Selena Gomez Visits Home on 'Monte Carlo' Mall Tour

Actor Selena Gomez got to celebrate her Texas roots and simultaneously promote the movie "Monte Carlo" when she made her stop on Tuesday, June 14 at the Grapevine Mills Mall in Grapevine, TX. There were literally thousands of noisy fans gathered in the mall's Food Court area to get a glimpse of her. Several of these fans were from the Grand Prairie, TX area, as was noted when she mentioned the city and there was a loud response. Now I'm sure you are asking, "What difference does that make?"

Many people may not know this, but Selena Gomez grew up in Grand Prairie, TX. She was originally cast on the television show "Barney & Friends" for two years before Disney Channel talent scouts came to the Dallas, TX area and discovered her. Just as they say, the rest is history.

Selena definitely wanted to let her thousands of fans at Grapevine Mills Mall know where she was from.

"I started here in Grand Prairie, TX. It makes me so happy to be proud of where I'm from and to make all you guys proud because I'm the luckiest girl in the whole world and I love you all so much," stated Gomez.

Selena seemed happy to be back to the place she feels is her hometown area.

"It's so good to be home. I used to shop at all these places. It all started here. I'm Texan. That's for sure."

The City of Grand Prairie got the honor of having this writer and resident personally present Ms. Gomez with a Grand Prairie Care Pack on Wednesday, June 15. They gave her a recyclable green Grand Prairie cloth bag filled to the brim with city T-shirts, sunglasses, a hat, travel mugs, and tickets to every upcoming event at the newly renovated Uptown Theater among other things.

When I presented her with the gifts, Selena was very surprised. She accepted it and stated,

"Wow. That is so sweet. Thank you very much."

For some sort of press reasons, taking a photo of her with the bag was not allowed. I did get a chance to take one of Ms. Gomez with a poster for her new movie "Monte Carlo" on the same day she was presented with the bag of Grand Prairie goodies.'