Tag Archive for: food

Janie’s Cakes In Tyler Gets Clean New Commercial Roof

Many ingredients go into making the perfect pound cake. But without a building to work in, the team at Janie’s Cakes would have nowhere to whip up their delicious treats. That’s why it was important to them — and us — that Janie’s Cakes get the best possible roof for their kitchen and storefront in Tyler.

Janie Clapp and Katherine Crow are the mother-daughter duo behind Janie’s Cakes. While the company began decades ago, they did not move into their current location until 2009, repurposing the old Coats-McCain Lumber Company building on East Front Street. “It’s been here for a long time,” said Clapp. “I’m not sure when it was built. Twenties? Thirties?”

The roof had been leaking for a little bit, Clapp and Crow explained. They realized that it was time to find an honest and reliable roofing company to tackle the job. “We’d just finally gotten to the point where the leaks were a little too frequent,” Crow said. “I called y’all’s office and got a call back, and then Roland was over here, like, lickety-split.”

Crow is talking about Roland Browne, the founder and CEO of Stonewater Roofing, who personally addressed the Janie’s Cakes project. “Janie’s Cakes is iconic in the East Texas area, and they have a beautiful building that’s just a ray of sunshine to look at,” Browne said. “I’m so happy that we were able to get them covered with a strong and dependable new roof.”

“They were on it, very efficient,” Clapp said of the roofing process.

Crow was quick to echo her mother’s statements. “Efficient, prompt, on time, well organized,” she said. “Anytime we do a project, we like to improve upon it, and Roland had the same point of view. So, not only would our roof be replaced, it would be replaced with a better quality material. It would overall be more energy efficient and more durable. So, maybe we’ll gain another decade or so out of it.”

“I appreciate the fact, too, that they kept us informed,” Clapp said. “If something came up with our oven, our vent to go with that I mean, they talked it over with us. They just didn’t do something. They discussed what they were going to do.”

“It looks great. It’s clean. It’s definitely an improvement from what we had, and really thankful that it happened so quickly,” said Crow. “Great overall. I enjoyed the whole process. I would do it all over again.”

Crow even gave Stonewater Roofing the best compliment of all, comparing our commercial roofing knowledge to those yummy desserts that she and her mom make each day. “Y’all are experts in your field just like we’re experts at making cakes,” she added. True, but our roofs don’t taste so darn good!

Are you ready to protect and improve your business with a new roof? Contact us now to schedule a free damage assessment, and see for yourself why Janie’s Cakes and so many other companies in Texas and Louisiana are raving about Stonewater Roofing’s commercial services.

Enjoy Delicious Treats At Fair Food Drive-In Days In Tyler

Do you love fair food? Well, you don’t have to wait until September to sink your teeth into a turkey leg, funnel cake, corn dog, or any other delicious treats. The East Texas State Fair is hosting Fair Food Drive-In Days from June 4-7 behind Harvey Convention Center in Tyler.

John Sykes, President and CEO of the East Texas State Fair, called this event “one of the most exciting things that we’ve ever tried to do, especially non-fair time.” Pick up food and enjoy it wherever you please. Eat in the car. Bring it back home. Tailgate in your front yard. The choice is all yours.

East Texas State Fair's Fair Food Drive-In Days

Grab some delicious treats at the East Texas State Fair’s Fair Food Drive-In Days.

Stonewater Roofing is at the event, handing out free bags and telling visitors how a new roof can provide peace of mind. Be sure to look for us when you’re there!

The idea for this new event came directly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. “As things began to open up, we thought, what is a better way to make people happy than to have some fair food available, just even for a few days,” Sykes explained. But it was not just about those craving fair food. This event helps the hard-working vendors as well.

“The concessionaires have been completely frozen out,” Sykes said. “All the events around the United States, if they haven’t been canceled, they’ve been delayed or postponed, and they’re literally starving. They needed a chance to work and to have a chance to make an extra dollar.”

The early results have pleased fair officials. “We have been completely surprised,” said Sykes. He had no idea what to expect from this event. In fact, he is already thinking about plans for next year. “It’s just unbelievable how many folks have come out and enjoyed everything from turkey legs to french fries.”

“We would deem it highly successful,” Sykes added.

However, the focus will soon shift to the East Texas State Fair. Officials are keeping a close eye on government guidelines, hoping that the fair can still open on September 25 as planned. “Right now,” Sykes said, “this is a prelude into the East Texas State Fair in September.”

Wienerland’s Iconic Roof Held Record For Steep Pitch

One of Tyler’s most iconic buildings will soon be gone. The Tyler Morning Telegraph reported in March that the former home of Wienerland is set to be demolished. The business holds many memories for East Texans, but is also well known within the roofing industry. That is because Wienerland’s roof held the record for the steepest pitch on a commercial building in Tyler.

Pitch is essentially the angle or slope of a roof. It is expressed as a ratio of vertical rise to horizontal span. For consistency within the United States, the span is always 12 inches. So, pitch measures how many inches a roof rises over the course of 12 horizontal inches. The easiest and safest way to measure the pitch of a roof is from the attic.

Slope Diagram

There are several common pitches within the construction industry, such as 4/12 for low-slope roofs up to 9/12 for steeper-slope roofs. The old Wienerland building is an oddity at 18.4/12 and an angle of nearly 57 degrees.

Pitch helps to redirect water and snow. Areas that see significant amounts of precipitation will typically require greater pitches or minimum slopes on buildings for protection. Since rain and snow are not regular issues in East Texas, the Wienerland pitch must have been for other reasons.

Perhaps the pitch was to attract attention. If that was the case, it certainly worked. Wienerland was a cherished eatery in the Tyler community for five decades, starting in 1968 as Der Wienerschnitzel. It was rebranded as Wienerland in the 1980s and saw great success along East 5th Street. After the owners died in 2016, the location was sold. Wienerland then reopened in May 2017, but it closed again in August 2018.

The building is being torn down to make way for HTeaO, a modern iced tea franchise.

Child Asks Johnny Manziel About His Favorite Candy

If you had the chance to interview your favorite pro athlete, what questions would you ask? Maybe you could discuss their past achievements. You might delve into their current status in the sports world. Perhaps you could talk about the lessons that this legendary figure has learned along their path to success.

Or you could just ask about candy.

That’s what happened when a little girl came face-to-face with former NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel at SportsCon in Dallas earlier this month. The event gave kids (and adults) an amazing opportunity to interact with well-known personalities from the sports industry including Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and MLB legend Pete Rose.

Johnny Manziel Interview

Johnny Manziel chats with Stonewater Roofing at SportsCon 2019 in Dallas.

Stonewater Roofing was a proud sponsor of the event, and built a stage to host athlete interviews. Manziel was one of the many stars who stopped by to chat with his young fans. But things got a bit quiet when one small girl took the stage alongside Johnny Football.

Manziel and Stonewater Roofing’s Skyler Hefley waited as the tiny fan chewed… and chewed… and chewed. She was apparently still working on a handful of Skittles that she stuffed into her mouth before taking the stage. Anticipation grew as the child kept smacking on her sugary treat, at her own pace.

“Do you like Skittles?” asked the former Texas A&M football star.

The little girl gave a big nod and finally asked her question: “What’s your favorite candy?”

While many chuckled, Manziel was a good sport and gave an answer that is sure to ignite a debate among fruit-flavored candy connoisseurs. “Starburst,” he told the child, who then walked away seemingly satisfied with his response and likely looking for another fistful of candy.

“You gotta love the kids, man,” Hefley said.

“You’ve got to, of course,” Manziel affirmed.

‘Setting Aside Roof Sales’ To Help Longview Recover From Storms

Extremely powerful straight-line winds caused severe damage to homes and businesses across Longview this week. The National Weather Service said that gusts reached as high as 90 mph along a path nearly 17 miles long and more than 2,000 yards wide. KLTV meteorologist Mark Scirto compared the Longview storms to “an EF-1 tornado and a high-end Category 1 hurricane.”

Mayor Andy Mack confirmed that there were no fatalities nor serious injuries in Longview, but there was plenty of damage left behind.

A tree lands on the roof of a home in Longview, TX.

Roofs were ripped apart. Large trees and power lines were toppled. The Longview storms resulted in widespread power outages and even forced some East Texas school districts to delay or cancel classes. Residents shared stunning photos of the damage on Facebook, showing massive amount of debris in their yards and on top of their houses.

But nothing could prepare Alicia Price for what she saw firsthand. “Facebook does not really do the damage justice,” she said. “You drive down through here and see roofs ripped off homes, huge trees through homes, windows blown out, patio doors blown out. The damage is pretty astronomical.”

Severe storms caused catastrophic damage to homes and businesses in Longview, TX.

That prompted Price, an invoicing specialist with Stonewater Roofing, to spring into action. She began coordinating with friends, business owners, police and city officials in Longview. The goal was to donate time, money and supplies to those impacted by this brutal storm, as well as those trying to clean up the mess that it left behind.

“We just wanted to give back to the community and help,” Price explained.

The local Longview roofing team set up camp at the corner of Judson Road and Eden Drive. There, they have been providing barbecue meals around the clock and offering assistance in any way possible. “People are showing up to help,” stated Price early Friday. “Even this morning, I had some random people drop some water off. I don’t even know how they knew we were here.”

Along with the homeowners who saw property damage from the storm, Price and her team are also helping the city workers who have been busy cleaning up the storm’s path of destruction. “The city and police department were very welcoming,” Price added. “They’ve had nobody offer, so they were very excited that we were here and showing up.”

Trees knocked down onto homes was a common sight after storms blew through Longview, TX.

“When incidents like these happen, this is where we set aside trying to sell a roof,” explained Trent Spradlin, Chief Marketing Officer with Stonewater Roofing. “We set that aside for being empathetic to people who have lost something. All of us here at Stonewater obviously have experienced loss of some sort at some time, and we know what that’s like.”

“Whether its a homeowner or a city employee that’s been working throughout the night and during the day, giving them a break and some sense of normalcy, not having to worry about not having electricity at home to cook food and things of that nature, really is the reason that we’re doing this,” Spradlin elaborated. “It speaks directly to the Stonewater culture.”

Red Dirt Festival Celebrates The Best Texas BBQ & Music

It’s a treat for your ears and your taste buds! The best BBQ in Texas will pair with some fantastic live music once again for the Red Dirt BBQ & Music Festival, being held on May 4 in downtown Tyler. This will be the sixth year for the event, which has quickly become an East Texas favorite.

For those who have never made it out, the Red Dirt BBQ & Music Festival brings together more than 25 of the most popular BBQ joints from across the state — from Tyler to Amarillo. Sample a wide variety of smoked meat dishes while never leaving the Rose City’s bricked streets.

But the mouthwatering food is just half of the fun. Enjoy your meal while listening to nearly 12 hours of live music on the Stonewater Stage. This year’s artists have been revealed, and fans are already eager to attend this uniquely Texas event.

  • Randy Rogers Band
  • Wade Bowen
  • Stoney LaRue
  • American Aquarium
  • Mike & The Moonpies

Plus, attendees have multiple chances to win an iPad Pro at the festival from Stonewater Roofing.

Tickets go on sale at 10:00 AM on February 1 and you don’t want to miss out. Last year, officials stated that 5,000 tickets were sold in less than 48 hours, and VIP tickets were gone in just 30 seconds. That was a record time, and this year’s event is sure to be just as popular. Visit the Red Dirt BBQ & Music Festival’s website for ticket information and more details. Stonewater Roofing is among the event’s proud sponsors.