The smell of popcorn filled the air, amplified music floated across Texas A&M University-San Antonio’s East Lawn and police officers ushered eager attendees to parking — all to conclude the two-week-long city-wide celebration of Fiesta.
Attendees crowded the A&M-San Antonio campus on April 28 in front of the Central Academic Building for Festival De Cascarones. Some waited in line to enjoy Fiesta foods and drinks such as tortas, mini tacos, aguas frescas, chicken on a stick and Frito pies, while others waited in line to enjoy rides and activity booths.
For some, the history behind Fiesta is what keeps people coming back each year.
“I came for my first year as a freshman in 2017 and I’ve come back ever since — it’s just the celebration that I love so much about it,” festival attendee Celeste Luna said. “With this crazy world, it’s really great to see a lot of people coming for the same thing, to celebrate and bring back some of that history of how it was when the Alamo had just ended and everyone was honoring the heroes and the fallen heroes as well — so I like the touch of history that the city brings, especially with events like this.”
The Battle of Flowers Parade began in 1891 as a way to celebrate the Battle of San Jacinto and to remember those who fought at the Alamo.
The event also included a touch of heat, with temperatures reaching a little over 80 degrees and humidity at 86%. People walked along the sidewalks fanning themselves – some even brought portable fans.
Many people also attend the festival to immerse themselves in the culture and enjoy the Fiesta experience with the community.
“For the community, it’s nice for people who aren’t too familiar with [A&M-San Antonio] to come out here, explore it, see it for a little bit, seeing not only it’d be rich in culture but rich in other cultures as well,” said Shelby Celedon, a communications freshman and softball player.
Celedon also said the festival is an event where friends, family and students can meet new people, explore the campus and learn about different clubs.
The Feminist Advocacy and Empowerment organization operated a booth where attendees could purchase and decorate tote bags.
“We’ve been very successful,” said organization member Abril Morales about selling tote bags in the past to raise funds for the student organization. “[But] for events, we’ve never sold tote bags, but we decided to do something fun — everyone is welcome to DIY their own tote bag.”
Because the A&M-San Antonio community has grown over the last few years, many new people attended the festival.
“It’s really nice to see how diverse [A&M-San Antonio] has become now that more people from all over the country are coming to [A&M-San Antonio],” said student body president Deane Jean Gumila. “Our school is not very well known in the A&M system so it’s really nice to see that people are starting to know the name of our university, especially during Fiesta season. A lot of people are coming out to celebrate Fiesta here in San Antonio and so Festival De Cascarones is a big deal for our university.”
