Van Alstyne Sports Authority

The City of Van Alstyne is proud to support the Van Alstyne Sports Authority (VASA), our local, youth sports organization dedicated to enriching our community. VASA serves boys and girls ages 3 to 14, offering a variety of sports programs designed to promote teamwork, build skills, and foster community spirit.

The current sports offered by VASA are: flag football, tackle football, sideline cheer, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball and now soccer! They just completed their first soccer season and we heard the feedback was wonderful! Their seasons are listed here on their SportsEngine site and you can sign up there as well.

VASA is open to registrations from neighboring communities, ensuring that all children have the chance to participate and benefit from the local programs. However, some leagues may require children to be enrolled in Van Alstyne schools for eligibility. This policy helps ensure our local athletes can compete and develop in a supportive environment.

Most VASA games take place within a 30-minute radius of Van Alstyne, though locations may vary by sport and league. As our community and parks and recreation department grows, they are striving to host more leagues locally as the facility options are added.

For the latest news and FAQs, we encourage residents to visit the VASA website and follow their social media pages. These platforms provide up-to-date information on programs, events, and opportunities for community involvement.  We invite all community members to get involved, whether by volunteering, attending meetings, or supporting our young athletes at games. Together, we can continue to build a vibrant and supportive sports community in Van Alstyne.

For more information, please visit Van Alstyne Sports Authority About Us and VASA on SportsEngine.

 

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088

Van Alstyne Senior Center

The Van Alstyne Senior Center is located in downtown Van Alstyne across from the County Government Office at 148 S. Main St., Van Alstyne, TX 75495.  Anyone 55 or older may join and participate in the social events, lunch, games, exercises and more!

Our Senior Center is a satellite location for Meals and Wheels which provides lunch Monday through Friday for just a $2 donation to the Senior Center.  Lunch is served at 11:30am and you can find the lunch details are shared before hand on the Van Alstyne Senior Center Facebook Group.

In addition to a yummy meal served daily, the Senior Center also has daily activities.  This ranges from low impact exercise classes to apple pie contests like today!  Senior Center Director, Tom Kreminski, also coordinates an array of events and guest speakers to keep members informed on the community.

The reoccurring schedule of events is as follows:
Monday at 12:30 – Chair Volleyball
Tuesday at 10:30 – Chair Yoga
Wednesday at 12:30 – Wild Card Wednesday Bridge Club
Thursday at 10:30 – Chair Yoga
at 12:00 – Bingo
at 1:00 – Chair Exercise
Friday at 12:15 – Line Dancing
The 1st Monday of the month is Book Club, the 1st Friday of the month is Float Friday, and the 4th Friday of the month is a Birthday Celebration for the birthdays that month. The 3rd Saturday of the month from 6pm-8pm is Live Music.

Stay up to date with the events and schedule on the website at vaseniorcenter.com.

 

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088

Emergency Warning System

The Outdoor Warning Systems are known by many as “tornado sirens” or just “sirens”. However, it is important to understand that the Outdoor Warning System(OWS) is designed for all hazards. As the name implies, the system is designed for people that are outdoors. Those that are indoors may not be able to hear the OWS for various reasons. The OWS should only be used as a supplemental warning tool for individuals. OWS can be used to alert citizens of tornadoes, hail, hazardous material incidents, civil emergencies, and any other impending hazard that could adversely affect the lives and property in the general vicinity.

When an Outdoor Warning System is activated, remain calm and go to safe shelter indoors. Then, tune into your NOAA All Hazards Radio or local television or radio for further instructions. Remain indoors until the emergency has ended.

To stay the most up to date, please visit Grayson County’s CodeRED page to register and receive emergency notifications.

Grayson County has instituted the CodeRED Emergency Notification System – an ultra high-speed telephone communication service for emergency notifications. This system allows us to telephone all or targeted areas of the County in case of an emergency situation that requires immediate action (such as a boil-water notice, missing child or evacuation notices). The system is capable of dialing 60,000 phone numbers per hour. It then delivers a pre-recorded message describing the situations to a live person or an answering machine in the affected area possibly including instructions requiring action on the part of the recipient. Once the situation is remedied, another call will be placed to the area signaling that the issue has been addressed and that normal activities can be resumed.

CodeRED is a geographically based system where street addresses are needed to select the telephone numbers that will receive emergency notification calls. Public databases have been used to collect telephone numbers for existing Grayson County home and businesses and have been placed into the CodeRED database. However, sometimes the public databases contain outdated information. Thus no one should automatically assume his or her telephone number is included. All individuals and businesses should register, especially if you have an unlisted phone number, have changed your phone number or address within the last year, or you use a cellular phone as your home phone.

Visit Grayson County’s CodeRED page to register and receive emergency notifications.

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088

Forrest Moore Park Gets a Facelift With the Help of CDC

Forrest Moore Park is our most south park in Van Alstyne located just off Hwy 5 near the Georgetown neighborhood.  This is one of the City of Van Alstyne’s most used parks and includes ballfields, basketball, tennis & pickleball courts, pavilions & picnic tables, playgrounds and walking trails.

With this long list of ammenities, this is a very highly trafficed park on a daily basis for Van Alstyne. Forrest Moore Park is also used by many sports organizations that bring out not only Van Alstyne residents, but surrounding communities as well.  For some people, this will be their first reason to visit Van Alstyne. With this high use, over time the parking lot and the sign for the park “needed attention and repairs to ensure quality of use for our residents,” said David Sileven, President of the Van Alstyne Community Development Corporation. He said “the condition of the park reflects upon our city and we wanted to ensure that we are sending a positive message of how our community cares for the assets that we manage and reflect a positive image of Van Alstyne.”

Van Alstyne Parks & Recreation, with the assistance of the CDC, repaved and restriped the parking lot which not only looks so much nicer, but provides a far better experience for all visitors when the parking lot is being heavily used on sports days.  The marquee sign in front of the park is also being rebuilt to better represent the park as well.

“The vote by the board was unanimous to direct the funds to assist our Parks Department and we are eager to see the results when the work is completed,” said David Sileven.

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088

 

Pique Boutique in Downtown Van Alstyne

Marshall Street is a picturesque street in our historic downtown that is lined with shops, restaurants, studios and more. On this soon to be renovated street, you’ll find Pique Boutique who was the first to jump on the opportunity by our CDC to offer their billboard to local businesses. Founded by Mandy and Donald Bacco in 2022, Pique Boutique is the result of Mandy’s passion for fashion and their shared desire to provide an exceptional boutique experience in Van Alstyne. You’ll find women’s and girl’s clothing and accessories including bags, shoes and jewelry, all of which are individually selected by Mandy. Mandy says, “we believe that fashion is a means of self-expresssion” and that the day is just better when you like what you’re wearing.

Pique Boutique also offers a loyalty program called Pique Perks that allows customers to earn 1 point for every dollar spent, and each 150 points is $10 off a future purchase. Follow Pique on your preferred social platform and stay up to date on the new items and events or visit their website at www.mypiqueboutique.com to shop their current items today.

Address: 245 E. Marshall St., Van Alstyne, TX 75495

Hours of Operation: Mon – Sat 10:00 – 6:00 Sunday 12:00 – 4:00

Facebook: Pique Boutique
IG: @mypiqueboutique
TikTok: @pique_boutique

 

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088