{"id":461277,"date":"2026-10-09T15:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/461277\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T15:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:28:09","slug":"lone-star-national-bank-does-it-again-for-south-texas-children-with-free-holiday-admission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/461277\/","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star National Bank Does It Again for South Texas Children with Free Holiday Admission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/LSNB.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1068\" height=\"580\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/LSNB.jpg\" alt=\"Senior executives from Lone Star National Bank and high-ranking City of McAllen officials gathered for a group photo after the press conference announcing Wild Bright 2026 and the bank\u2019s fourth consecutive year sponsoring Free Kids Days at the South Pole Illuminated Festival. The celebration opens November 27 at the McAllen Convention Center and features millions of lights and new holiday attractions. Image courtesy of The City of McAllen\" class=\"wp-image-217860\"  \/><\/a>Senior executives from Lone Star National Bank and high-ranking City of McAllen officials gathered for a group photo after the press conference announcing Wild Bright 2026 and the bank\u2019s fourth consecutive year sponsoring Free Kids Days at the South Pole Illuminated Festival. The celebration opens November 27 at the McAllen Convention Center and features millions of lights and new holiday attractions. Image courtesy of The City of McAllen<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\">Texas Border Business<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Texas Border Business<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McALLEN, Texas \u2014\u00a0Lone Star National Bank (LSNB) is continuing a holiday tradition that began in 2023, returning for a fourth consecutive year to provide free admission for children at McAllen\u2019s South Pole Illuminated Festival, now renamed Wild Bright for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bank announced its renewed participation during an October 8 presentation at its corporate headquarters, where McAllen officials introduced the festival\u2019s new theme and attractions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beginning November 30, LSNB Free Kids Days will provide complimentary admission to children ages 12 and under every Wednesday and Thursday through December 18. The program is part of the bank\u2019s continuing partnership with the City of McAllen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The initiative dates to 2023, when Lone Star National Bank President David Deanda and Board Chairman Alonzo Cantu worked with city officials to establish a program that allows children to attend the festival for free on designated weekdays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As\u00a0\u2060Texas Border Business reported in November 2023, the arrangement followed discussions initiated by then-Assistant City Manager Joe Vera. Deanda and Cantu supported the proposal while seeking changes that would expand access for families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, Deanda emphasized the bank\u2019s commitment to helping less fortunate families and giving back to the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program continued in 2024 and 2025, with the bank sponsoring free admission days for children. Previous coverage by Texas Border Business confirms the bank\u2019s recurring participation and its emphasis on making holiday activities accessible to Rio Grande Valley families.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For 2026, Lone Star National Bank will also return Santa\u2019s Mailbox to the festival grounds, allowing children to send letters to Santa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another addition will be the bank\u2019s new Cowboy Cash balloon, scheduled to debut during the McAllen Holiday Parade on December 5 before joining the Wild Bright experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wild Bright opens November 27 at the McAllen Convention Center, featuring millions of lights, hundreds of illuminated wildlife lanterns and attractions inspired by the parade\u2019s Wild Christmas theme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The festival will begin with the lighting of what organizers describe as America\u2019s tallest digital Christmas tree, standing more than 100 feet tall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visitors will also find an 80-foot real-ice skating rink, Santa\u2019s South Pole Castle, the South Pole Express, a holiday carnival, artisan market, weekend fireworks, and the Driscoll Electric Parade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The celebration is connected to McAllen\u2019s internationally recognized Holiday Parade, which city officials have described as the world\u2019s best parade eight times. The parade has become a major regional attraction, drawing visitors and supporting local tourism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWild Bright is set to be magical; we will celebrate the holidays with an experience that brings families together, welcomes visitors, supports local businesses, and strengthens our community,\u201d City Manager Isaac J. Tawil said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Lone Star National Bank, the fourth consecutive sponsorship continues a program established to give South Texas children opportunities to participate in McAllen\u2019s annual holiday celebrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senior executives from Lone Star National Bank and high-ranking City of McAllen officials gathered for a group photo&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[41219,157646,1478,157647,157648,27,81353,29,28,157649],"class_list":["post-461277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-community-engagement","tag-lone-star-national-bank","tag-mcallen","tag-riop-grande-valley","tag-south-pole-of-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-border-business","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-wild-bright"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}