The Waco Downtown Farmers Market unfolds each Saturday morning on Bridge Street Plaza in East Waco—white tents in neat rows with plenty of coffee, local food, and sunlight bouncing off the new hotels nearby. Live music drifts from the stage beneath orange steel panels while kids toss beanbags and couples linger over cold brews. It looks like the picture of civic renewal—a city’s self-portrait in perfect morning light.

But the history here over the last 120 years includes other crowds gathered for reasons no one brags about. Sure, today’s buzzwords are “revitalization” and “rebirth,” but that alone doesn’t replace memory. It takes people showing up—year after year—trying to build something decent on ground that remembers.

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