Concerned Citizens

In today’s Express-News Ben Olivo provided his opinion of the Fiesta Fiesta opening ceremonies. While it did provide some good insight on things that probably need tweaking for next year it seems to have missed the overall intent of the event or buried it among some scandalous aspects to prompt the blog read. I have to say that after reading Ben’s piece I am wondering if he attended the same event I did and saw the same people I saw walking around. Granted the VIP areas probably needed a little different approach but what I also saw last night were families enjoying the opening ceremonies much more than year’s past.

I’ve been to several opening ceremonies over the past few years as a volunteer holding cascarones made of ballons, as the photographer for the website when we were developing it, and recently as an Elected Commissioner. I take my Fiesta seriously because of the good it provides for the community. While I can’t speak for how others might see me I don’t count myself as a Fiesta elitist. Last night I spent about 30 minutes in the VIP area only to grab some quick food and then wandered out into the crowd. I bought medals at Pin Pandemonium because the money goes back to good organizations. I bought fish tacos because 1) they were darn good and 2) the money went to help a mental health organization.

I sat back with Pete Van De Putte, Sen. Van De Putte’s husband, not in the VIP area but with the crowd to listen to the 82nd Airborne All-American Chorus. Thousands of others did also. They were enjoying the Fiesta Fiesta ceremonies with their families which is what this is all about. Miss Neesie was wonderful also and while many did want to dance in the roped off area they found places to dance regardless. I don’t think they were as bothered by the areas as Ben seemed to be but then again, Ben felt he needed to make a point. His perogative as a blogger.

What I also saw last night was a much larger crowd enjoying the beginning of Fiesta. Talking to a friend later he told me he netted over 30 medals during the night. He’s one of those big time medal collectors and enjoys opening ceremonies because of the medal swapping. Where did he get his medals? Wandering the crowd. I also saw little kids having fun with their moms and dads, something Ben seemed to have missed in his commentary. That’s why I wondered which opening ceremony Ben saw last night.

I respect Ben a lot. His Downtown Blog is on my blog reader list and I always enjoy his perspective of the urban core and how it’s changing. Someday I hope to sit down with him and talk more about that and share some thoughts. We just have to bump into each other. I just wish he would have worn a few different kinds of classes than those funky 3D Fireworks glasses. Maybe I’m the idealist and he’s the practicalist so hopefully you can get a balance of viewpoints from our two blog entries. After all, they are opinions which is the right way to look at blogs (another entry in the future on that).

Ben provided some good criticism but he seems to have left off the rest of the event in the mix of his critical viewpoint. That’s okay. It makes for a good blog read but it did miss the fun of the event. Those things are hard to plan for, especially one as new as Fiesta Fiesta. I can tell you that Judge Reed, Janet Holiday, Anne Cannon, Fernando Villarreal and a host of others changed the complexion of opening ceremonies to more of a people event than ever before. It’s a start and a darn good start at that.

I can’t wait to read Ben’s blog entry next year after a year of tweaking.