informed," he said. "In the past two years, I've come to realize that for over two decades, he has been that person for most of the people in this town."

This not only includes his fellow council members and constituents, but the town staff as well, Staufer reflected.

"Watching Kevin with members of the town government organization, it is obvious that he cares deeply about their well-being and how things were going for everyone from the administrative group to the rank and file," he said.

Sitting next to Foley at nearly every council meeting for the last two years, Staufer said he views Foley as a "wonderful mentor."

"He is thoughtful, well-read, well-versed in the details of government and insightful and always with an eye as to how decisions affect the people who live and work in this town. Most importantly, he never speaks unless he has something to say," Staufer said.

Eyeing the future

While Foley has taken breaks from Vail Town Council previously and returned to serve, this one really could be the last.

"I'll be 70 the next time the election rolls around and it's really time for the young kids to step up and take over," Foley said. "I'm just hopeful that the new people coming in will continue to just make Vail the best place it can be, and I'm pretty confident. It was a good slate of people that got elected."

For now, he's very much looking forward to continuing his advocacy for his fellow community members as a citizen.

"I know who to talk to, so it's really easy if people are coming to me saying, 'Hey, what about this?' I'll still be involved," Foley said.

Plus, with his newly found free time each week, Foley is looking forward to spending more time volunteering at Red Sandstone, where he has spent more years in service than he has on the council.

"This will be my 33rd year as a volunteer basketball coach for fourth and fifth grade. And about 10 years ago, I started going over and doing lunch duty one day a week," Foley said.

With his Tuesdays now free from council meetings, he plans to pick up Tuesday lunches as well.

"I'll have a lot more time at the school, which means a lot to me, being with the kids and the staff over there," he said.

Working with Red Sandstone all these years has certainly impacted his service in many ways. When looking at how he makes decisions, Foley said that his "focus has always been, is it going to be good for the kids that are coming behind us?"

"We can't mess it up any more than it already is, so let's try and just make sure that we're handing off to the next generation coming behind us something that they can continue to nurture and help grow," Foley added.

For him, this ability to grow and evolve is central to what has made Vail successful over the years.

"We have to keep adapting if we want to succeed if we're going to do better. I think Vail has always been real good at that," Foley said. "The town's always been about getting better and being the best, and that's what I really enjoy about it, is that we're willing to take chances. This is my 45th winter, and the more things change, the more it stays the same. It's still the great small town that I moved to."

Hip Hop Community Delivers To Homeless Community

Hip Hop For The Homeless: A company bringing communities together through music

Thursday, November 16th 2023, 6:35 pm

OKLAHOMA CITY -

It's about the community coming together and having a good time to help those experiencing homelessness.

"It will be just like a big family reunion, a big picnic, where nobody is judged," said Roy Henderson, founder of Hip Hop for The Homeless.

Henderson started Hip Hop for the homeless three years ago. "Music often makes people feel good, and so when you play feel-good music, and you offer the kind of things that we will be giving away, that makes them look good, feel good, about themselves," said Henderson.

This Saturday as the music plays in the parking lot of the Homeless Alliance, at 1724 Northwest 4th Street, there will be lots of things given to the homeless to help them feel good. "Haircuts. We're giving away haircuts. We're even bringing showers. We're bringing portable showers," said Henderson.

Plus, coats, tents, backpacks, and even sleeping bags. "Hats, scarves, toiletries, food," said Henderson. "We wrap them in Christmas paper, and we put them in Christmas bags so that when we pass them out to them, they feel special," said Crystal Carter, with Hip Hop for the Homeless.

Donated items can be dropped off at 10:30 AM and volunteers are welcome to come and join in the fun and set up at 10:30 as well. "We're asking people to come out, it's a great time to show kids how to give back," said Henderson.

Kellie Slaughter came as a volunteer last year and knew immediately that she would be back. "I was a volunteer just simply serving food and was so inspired and moved by this event that I wanted to help and so here we are," said Slaughter. "I just want people to see that there are still good people in the world and there will be a lot of good people down here on both sides of the table," said Henderson.

All the fun is from 1 to 4 PM at the Homeless Alliance with the hope of delivering one thing. "Some of these people just need love," said Henderson.

Donated items need to be new or slightly used. For more information about Hip Hop for the Homeless visit their website www.Hiphop4homeless.Com

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