Local businesses and residents around Whitehouse are showing support for their very own hometown legend, Patrick Mahomes, as he heads to Florida to play in Super Bowl LV on Sunday.
Mahomes, who residents call a Kansas City Chiefs legend, is a Whitehouse native and the community is showing how proud they are of him.
Montez Creekside Kitchen features the original Mahomes Hot Dog on their menu all year long, but this time of year, they say the item is a favorite.
Gloria Muñoz, managing partner of Montez Creekside Kitchen, explained the 12-inch hot dog is served with pulled barbeque pork, a fried egg, jalapeño, pickles and fried onions.
Chef Carlos Villapudua, co-owner of Montez Creekside Kitchen, was the creator of the hotdog. He chose to serve the hotdog with barbeque beef to represent Kansas City, plenty of ketchup because that’s what Mahomes loves on everything and a fried egg, because that’s what Chef Villapuadua loves on everything.
“You can’t just not support Mahomes. He’s a great kid and since we opened the restaurant before the Super Bowl, Mundo (Villapudua) and Chef Carlos made the Mahomes hot dog. We’re such a small community and we have to support Mahomes,” Muñoz said.
For Super Bowl Sunday, Montez Creekside Kitchen will be closed, but they will be hosting an outdoor tailgate watch party, where they’ll have their crawfish trailer and a taco truck along with the Mahomes hot dog.
Muñoz’s kids attended school with Mahomes and her husband, Alfredo Muñoz, coached Mahomes when he was about five or six years old in baseball.
“We just love him. We all look up to him, especially the kind of person that he is. He’s an incredible kid. We want everyone to know that we support him, 100%,” Muñoz said.
Shawna Driggers, office manager at Kelly Air Conditioning, said she started the Paint the Town campaign throughout the city of Whitehouse. The initiative encourages people to decorate their businesses, windows, homes and yards with Kansas City Chiefs’ colors.
“I wanted everyone to show their spirit for our hometown famous football player because we were so excited for him and someone local in a small town that has gotten this far,” she said.
Last year, Paint the Town was a big hit, so they decided to do it again this year.
“The bigger it’s gotten, the more stuff we’ve received. We’ve gotten banners and flags, we’ve had people give us big highway banners to put out, so it’s been very supportive here in Whitehouse,” Diggers said. “We’ve enjoyed everybody coming together as one and decorating and going all out for Patrick and the Kansas City chiefs.”
Driggers’ daughter plays basketball and softball with Mahomes’ sister.
“Patrick is very giving. He gave the softball team, a few years ago, a pair of Adidas cleats, some shirts and some headbands. It made all those little girls very happy. We thank him for everything that he does and he’s very supportive of the community and organizations too,” Driggers said.
Whitehouse local and Kansas City Chiefs fan Jerry King stopped to shop at a table sale on the corner of Main Street and State Highway 110 with his granddaughter to gear up on some Mahomes merch.
“We’re supporting the local superstar, Patrick. The connection to your community is always important. Being supportive of your community is always important. He also makes everybody around here feel good because he’s one of ours,” King said.
King and his granddaughter bought a hoodie and for Super Bowl Sunday, they’ll be at the Lake Tyler Marina camping out.
“Go Chiefs. (To Mahomes,) keep on lighting it up like he’s lighting it up,” King said.