This year’s Festival de Cascarones will feature Grammy-winning Tejano band Grupo Solido, dozens of student organizations and vendors selling dog treats and guayaberas straight from Mexico.
This event is the official finale of Fiesta, an 11-day celebration of San Antonio’s history and culture, a more than 130-year-old tradition.
It will be held from 1-8 p.m. May 4 in the Central Academic Building courtyard and the West Lawn at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
It is free admission for everyone with a parking fee of $10. The event is also pet-friendly, as long as they are leashed.
The festival is not only a campus event. It is open to university students and their families, along with San Antonio residents and neighboring communities.
There will be music and entertainment all day on the main stage with the headliner Grupo Solido and appearances by La Calma and Tejano Highway 281.
Thirty student organizations will have a non-food booth or sell items such as chicken on a stick, mini tacos, gorditas, snow cones, corn in a cup, ice cream and paletas.
A few of the organizations participating include the President’s Leadership class, the Dreamer Student Organization, Psychology Club, Asian Student Association and Delta Chi.
Jesse Kelly, president of Delta Chi, described his previous experience selling aguas frescas at the festival.
“It is a really good event,” Kelly said. “I think it definitely shows the culture of San Antonio, so many people come out. I personally had a lot of fun because I was left doing the vending with my fraternity brothers.”
Kelly, an English sophomore, shared what he is looking forward to and how the money they raise will benefit the fraternity.
“This year we’ll be doing chicken quesadillas and Jarrito,” said Kelly. “The money we get from it really gives back to our organizations and helps us plan our own events.”
University department teams will sell snacks or have a free interactive activity to talk about their programs and are able to get connected with the community.
This year, there will be a few new vendors, such as Chilton’s, which sell dog treats and snacks and Que Bonita Crafts, selling tote bags and hand-crafted items.
“We have a vendor actually, that is coming all the way from Mexico selling guayaberas and Mexican artisan hand-crafted gifts,” said Amanda Mora, director of university & public events.
A&M- San Antonio started Festival de Cascarones in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2014 that it became an official Fiesta event with a spot in the event calendar.
“Students get to come out and bring their families to campus, and then I think the food is what people look forward to,” Mora said. I think another big draw is our cascarone smash…the kids love getting the eggs for free and being able to smash them on people,”
Students and the surrounding community can expect to see street banners and information about this event posted on monitors around campus, newsletters, emails and on social media.
Residents in the dorms can also expect to be notified about fencing set up Friday, May 2, before the event in order to make accommodations for parking around campus.
For more information, visit https://www.tamusa.edu/festival-de-cascarones/.
