PODCAST · society
Your Waco Weekend
by Mark Long | Waco Insider
Your Waco Weekend isn’t about FOMO. It’s a weekly field report from a small American city in motion, where old storefronts become condos, urban master plans promise relevance, and the past never quite leaves the room. Part cultural dispatch, part civic analysis, each episode examines how places change and what holds them together. Because what happens in Waco, Texas, is happening everywhere.
Episodes
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Invitation to a Killing
Plans to livestream a military execution at Fort Hood send host Mark Long back to childhood cockfights and photographs of Jesse Washington’s 1916 lynching in Waco. Photographer Fred Gildersleeve sold images of the killing as postcards, letting buyers keep—and share—the occasion. Later, the NAACP...
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Waco's Guide to Nice Things for Fancy People
An organic lemon can cost $1.30 without proving Waco has become a luxury market, and a Waffle House can inspire civic delirium without saying much about affluence at all. The arrival of The Scout Guide business directory is making a different wager: that there are currently enough places selling...
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Magical Thinking Moves into Downtown Waco
Developers and advocates for the homeless can look at the same low-budget motel and make two very different assessments. One sees redevelopment leading to affluent buyers, short-term rentals, and upscale retailers to transform the property; the other warns that removing cheap lodging will push...
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Una Buena Mañana para el Menudo
The first version of a dish you eat can become your standard for it. Years later, someone might tell you the recipe was all wrong. And maybe it was. But what does that verdict change about the meals you remember loving? At Lupita’s on 19th Street, host Mark Long unexpectedly orders what may be…
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Talk About a Train Wreck!
Bad publicity is supposed to be bad. So why do people keep engineering spectacles that invite it? This episode looks at how a staged catastrophe draws a crowd and why the reaction can carry the story further than anyone imagined. In 1896, the Katy railroad sold excursion tickets to watch two…
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Wacomaxxing
A price tag used to tell you how much something cost. Now? It doubles as a personality test. Pay for food without complaining and you appreciate quality, respect craft, and support local business. If you have a problem with a price, the problem is apparently you—and your cheap tastebuds. Host…
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Howdy Stranger!
Traveling through Colombia offers abundance: mountain views, unfamiliar birds, cheap beer, and ripe mangos plucked from roadside trees. Waco has something less spectacular but more useful—driving your own car instead of relying on Uber, buying groceries without first rehearsing the transaction in...
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Thank You. Thank You a Lot.
Fathers and sons can spend years trying to understand each other, usually with all the grace and precision of two drunks assembling patio furniture without instructions. Sons want to live up to their fathers while being terrified they’ll turn into them. Meanwhile, fathers pass down wisdom…
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The Honky Tonk Happy-Hour Wedding
The wedding industry operates on the sound financial principle that anything involving love should cost roughly three times what it did before somebody said “matrimony.” This episode considers what actually turns a room into a wedding venue—and whether authenticity, personality, and cold beer…
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You Know, We're Lucky to Be Alive
The people closest to us can look at the same situations and see entirely different worlds. A lasting relationship does not necessarily resolve those differences; sometimes it just puts two people together and asks them to keep moving. In this episode, host Mark Long and his wife Angela take a...
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What You Calling a Renaissance?
Nothing gets local lifestyle influencers humming like glossy renderings of a tired shopping center being refurbished with somebody else’s money. But before everyone starts ordering fancy coffee drinks on a patio that doesn’t exist yet, it’s worth asking who’s already there—and who the shiny new...
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Old School Texas Barbecue: The Same Kind Jesus Ate
Restaurant openings are often treated as evidence that a city is becoming the place its boosters always promised it would be. Closures receive less attention, quietly disappearing from the civic narrative even if a restaurant earned acclaim and became part of people’s routines. But permanence…
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Dollar Dollar Sign, Y'all
Craft breweries didn't invent chalkboards with beers listed on them, but over time what began as a practical way to keep up with constantly changing beer selections became shorthand for something else entirely: local ownership, independence, personality, and the sense that someone was making...
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Blur Circle: No Voiceover Required
Movies too often tell us up front who to trust, who to fear, and what everything means before the characters—or the audience—have a chance to discover those things for themselves. But what happens when a story refuses to rush those judgments? Patience, rather than kneejerk certainty, can produce...
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Zombie #37 & The Art of Making Art Happen
We typically experience public art at the end of the creative process: walking past a completed mural or stepping into an installation without thinking much about the months—or years—of planning, collaboration, and problem-solving that made it possible. But while the backstory shouldn’t dictate…
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Every Weekend Needs a Biscuit
Every local music scene has calendars. Far fewer have the stories that turn unfamiliar names into must-see shows by answering one question: Why should anyone care? This episode traces the path from a punk show at Austin’s Liberty Lunch to years spent building one of Waco’s most comprehensive…
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Godzilla vs. The (Maybe) Crying Baby
The summer after high school, a Texas drive-in projection booth seemed like the perfect job, and home video was the future. Four decades later, after years of cable television, Netflix DVDs, and streaming services, a COVID-era screening of Godzilla vs. Kong answered an unexpected question about...
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The Smallest Community Center in Waco
A Little Free Library on North 43rd Street doesn’t look like that much: a blue wooden box on a post filled with donated books, puzzles, and whatever else happens to land there. But after stumbling across its decade-long trail of guestbook entries, holiday decorations, repairs, a missing weather...
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Hot Dog, Y'all!
A picture on Facebook of a hot dog buried beneath guacamole, carne asada, sour cream, and pico de gallo raises a simple question: Where’s the actual hot dog? What begins as a close look at the “Cali Dog”—available for “only” $11—leads to Waco’s month-long Hot Dog Crawl, complete with a passport...
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"Whistlin' is a Young Man's Game"
Darrell “D-Rail” Ray has spent more than three decades performing around Central Texas, becoming one of the most familiar names on local music calendars. Catch one of his appearances, and you’ll hear an eclectic setlist that jumps from Johnny Cash to Radiohead to Otis Redding, along with periodic...
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"Honey, The Town Has Just Blown Away"
On May 11, 1953, an F5 tornado destroyed much of downtown Waco, killing 114 people. This episode looks back at the disaster through oral histories in a 1980s documentary recorded by survivors decades later—stories about collapsing buildings, cars buried under rubble—as they still try to make…
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Ellen Mote's Contour Lines
Waco artist Ellen Mote has spent years moving between creative disciplines without settling permanently into any one identity. In this episode, she talks about jewelry design, cyanotypes, painting, and basket weaving. Along the way, the conversation turns into something larger about attention and...
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Sherman Ayres Steps into the Light
At 72 years old, Sherman Ayres stepped onto the Texas Music Cafe stage last July to record a live album built from songs he’d been carrying around for decades. From sitting behind a drum kit in Ohio when he was five to recording sessions in Memphis in the ‘80s and a corporate career at M&M Mars…
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One Grand Opening After Another
One version of Waco appears on a smartphone screen while another is seen through time spent there in person, and the gap is wider than it seems. This episode begins with a visit to Mila Café, a recently opened Mexican coffee shop in Waco’s Uptown, and examines how places are introduced versus…
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Cameron Park, Disc Golf & The Cat with No Name
This episode heads into Waco’s Cameron Park, where scenic overlooks and weekend disc golfers usually define the place people think they know. But public spaces also collect what others leave behind, and sometimes a routine morning turns into something harder to resolve. A chance encounter with a...
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Lust, Violence, Religion: Life in Historic Waco
Baylor’s homecoming parade knows how to sell the polished history of Waco: plenty of green and gold, marching bands, old stories told like family recipes. But somewhere between the parade route and the parking lot at George’s Restaurant, that cleaner version of the city runs into the one with…
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A Walking Billion-Dollar Industry: The Levitt AMP Waco Music Series
At the opening night of this year’s Levitt AMP Waco Music Series, Bridge Street Plaza becomes something more than a venue. What begins as a free outdoor concert turns into a meditation on what public space can be when it shifts from civic infrastructure to lived experience. Along the way, KANSO…
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Meeting Past & Future Selves at Waco’s Half Price Books
An impromptu visit to a Half Price Books Outlet store turns into something larger than a simple vinyl music run—because sometimes the things we go looking for in the bins aren’t really albums at all. This episode follows how old records, familiar sounds, and a few unexpected finds can bring…
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The Last Texas Drive-In Picture Show
A Friday-night trip from Waco to Gatesville’s last remaining drive-in theater turns into something less romantic and more revealing, shaped by cold wind, failing audio, and the uneasy mechanics of moviegoing by car. The result is a short field report from Central Texas about what remains when...
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An Empty Space: Brazos Theatre of Waco
Creative work doesn’t wait for permission—and it doesn’t wait for the perfect space. Some kinds of work can adapt. Theater can’t—not easily. It takes people, coordination, and a room that lasts long enough for everything to come together. In this episode, an empty theater in a strip mall opens up…
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3 Silos, 2 Wacos & Jesse's Tortilla Factory
A small tortilla factory a few blocks from Waco’s Magnolia Market offers a different way to understand how the city has changed over the past decade. As new development reshapes downtown, long-standing businesses continue operating as always, creating a layered landscape where tourism and…
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East Waco's Art Vending Machine
A repurposed vending machine at a burger restaurant in East Waco quietly offers a different path for art to move through the city. One purchase leads to an unexpected connection that reveals how creative communities often operate through chance encounters rather than formal venues. This episode...
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When Crowd Size Becomes the Verdict: Waco’s Texas Music Cafe
Live music doesn’t just unfold onstage; it’s also the story we tell about it afterward. Crowd size shapes our story—and that can influence what we value before we ever walk through the door. From a sparsely attended studio show to a packed Saturday night at Texas Music Cafe, this episode looks at...
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Commerce & Community at Waco's Eastside Market
On a windy Saturday afternoon at Brotherwell Brewing, the monthly Eastside Market looks like what it is: a vendor market with local artwork, vintage clothes, food trucks, craft beer. A rack of clothing tips in the wind. A trash can lid won’t stay put. Kids who arrived separately start playing...
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Every City's "New Era" is Coming Soon
Cities often describe their futures in the language of renewal, momentum, and turning points. In this episode, Waco’s current downtown redevelopment plan and a forgotten 1970s pedestrian mall reveal how civic vocabulary shapes expectations long before results are clear. While words like “hope”…
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If These Walls Could Talk: Concert Posters, Impermanence & Durability
A visit to a concert poster exhibition at Art Center Waco becomes a starting point for thinking about what happens when things outlive their expiration dates. From disposable event listings to monthly music calendars for sale on eBay years later, this episode examines how objects designed to...
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Saturday Morning Basketball in Mart, Texas
A Saturday morning youth basketball game in a small rural town outside Waco becomes a lens for thinking about how people share space together. By paying attention to what doesn’t happen—no gatekeeping, no supervision theater, no visible anxiety—this episode explores what everyday confidence looks...
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A Waco Immigration Enforcement Town Hall and the Language of Reassurance
A recent town hall meeting with McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara was billed as a chance for him to explain his department’s new agreement to work with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This episode looks closely at what was said, what went undefined—and why the reassurances offered...
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Balcones Distilling: When Form Stands in for Function
Waco’s Balcones Distilling paused production last summer, but after a recent Saturday afternoon trip to the still-open tasting room, this episode examines what happens when a place continues to operate even after the work that created it has stopped. Rather than focusing on finances or future...
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Skellington Curiosities & The Dark Overlords of Waco
From an early visit to Skellington Curiosities to the premiere of The Dark Overlords of Waco documentary, this story traces the slow construction of a community outside Waco’s norms. For people who don’t neatly fit inside a city’s approved categories, choosing to live without apology widens the…
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Food Trucks, Data Centers & How News Takes Shape in Waco
This episode begins with two stories that seem unrelated—new regulations for food trucks in Waco and a proposed 520-acre data center north of town—but collide once you pay attention to how information spreads locally. What looks like confusion or overreaction is often something else: people…
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Waco's Performing Arts Community Center: Pictures Not in an Exhibition
At the Performing Arts Community Center (PACC), Russell Campbell’s paintings aren’t shown under spotlights or separated from daily use. They hang on a wall where people go to and from classes, work on laptops, and leave half-finished projects behind them. There’s no signal telling you how to look...
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The Art of Looking: Washington Gallery to Waco Drive
Washington Gallery in downtown Waco has serious art waiting for you. On the surface, it’s simple enough: you see paintings. In practice, the encounter is shaped by pressure about how to look, how to feel, how to say something that proves you were paying attention. Then, art shows up again without...
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Crosstown Traffic: Driving Waco's 18th Street Corridor
Most people only see Waco at 75 miles an hour. From Interstate 35, it’s a place you pass through on the way to somewhere else—Baylor’s campus, a few landmarks in the distance, gas stations and frontage roads blurring together before you move on. This episode takes a different route. Instead of…
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Analog: Waco’s Space to Speak Clearly
The latest Analog event begins as a night of storytelling in an old grocery store now used by University Baptist Church. On the surface, it’s a handful of speakers taking turns at a mic. In reality, it’s a study of ordinary people trying to make sense of themselves in front of a room willing to...
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Sergio's Food Truck: Waco's "What, Me Worry?" Moment
Sergio’s Food Truck, once a downtown institution, now sits silent in an alley behind Austin Avenue. And as The Waco Bridge reported, it’s more than the story of another business that’s shut down; it’s a cautionary tale. This episode follows how the arrest and deportation of Sergio Garcia fits…
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Shorty's Pizza Shack: This Episode is Not About Pizza
Shorty’s Pizza Shack opening a location in Hewitt should be a straightforward story of expansion, but nothing about it is that simple. Instead, this episode looks at how a Baylor student hangout becomes a family hub the minute it crosses Highway 6. It's not about pizza—it’s about the ways...
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The Waco Curve: What We Talk about When We Talk about Waco
Waco gets talked about in all kinds of ways—too small, too hyped, too bland, too glossy—and each version clips something essential from the city’s real story. This episode looks past the slogans and the social feeds to examine how those perspectives shape our sense of place and why so many of…
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Vintage Mío: No Algorithms Allowed
At Vintage Mío, downtown Waco’s vinyl record shop, every album jacket gleams in its plastic sleeve, but the real story lies between the records—often misfiled and mismatched, treasures waiting to be found. Ry Cooder lurks next to John Coltrane in the jazz section, and Charles Mingus hides in…
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The Waco Suspension Bridge: From Cattle Drives to Common Ground
For 150 years, the Waco Suspension Bridge has stretched across the Brazos River—first as a toll bridge for cattle drives, later as a civic landmark rebuilt more than once to keep pace with the city it helped create. Its towers have seen drovers, parades, protests, and over a century’s worth of…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Your Waco Weekend isn’t about FOMO. It’s a weekly field report from a small American city in motion, where old storefronts become condos, urban master plans promise relevance, and the past never quite leaves the room. Part cultural dispatch, part civic analysis, each episode examines how places change and what holds them together. Because what happens in Waco, Texas, is happening everywhere.
HOSTED BY
Mark Long | Waco Insider
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Your Waco Weekend have?
Your Waco Weekend currently has 62 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Your Waco Weekend about?
Your Waco Weekend isn’t about FOMO. It’s a weekly field report from a small American city in motion, where old storefronts become condos, urban master plans promise relevance, and the past never quite leaves the room. Part cultural dispatch, part civic analysis, each episode examines how places...
How often does Your Waco Weekend release new episodes?
Your Waco Weekend has 62 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Your Waco Weekend?
You can listen to Your Waco Weekend on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Your Waco Weekend?
Your Waco Weekend is created and hosted by Mark Long | Waco Insider.
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