Fiesta is just around the corner
Today Fiesta Centralized Ticket Sales starts selling tickets to various Fiesta events at 10 a.m. Normally this would be just another opening event for Fiesta. What has always made this opening different is that this location and the box office will be the only places you can purchase Cornyation tickets until 11 a.m. when you buy them over the Internet. So people will line up at both locations well ahead of the opening to secure those prized seats to the Thursday late performance. At the Fiesta Commission offices the first people got in line at 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning and have been there since. But hey, it Fiesta!
I’ve been involved with Fiesta San Antonio for 18 years starting the year of the Centennial celebration in 1991. I still have my poster pin from that year which I think is worth quite a bit now. After that first year I started working as a volunteer at the Commission, helping in various capacities from selling merchandise in the store to designing and managing the Fiesta website. This year will be my last year serving as an Elected Commissioner, a role I have enjoyed since being elected by the Commission members.
The reason I love Fiesta is really for the things most people typically don’t see while attending the parades or partying in NIOSA. It’s the volunteer spirit that permeates the ten days of celebration and festivities. Over 75,000 people put time and effort performing tasks ranging from setting up chairs for the parade route to scooping poop on the route behind the horses. Everyone in San Antonio typically has some Fiesta volunteer memory. That’s what makes it special.
There’s another reason Fiesta is special. After Fiesta is over the goodwill of people continues to spread as organizations take the funds made during the festival and put them to work as investments in the community. You see every organization in Fiesta must be a non-profit organization. The funds they make must be put back into the community.
The WEBB Party benefits the San Antonio AIDS Foundation and helps provide undesignated funds for various patient care services. NIOSA provides funds for the San Antonio Conservation Society to help preserve the heritage and history of San Antonio. Fiesta Arts Fair provides funds for arts programs for children and adults throughout the year at the Southwest Craft Center. The list goes on and on. As my good friend and past Fiesta president Gloria Ray always says, “Fiesta is the party that keeps on giving.”
This year we’re trying something new with Fiesta. We’re going to engage Fiesta fans using social media through Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook you can join the Fiesta page as a fan to keep up with all that’s Fiesta. On Twitter you can follow @FiestaSA or use the #fiestasa hash tag. We’ll have people throughout Fiesta twittering up or providing Facebook updates so you’ll have the latest information and know what’s cool.
As of this posting there are over 1,400 fans to the Fiesta Facebook page and people are commenting. It’s becoming THE place to be online for all things Fiesta. So join us online and in person throughout Fiesta. Be sure and come downtown on April 16th around 5 p.m. for Fiesta Fiesta, the new opening ceremonies. There’ll be live bands, pins to trade and buy, and fireworks at the end. It’s sure to be a great kickoff for Fiesta.
And as we all say in San Antonio – ¡Viva Fiesta!
