Bar-X Strong: How one neighborhood devastated by Harvey is making a comeback

Mandy Marek laughs as she explains why she loves Christmas so much. Her dad always got so excited about Christmas, she said. It was a big deal for him which meant it was an extra magical time of year for her as a kid. She also had two relatives who both have birthdays on Christmas so their family celebrations were always three times as large.

ANGLETON — The beautiful, modernized country homes probably won’t be the first things people will notice when they drive through the Bar-X Ranch subdivision. Instead, they’ll notice how incredibly flat it is, making it a high-risk area for flooding.

It’s no wonder, then, that when waters from the Brazos River rose up rapidly as heavy, endless rains lingered over the county during Hurricane Harvey, homes in Bar-X didn’t stand much of a chance.

The residents of Bar-X are the stubborn sort, though, and flood events in consecutive years are not going to wash away their dreams, even if they did soak their homes and belongings.

That perseverance will be celebrated next weekend when the Greater Angleton Chamber of Commerce Holiday Tour of Homes takes place entirely in the sprawling subdivision.

“I adore the home tour. That’s my thing,” said Tamela Gentry, her eyes filling with tears as she recalled the devastation many homeowners faced. “So, I knew the chamber is so busy and have so much going on so I told them I'd love to go out there and scout out homes because I really feel like Bar-X needs to be featured.”

Marek’s daughter, Mallory, has her very own play room and its tree probably stands out the most out of any other room. With its vibrant colors and fun ornaments, it’s easy to think of Candy Land or The Nutcracker when looking at this tree.

Last year, the Christmas home tour was canceled due to massive damage in the neighborhood from Harvey. Many people were displaced and had to completely rebuild their homes, some of which are still undergoing that process. Gentry said she knocked on the doors of 55 homes and talked to 55 people before she finally got five homeowners to agree to be a part of it this year.

“People said, ‘the bathroom is not done’, ‘the kitchen is not done’,” Gentry said. “But the neighborhood is fabulous. But the Brazos River, it's a threat to this neighborhood. People are so resilient to stay out there. They love that neighborhood.”

Anyone who visits Bar-X can see why, even without the majestic homes. Adorable deer dot the landscape, the grass is lush and green, the trees are tall and healthy and they’re greeted by huge, open sky every time they walk outside. It’s more than enough reason for Mandy Daspit and her family to stay out there despite losing their home.

“We have two small children, me and my husband, and Harvey was our first time to flood ever but we made it through it and I feel like it makes you a little bit more, I don’t know, you kind of realize how things in life are and don’t take the small things for granted,” she said.

Daspit and her family lived in the neighborhood for 10 years at that point. Her and her husband moved into the house shortly after getting married and had their children there. Their dream of raising their children in that home washed away with Harvey floods but Daspit’s spirits were uplifted in the days and months following the floods.

“Our neighbor, he’s the principal of the Christian high school and he brought his whole senior class and they helped us rip out the house,” she said. “We moved out of our house in one day and had to rip all the walls apart. The support of the whole neighborhood, even just the community, I never thought we would have so many people that would come and just help with it.”

When Hurricane Harvey hit, the tool shed Marek refers to as her husband’s “man-cave” was minorly flooded with water. Since their money was tied up in replacing some expensive tools damaged by water, Marek was challenged to get her annual Christmas decorations on a budget. Using her creative whimsy, she made this snowman Christmas tree out of cheap things gathered from Wal-Mart. Now, he’s her favorite decoration.

Three months ago, Daspit and her family finally moved into a new home. This year, her new home will be featured in the tour. She started decorating at the beginning of October to prepare and estimates she probably spent over $1,000 on country-themed Christmas decorations this year to make the tour fun for those who come out.

“I felt honored when the chamber asked me to be a part of it,” she said. “I think it’s great to show the community that Bar-X as a whole neighborhood, yeah, we had it bad the past two years with two floods in a row but we rebuilt.”

Daspit isn’t the only one who feels that way. Her friend and neighbor, Mandy Marek, also agreed to have her home be a part of the tour. Her home wasn’t damaged by the flood but she remembers how frightening it was for her and her young daughter who tried to wait out the floods in 2017.

Even their guest room is decorated with elegant reminders of Christmas. Marek tries to put a different theme in every single room, complete always with its own Christmas tree. Even the bathrooms have their own themes, though a Christmas tree probably wouldn’t fit.

“We got stranded and a neighbor came and picked us up by boat,” she said. “I don’t remember who the neighbor was but I was so thankful. We were going to try to ride it out but the water started coming up and my daughter got so scared. Once she got scared, that was it, I wasn’t going to make her go through that.”

While everything worked out fine in the end for Marek and her family, she said she felt guilty as she watched her neighbors rebuilding over the past year. Her family helped as much as they could but realized most people often already had more than enough help from other neighbors.

“Part of why I love being out here is the great things people do for each other out of the kindness of their hearts and I just wish the whole world could be like that,” Marek said.

Every home will be decorated uniquely, Marek said, and can be a good way to get decorating ideas for your own home. She’ll be going on the tours herself exactly for that reason. Anyone touring her home is in for a real Winter Wonderland treat. Just mind the glitter.