April 22, 2023 • 40 mins
Welcome to the iHeart Radio Fiesta Podcast, where we celebrate the rich cultural traditions of San Antonio, Texas. In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Michael Quintanilla, known as "Mr. Fiesta," and Kathleen Whittle, the artist behind this year's official Fiesta poster.
Michael Quintanilla is a veteran journalist who has covered Fiesta, the city's annual spring festival, for over three decades. He is also the author of "San Antonio's Fiesta: A Celebration of Food, Art, and Culture." Kathleen Whittle is a talented artist who was selected to create the official Fiesta poster for 2023. His hand made outfits have become synonymous with Fiesta, making him a staple figure to the yearly event.
In this episode, Michael and Kathleen share their insights into the significance of Fiesta in San Antonio and how it has evolved over the years. They discuss the role that art plays in the festival and how Kathleen's poster captures the essence of Fiesta.
Kathleen shares her creative process and how she drew inspiration from the vibrant colors, music, and energy of Fiesta to create her masterpiece. Michael also shares some of his favorite moments from past Fiesta celebrations and how the festival has become an integral part of San Antonio's cultural heritage.
As they chat, you'll hear about the many events and activities that make Fiesta such a special time in San Antonio. From the colorful parades to the delicious food and music, there's something for everyone to enjoy.
So, if you're a fan of Fiesta or just curious about this iconic festival, tune in to this episode of the iHeart Radio Fiesta Podcast. You won't want to miss this lively conversation between Michael Quintanilla and Kathleen Whittle as they explore the art, culture, and traditions of San Antonio's beloved Fiesta.
Michael Quintanilla is a veteran journalist who has covered Fiesta, the city's annual spring festival, for over three decades. He is also the author of "San Antonio's Fiesta: A Celebration of Food, Art, and Culture." Kathleen Whittle is a talented artist who was selected to create the official Fiesta poster for 2023. His hand made outfits have become synonymous with Fiesta, making him a staple figure to the yearly event.
In this episode, Michael and Kathleen share their insights into the significance of Fiesta in San Antonio and how it has evolved over the years. They discuss the role that art plays in the festival and how Kathleen's poster captures the essence of Fiesta.
Kathleen shares her creative process and how she drew inspiration from the vibrant colors, music, and energy of Fiesta to create her masterpiece. Michael also shares some of his favorite moments from past Fiesta celebrations and how the festival has become an integral part of San Antonio's cultural heritage.
As they chat, you'll hear about the many events and activities that make Fiesta such a special time in San Antonio. From the colorful parades to the delicious food and music, there's something for everyone to enjoy.
So, if you're a fan of Fiesta or just curious about this iconic festival, tune in to this episode of the iHeart Radio Fiesta Podcast. You won't want to miss this lively conversation between Michael Quintanilla and Kathleen Whittle as they explore the art, culture, and traditions of San Antonio's beloved Fiesta.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Since eighteen ninety one, the firstBattle of Flowers Parade, the people of
San Antonio celebrate Fiesta to bring thecommunity together. Now because of Fiesta,
we're taking that story and sharing itwith you here on the Official I Heart
Fiesta Podcast. Discover how Fiesta givesback to San Antonio and get to know
the people who make it all happen, have fun, give back Fiesta.
(00:25):
Fiesta San Antonio would like to thankits official sponsors Toyota, Dosaki's Chick fil
A, Silver Star and Texas Disposal. Hi Fiesta, they went a Fiesta.
We wrotegle say people. It's theOfficial Fiesta Podcast. I Heeart Fiesta
(01:00):
talking about all things Fiesta twenty twentythree this year and this so far has
been the most fun episode because wehave Michael, my guys, Mister Fiesta
in the studio with us and KathleenWhiddle, who created the official Fiesta poster
for twenty twenty thirty. So todayit's about art and fashion, two of
(01:23):
my favorite things to talk about,uh and Fiesta partying with a purpose here
in San Antonio and Pedro we hadwe had to get Pedro Alda on a
mic because this is really interesting Pedro'slearning a lot about Fiesta as uh he
rolls into his first Fiesta event herein San Antonio, my first Fiesta and
San Antonio. I'm this this podcasthere has been super informative, super educational.
(01:47):
I like history, right, myhistory buff. I wouldn't say maybe
buff, especially not physically buff,but I like learning anything that's history related.
Right then, So, so Iwas not aware of the hist three
of Fiesta and when it started.So as we've been knocking out these episodes
and I've been part of these sessions, this has been mind blowing, and
(02:07):
that today's definitely mind blowing. SoKathleen and Michael are both helping Pedro put
on and me put on these capeswhich are amazing, Oh my god,
robes, robes, robes, royalrobes, well hold on robes usually like
come around the front. Well,Michael, how important fashion is? Though?
(02:28):
He brought these capes in and hecame in and his gorgeous hat,
in his gorgeous suit, and hechanged the whole energy. If you want
to see what this gorgeous had andthis makeup, I mean this whole costume
and shoes and and and robes,look like you can go to the instagram
of one or four five Latino hitsand check out all the photos are away.
(02:49):
You guys were meant to wear robes, yes, and what they put
those robes on and they instantly startedworking. I want to see your way
out right, hold on, isit so I decide or like like off
(03:10):
their heads? Yea, you do. Look I am mad, kath I
was mentioning to Michael. I wantto see what his closet looks like.
Maybe go shopping in there. Butmy closet is so tiny, like it
would only have room for maybe twohats. I have at my home.
(03:31):
I have one of the bedrooms nowis a room Okay, yes, that's
where I make things. And well, you know what that's like, Kathleen.
When you work from home and createfrom home, you got to have
your sacred space to do that in. My husband teases me because he says,
my studio is the entire house.I just like slowly. I just
every surface has got paintbrushes. Andwhen Fiesta rolls along, I just bring
(03:55):
out all my hats and I putthem on sofas on the dining table.
What will I work today? Yes, I'm intrigued about that room. Now
like we should show like we gotto do a behind the scenes like MTV
cribs Michael's house. Well the hatammorein right now if I may, sure?
This was so. I I'm fromSan Antonio. I grew up on
(04:17):
the South Side and yay. Iwent to Burbank High School and then Trinity
University, and journalism is my background. I've been a writer and a reporter
for forty something years. I startedat the Express News and uh, and
you know how journalism is, andyou guys are in broadcasting and all that,
you have to move for your job. Often you're in you to San
(04:39):
Antonio, Pedro, so you understandthat. So you know, I left
the city to explore my career andyou get homesick. So when I finally
returned to San Antonio about maybe howlong ago was that, Susie Steve,
maybe twelve twelve years ago? Itotally Kathleen. I threw myself into Fiesta,
Like, what did you mean?My mom would always say, what
(05:00):
me? What did you miss themost? I said, well, my
you and now, but I don'tmean that mean hold what else? I
said, I really missed Fiesta.She said, well, jump into it.
Those were my my, my mom'sfavorite words to me. She would
always say jump in, like jumpinto life. Right, So she said
jump into it and I did.This was the first hat I made.
It was the year that Fiesta wentfrom ten days to eleven days. There
(05:25):
are eleven hats. Oh, it'smy hat of hats. Describe all that's
in there, because there's a lot. Because people can't see this podcast,
they can hear the but what's what'sin there? Well, you guys see,
you got you describe its feathers,feathers, a lot of stones,
(05:46):
a lot of color, ribbon,just everything I could say. Bus I
see an airplane, I mean there'sno there's there's there's angel wings at the
very very top. So this ismy thing. Don't ever throw anything away.
I just have boxes of stuff andalways repurpose things that you have at
home. And you just kind ofstart. I wanted to do because I
knew that hats were a big thingfor Fiesta, and I thought, well,
(06:10):
this is my motto. I'm neverdone until I'm overdone. Okay,
when I feel like it's overdone,benito, I am done. Hold it's
overdone. So is it done orare you still adding to Oh? No
I added something, Hi, Taia, what do you think this will be
(06:34):
done? Though? Or you willclassified overdone? Oh? I don't know
just when when when something falls off? And I add two more things,
you know. But so I wantedto create and I love Doctor SEUs.
It's the kid in me, Yesta, I think brings out the kid in
us, right, And that's whatI love about Fiesta are the children and
(06:56):
how they dress up and how theylove Fiesta. And there are so many
art projects for children too, asKathleen, will you speak about later.
But also so I wanted to makethis kind of an homage to doctor Seuss.
And so I wanted to do ahat of many hats that are like
tumbling and chaotic and having fun andhedonistic, you know, you know,
(07:18):
And so that's what I came upwith. So eleven half earlier. Sorry,
Michael was trying to tell me earlierthat he wasn't an artist, You're
a sculptor. This is a beautiful, such a beautiful balance in colors.
Beautiful. Well, you know what, I once did a session with kids.
I wanted to do a class withkids. Only did it once,
but there's so much potential in thishow to make a hat and how so
(07:41):
much math and engineering is involved inmaking a hat like this, because I've
stacked three hats. I walked aroundthe house with it and said, no,
it's falling over. I need toput one in the front. I
need to put one on the left, I need to you know, do
it. So there was a lotof math and engineering and measuring and then
you walk around in it. Andyou know, this is my fashion tip
to ladies out there. When youbuy a new pair of shoes, if
(08:05):
you're going out to a thing tonightor tomorrow night, tests walk those shoes.
You know. You gotta walk inyour stuff before you go to stuff.
So that's what I did with ahat, you know. And I'll
tell you the best trick of all. And Steve knows this and Susie.
So I'm gonna take this hat offso you guys can see what the trick
is. Kathleen, will you helpme? Well, okay, here you
(08:26):
go. Okay, see this capI'm wearing this. See the baseball yep?
Yes, okay. So we're abackwards baseball cap that has a strong
brim on it because it will preventthe hat from falling back ahead. Yeah,
yeah, and then put some kindof a sweat absorbent pat on your
ford because you're gonna sweat when you'rewearing it, and be ready to suffer
for fashion. That's all I wasgoing to ask you, Michael, what
(08:52):
was it that inspired you to sharea fashion and be a part of the
fashion can? You know? Fashionis my background. So I was at
the Los Angeles Times for fifteen years, and my last what maybe eight years
of that was covering fashion. Iwent to New York, Milan, London,
and Paris twice a year and coveredjust you know, the most fabulous
(09:16):
shows, the runways of the world, all of the great designers sitting in
front row, and I think seeingthese things, seeing these creations, especially
from mostly from the avant garde designerslike I'm thinking Rick Owens, maybe John
Galliano, they would come out withthese outrageous looks on the runway, and
meeting the designers, interviewing them backstage, being up close and actually touching the
(09:41):
garments and seeing the beauty in them. And yes, the craftsmanship and the
art, the artistic expression, andthat's what all this is about. And
I just kind of thought, Ijust need a glue gun. Yeah,
you know, I was Project Runwaybefore Project. Growing up, did you
(10:03):
know that you were gonna pursue acareer in fashion? Yeah? What were
What were the things when you werea child that influenced you to kind of
go down that road? My mom, mom was a seamstress. She's working
for the o Levi Strouss blue jeans, Yes, yes, and you know
what she did. She did zippers, Kathleen, she you know, putting
(10:24):
blue jeans together. It's all piecework. She did all the zippers and
she got paid twenty five cents azipper back then, so you can imagine
she was always exhausted. Her handswere always hurting. But the faster you
work, the more quarters you madedoing those zippers. And then my mom
sewed a lot, so she wouldalways uh. She would even make my
bed sheets, like the fittest sheet, and then the throw sheet, and
(10:46):
then the pillowcases. And she'd haveone time she had leftover fabric. I
will never forget it. It wasI wanted like the American flagstars and stripes,
and she had leftover fabric. Isaid, Mom, what are you
gonna do with that? She said, I don't know. I said,
make me a shirt. So shemade me your shirt to match my bed
sheets shirt. I wish I did. But the body of the shirt was
(11:07):
was the stripes blue and white stripes, and then we did the collar and
the cuffs were the were no,the flag is red and white, and
then the stars were blue. Sothe collar and the cuffs were the stars,
and then the body of the shirtwas red and white. I mean
you you could you could like runme up a flagpole. But every time
(11:28):
my mom made me some bed sheets, she always had bought extra fabrics so
she could make me a matching shirt. If you've ever been to Fiesta and
you've seen a huge hat, it'sprobably Michael Key. But there's so many
now, there's a lot. Imean, that's why I got into it,
because I saw so many men andwomen making the hats, and they
(11:50):
make gorgeous hats, beautiful hats.It's all fantasy. You know, you
were special. I remember you frommy very first TESTA. Definitely, you
definitely are memorable. Yes, absolutely. Kathleen has the official Fiesta poster for
twenty twenty three and beautiful poster rightbehind Michael there. And if you check
(12:13):
the artwork for this podcast, you'llsee the poster for Fiesta twenty twenty three.
Kathleen tell us a little bit aboutthe inspiration behind your piece, because
it's kind of unique. It's ina frame and that's the actual painting.
So the painting came about very organically. When we my husband's in the military,
the Army brought us to Fort Sam, Houston. I've grew up in
(12:35):
Houston. I have lived in Texasuntil I met a soul journey took me
away from all this, and thenhe finally brought me back. He got
stationed at Fort Sam and we gothere about two weeks before the first Fiesta
that was a little bit late,was held a little bit late, right,
and it was the first one afterCOVID. Yeah, and all of
(12:58):
our events were sort of official functionswe ought to go to with Fiesta and
with the Fiesta Commission and with thecavaliers and at Bob and I just felt
like the city just throw open hisdoors and said come on in. And
then we got to go to Beethovensand saw the poster contest for last year's
poster and I looked over at himthat night and I was like, what
(13:20):
do you think Maybe I could dothat? And then I went home,
and I started painting. I wentto the McNay Museum with a friend of
mine and walked through the courtyard andthere's that beautiful Spanish Revival arched doorway with
the wrought iron gate on it,which was so beautiful. And so that
was the basis for the painting.And I actually have had several people come
(13:41):
up and say where have I seenthat door before? I took all the
symbols. That's when I started.So I'm Texas history. I've had all
the years of Texas history, butI still didn't know about Fiesta, and
so I started in all the research, right, I started in all the
research on the symbols of not justFiesta, but San Antonio and the obviously
(14:03):
there's all the symbols of Texas inthere. I got to put in my
favorite things, like the little buttercutflowers, like when you took picked them
on the playground as a kid andput them on your nose so you would
get the yellow on the end.And of course blue bonnets and the prickly
pear cactus and magnolia's are my favorite, and the yellow rose and the yucca.
(14:24):
I've got the the horny toe justdown there on the steps that seems
to be something people like like andthe mockingbird We've got a country, and
the crape myrtle so and the Vivafiata peppio picado via Fiesta. So I
wanted to make that warm glowing lightcoming out from the center and the doors
(14:46):
is just open just a little biton come on end is the name of
the painting. And I believe theymade uh NFT out of it actually where
they animated and because the original conceptwas to have like the confetti bursting out
of the doorway, it got abit busy. Yeah, edit that out,
(15:07):
um, but I think that's whatthey did with that NFT and the
door swings open slightly in the confettipersa. Yes, it's on the commission.
We'll actually be debuting the NFT shortly. We're working on finalizing some of
the graphics. It's a great posterand that you know Kathleen's inspiration for the
poster. It really set the themein tone for this year, the Fiesta
(15:30):
family spirit. Like Kathleen said,with the with the door slightly open,
but Fiesta is a great way forSan Antonio's to open their doors to their
visitors, to all the guests ofSan Antonio for Fiesta, it really welcome
them in to join in the Fiestafamily spirit. So we really thank Kathleen
for her inspiration and not only thegreat poster that she created, but also
setting the tone for the theme thisyear. Steve tell us a little bit
(15:54):
about the process for folks who wouldlike to do this in the future.
What's that process look like to beable to submit poster for consideration. Well,
the process has changed over the years, but what we've worked on the
last couple of years is whatever thecurrent president of Fiesta, he or she
(16:15):
will recruit five artists to submit adesign, give them kind of a theme
and a color can work with orThis year it really was kind of open
ended where we ask each one ofthe artists to actually come up with their
own theme, their own color scheme, and what we do is we'll have
basically called a contest, a fiveto one, basically taking five artists down
to one selection. We do thatin the fall, and it's been a
(16:37):
great way the last couple of yearsthey have our Fiesta members actually be involved
in the process of selecting the posterartists. Yeah, so we've had this
event in September the last couple ofyears, and our membership has invited and
we get several hundred members to attendthe event and they cast their vote for
whichever of the five posters that theywould like to see as the official Fiesta
poster. We gray, we scorethe votes, and the one that comes
(17:02):
up with the largest amount of votesfrom our membership that is the one that's
selected, and we actually do theunveiling end of January first of February.
But it's a great way not onlyto involve the local art community for San
Antonio, but it's a great way. It's a great benefit for our Fiesta
membership to actually be involved in selectingthe poster that's going to go on merchandise
(17:22):
that's going to be set up forthe theme, it goes on the cover
of the magazine and on our media. It's just a great way to really
tie the whole Fiesta experience into theinto the Fiesta poster selection. Yeah,
I've had so many people come upto me and say, I voted for
your poster. That's the one Ivoted for. I knew it was going
to win that night, and soyou're right. That's it's such a good
way to make people personally invested inthe process, and anybody can be a
(17:45):
member of the Theistic Commission. Youjust have to go online and fill out
the form and it's it's not right, it's a nominal theme from great benefits.
But also by by creating this,this event and this element in September,
we want people to be thinking aboutFiesta year round. It's not just
a party in April for eleven days. There's really a year long process involved
(18:07):
that if there's ways that we canenhance the value for our membership but also
tie in the local art community tobe part of the whole Fiesta operation.
Again, that really ties in thewhole Fiesta family spirit. We have a
lot of family members involved in Fiesta. We have two point five million guests
that attend Fiesta events. But allthe Fiesta organizations that are involved according their
own events. We want to makesure that they feel the Fiesta experienced twelve
(18:30):
months out of the year. Stevensright, because people ask me, oh,
I bet you can't wait for Fiesta'sstart in April. I said,
dude, it started in November.Known about this for a while, and
they're like, you've been going toFista things like asking me what I'm doing.
I'm you've been going to fasten thingsfor two months now. I thought
you said, fys, it wasn'tuntil the end of April. Yeah,
yes, is all year round.Yeah, and it's not just here in
(18:52):
Texas because if I may, andSteve and Susie know this. And I
have to say, Steve and Susieare like they're the blood, sweat and
tears and heart of Fiesta, youknow. And these guys know that I've
been actually I've been through visit SanAntonio. I've made appearances as mister Fiesta.
Uh, you know, in frontof tourism people in Las Vegas and
(19:15):
Chicago. These are people from allaround the world, and they see me
dressed like this, you know.And they when I was in, when
I was in, when I wasin Las Vegas, and one said to
me which show I was? Isaid, the Fiesta Show. Actually thought
I walked off some kind of showin Vegas. That's how good that is.
(19:38):
We had you right here in SanAntonio. I love that. I
really do have to vouch for Michael. He really is mister Fiesta. He
really embodies the Fiesta spirit of ofjust getting people to join together, whether
it's coordinated a dance contest, orshowing off as fashion or are being an
MC for a lot of different Fiestaorganizations. Michael Willi embodies the Fiesta spirit.
(20:00):
That's really what is so great tosee from a from a staff perspective.
We coordinate Fiesta, we work withall the organizations to do the best
we can to make sure that Fiestasuccessful for everyone. But Michael really takes
that to another level, and hereally has the heart and soul and spirit
of Fiesta. He shows it throughhis fashion and through all the examples of
(20:21):
just giving back to the community.And we just can't thank Michael enough for
what he does for Fiesta throughout theyear. Well, thank you so very
mentioned. It's all inclusive, right, you know, Fiesta. Just a
couple of weeks ago, I hosteda hat making workshop with Eva's Heroes participants
and these are young adults who areintellectually challenged. We had, oh my
gosh, maybe forty participants and wemade hats and now they're going to enter
(20:48):
the Fiesta Hat Contest, which happensduring uh, you know, during Fiesta,
and that's a big fashion moment too. For the hat makers in town.
And we're talking not just like funhats like the one in Warning right
now, silly hats. We're talkingglamour hats, glitzy hats, Texas toppers,
vintage hats. This is a bigcitywide contest that brings in hundreds of
(21:10):
people and they walk the catwalk anddo their thing, and we have judges
and hey, you guys need tobe judges next year. I was just
gonna diving into Pedro. You gota hat, We'll do a workshop.
But first, Pedro, You've gotto get you on the Fiesta website.
(21:32):
You got to become a member.Yes, I know that, but want
to get insane. I add aquestion for Kathleen real quick. I'm looking
at the poster and yeah, Iknow we talked about what it takes to
become or excuse me, the judgingprocess right of the poster. But I
wanted to find out from Kathleen,like what is that pressure like of like,
yeah, of putting this together andtrying to you know, I guess
(21:56):
for a lack of better we'll justnail it, you know. So it
was it was daunting, and itwas intimidating, and it was a challenge.
So at you know, at acertain age it is kind of hard
to be challenged by things. ButI had a Boston tell me you have
to be you have to be outsideyour comfort zone every single day. So
this was very far outside my comfortzone because it's it's really personal, it's
(22:18):
my work, and I was newto the community and I was just putting
myself out there. Was it felta little bold to just just say,
hey, I think I could dothis. And then, like Steve said,
last year they did a color scheme, you had to go with the
blues and purples, I think,but this year there was a zero.
They were just like, go paintand and so I did. I did
(22:40):
talk to a lot of my friendsthat are locals that have been here for
ever and ever, and so Iwas able to make sure I was headed
down the right path. But stillthe night of the of the poster contest
where we had to unveil it,and my heart rate was up all day
long. It was really exciting,but it was the receptions been so amazing.
(23:00):
It was it was scary, butit was really fun because everybody in
the FISC Commission is so nice andwelcoming, and so it felt good it's
beautiful coffee. When when did youknow you were done or overdone? Oh
my goodness, So I've never done. I've never done, and I think
so as an artist, I thinkthat's a problem that a lot of artists
(23:22):
has have, is knowing when too, when it's done, when walk away
and don't touch it. I've watchedYouTube. You watch YouTube videos of people
painting and it's beautiful or it's it'syou can see where it's going, and
then it's beautiful, and then oh, they just took it one step too.
They haven't one too many elements.Do you wake up like a four
am with an idea? I do, me too. I am to bed,
(23:52):
Really, I don't go back tobed. It's like the needle and
thread and the glue gun and Iwore the feathers. You know, that's
inspiration. I think there's like thatthat artistic energy that got there in the
universe, and it's like coming toyou when you're when you're ready to receive.
Is this too much question? Idon't know what I'm asking. I
(24:12):
mean, you know, how muchis too much? Kathleen? So,
uh, you're an artist and youhave a you have a gallery here in
San Antonio. So my husband's actuallyretiring. We always knew to retire in
Texas, and then when we gothere and we realized how amazing San Antonio
was. It wasn't really on aradar before. Like I said, I
(24:33):
grew up in in Houston, Iwent to undergrad and Abilene. I went
to grad school in Austin. That'swhere I met my husband. The Army
had sent him to grad school there. We always thought we'd go back to
Austin. But San Antonio has justgot the best energy. Everybody is so
inclusive. And I've talked to acouple of other small business owners and without
being prompted, they say, it'sso all the other business owners are so
(24:57):
helpful and they just want everybody tosucceed. And so we decided and it
was like a universe the energy inthe universe thing Michael, where we were
looking. We had decided to sayin San Antonio. I had won the
poster contest. My husband got ajob offer, and we found a gallery
on South Alamo and so it's agallery underneath and we live over the top
(25:19):
of it. And it's a ninetwenty three South Alamo, Sweet number one,
and we'll have it. We'll havea pop up store for a Fiesta
soon, probably on April sixteenth.We're gonna do a pop up store for
Fiesta and you'll be able to buythe poster and that it'll be for the
Fiesta Commission, and all the proceedsfor the closter sales go to supporting the
Fiesta Commissions, scholarships and all ofthe all of the fundraising that they do
(25:44):
here for forwer San Antonians. Well, that's wonderful. You ended up in
a beautiful area for your gallery.By the way, it's so amazing.
There's such a great energy down there. There's always something going on. There's
so many great restaurants and ours,and there's just always an event. King
William Cultural Arts District is the actualspot that we're in. Well, your
(26:04):
T shirt, I mean, willyour poster beyond a T shirt? It
is on a T shirt right now, right now? Good. So you
can go to Viva Fiesta dot comto get the T shirt and the poster
and some of the pins and youcan go through that's uh FTA dot com.
Right Just verifying with Steve, I'mactually also on the Fiesta San Antonio
dot org website because I was intriguedabout the NFT and it's on there.
(26:26):
You can claim your NFT now nice, are you already buying it yet?
Org? Or you can just google, you know, Fiesta NFT and it
took me straight to the website,so that's pretty cool. And you also
go to Kathleen Little dot com.That's my website for my artwork, and
you can see I've got a linkto the Fiesta website where you can buy
the posters. And also we madescarves and ties this year, which I
(26:48):
think turned out so beautifully. That'sgreat, that's great. I'm all about
the ties and the scars accessories.Lady your tag Michael, like, can
I say, Morris Moore? Toomuch? Much? Is too much?
(27:15):
Never? That's right. If youdo, go to our website, Fiesta
San Antonio dot org and click onthe shop button and there's a link that'll
take you to Viva Fiesta dot comto purchase your posters and T shirts and
caps. And then by our trophystudio sells the official Fiesta medals, so
there's also a link there to gopurchase your medals. Again, it's a
(27:36):
great way to purchase some of thegreat poster art. It's also a great
way to support the Fiesta Commission aswell as our nonprofit organizations that do make
up Fiesta. So it's a greatway to support, but also it's a
great way to look great during Fiesta. It's hard to top Michael out.
Definitely go out to purchase your yourposters, your t shirts, your caps,
(27:56):
and your medals and and really getinto the Fiesta spirit. Yeah,
I guess there was a contest Michaelhas won. I've been to thanks and
they say you're not going to enter, right, No, I'm just here
to help and whatever, because youknow, but anyways, metals like metals
is really when you think about it, that's fashion, you know. And
(28:18):
everyone wearing the metals and then thesashes accessories, that's right, that's right,
father, accessories. So when youthink about it, I have seen
women turn metals into jewelry, necklaces, sometimes even earrings, and you put
them on so many other things aswell. So you know, Fiesta fashion
is everywhere, sure, and peopledress up for certain events with with a
(28:40):
Fiesta flour, whether it's going toa parade or an event. You know,
I'm I'm I'm seeing several events.One of my favorite is the is
the web party for the San Antonioeighth Foundation Favorite and that's pretty wild and
crazy. So this year the themeis opulence, and it was to this
year. It's going to be atthe sp this year. Some's gonna be
lots of fun and just the themeis opulently So just think what you can
(29:03):
do with that. Oh my gosh, you know. So they're going to
be a lot of over the topoutfits and uh great fashion. Then we
do have contest, which is allabout fashion. There's another organization a Pan
American League. They do a fashionshow every every Fiesta that features uh um
uh, you know, bright floralsand hot hues and anything that just resonates
(29:26):
with the colors of Fiesta, thevibrancy of Fiesta. I was gonna ask
Sarry, I'm still looking at hereat the poster. Is there, like
I'm curious. I don't know,you guys can tell me. Is there
a like a whole of Fiesta postersor something that is all there? All
the posters. When you win thecontest, your your work goes um.
(29:47):
The Fiesta commission Um has them allhoused at the Witty and so they Whitty
has a retrospective of the posters,and I think that they have it.
They have it coming up. Youknow, well you have. The Witty
is one of our fiesta organizations,and they will actually do their exhibit beginning
on April the twentieth, and it'llcontinue until October the first. And there's
a great way to show off theposters. A lot of the dresses from
(30:07):
the coronation of the Queen of theOrder of the Alamo, so some great
Fiesta fashion is tied into the Witty. It's really beautiful and that's the That's
what was also so humbling about thiswhole experience because I went back and I
researched all of the posters from backto the early nineteenth century when they first
started doing artwork for this event,and there's some incredible work. So to
(30:30):
be included in that part of history. Now, I was about to say
that that what's that feeling? Veryit's your outfits? Are they housed there?
Have you donated anything? But youknow, a few years ago,
how long ago is that, Susie, Maybe two years three before COVID.
(30:52):
Before COVID, we had an exhibitat the Institute of Texan Cultures. They
had wanted to put some of mythings on display. We didn't do everything,
just a few, but it wasenough room. The space was limited,
but we wanted to do something reallyfastened. We did it with also
with Graciela, a designer in townwho makes beautiful uh Festa fiesta wear,
(31:15):
and some of her vintage pieces thatwomen had purchased maybe twenty five thirty years
ago were on display. And thenthey wanted some of my things, and
I had a lot of cool things. One of my favorite things that was
on display that I have. Idon't know if you remember a few years
ago when there was a line shortagein San Antonio. It was horrible,
right, and they were blaming iton the on the drug cartels. I
think something like that. It wasit's like fifty shades of avocado that were
(31:48):
this time around with the cartels.But anyway, so I did it.
I did an homage to to toMargarita's in lime I made. I had
this line soon Burrow and I hadI had line dangling off of it and
I had a skeleton on top drinkinga margarita. Everyone loved that hat.
That one they put under glass.I don't know why, but you know,
I maybe they're afraid someone would takea line. I don't know where
(32:12):
because there was a shortage, butI did have an I didn't have,
you know, but they did havesome of my things on display and this
is this is for fun, thisone. But I have some other pieces
that are just they're like dazzling,right, Kathleen. I mean they're just
loaded. I have a pair ofshoes that a friend of mine made for
me. They have their sneakers andthey have over two thousand Swarvovsky crystals on
(32:37):
them of all sizes, and theyjust I mean they just like spots beautiful
suits that had to tow and thesebeautiful, rich fabrics and so much fun,
so much fun going to get dressedevery day. And I go to
h B like that. Oh God, the ladies and AGP know me all
(33:01):
right, it's gonna be like awhole other series. Yes, yes,
And I can see him like doingit. You know. Usually they're going
to Waterburgerger Hi. You know youcan't get a hat out of the window
to order. Oh, I gotyou, guys. One night I was
all dressed up in a tuxedo goingto an event and it was the wrong
(33:21):
night I got there. There wasno one there and I called my friend
Yolie. What happened? She says, Michael, it's next Saturday, said,
oh my god. I went toWaterburger in my tuxs really cool.
And there were these three guys whowere sitting by themselves and they said hey.
They said, hey, hey,sir, you look so nice.
I said thank you. I said, well, you guys look nice to
(33:42):
what's going on with you all tonight? And says, well, I'm getting
married tomorrow. One of the guyssaid he was getting married. They invited
me to sit with them, andso I was part of their bachelor party
that night in tuch eating water Burger. So I did go to a great
event that night. Rest like you'regonna be invited to all the party.
Let me, I'm a party inSan Antonio. Bachelor party that mister san
(34:04):
Antonio, isn't it. That's soSan Antonio, isn't it. I want
to let we have to give Pedrouh some things to do during fiesta that
are like musts. Right, I'mfollowing list already and I seriously am overwhelmed.
Okay, but I'm trying to likewhittle down. Yeah, what are
the musts? Yes, the musts. I'm gonna parades for sure, at
(34:28):
least one parade, right, Ithink definitely Pedro. You have to attend
all three of the Paris, Chavaliers, River Pard, the Battle of Flowers,
which is the historical educational parate,in Fiesta Flambeau, which is the
largest illuminated parade in the United States. I want to keep hearing about what
people, I mean, I keephearing them like, what is Flambeau for
(34:51):
a torch? So it's a greatway for the parade. All the paris
have to be lit up in lightsand it's really just a great spectacle going
down the streets and either the streetsays downtown San Antonio, but Flambeaux or
Torch. And they actually have amascot that they call Torchy. Yeah,
you can't miss that. And that'sin Travis Park this year. That's the
opening in PA. I was goingto say, I Heeart is going to
(35:14):
be in Travis, but Michael willbe leading off the pizza trade. Yeah.
Yeah, that's one of my favoriteparades, by the way, but
go ahead. But the people Paradeis for the people. It's for everyone.
It's free everybody, So please everyonecome on out. There to Travis
Park. It is for the pmosthat participating member organizations of Fiesta, which
(35:38):
there are more than a hundred Ithink, yeah, about one hundred different
organizations that put on more than onehundred different events and nonprofits. And so
we line up, they're invited andwe just march through the will march around
Travis Park and anyone who wants toparticipate just joins in and we have a
lot of fun. You can purchasemedals at night. Correct. We will
(35:59):
have venders there and uh, you'llget to meet the royalty. We have
Jasline Ramirez who is amazing young woman. Her parents, her lineage goes back
to the Alamo in her on hermother's side, She's got survivors of the
Alamo. That's and so it's justso much fun to have Jasline as our
Miss Fiesta this year. She'll bethere. I'll be there signing posters.
(36:20):
Plain will be there. You canget a poster, you can bring your
poster or I'll sign your T shirt. Military ambassadors will be there too.
I'm just gonna say FSA Fista isthe kickoff to Fist twentieth, four pm
to ten pm, Travis Spot.Yeah, it's on Thursday. So it's
wonderful. I'll hug you up,yes, Michael together. Yeah, absolutely,
(36:40):
I'll be over at four am.I'll be away. I'll be four
um too much and get back tothanks about FISA. And then the food.
You know, you have to likejust it's like my annual time to
(37:02):
get to eat gods. You haveto have a chicken ony stick with anything
grease on it. Um, andthe gods for sure. Okay, so
the parades all three yep and chickenon sticks. You have to do those
(37:22):
this year, right, And ifyou have time to squeeze in um,
how many cups you can stack iniosa? What is that about? You
can? You gotta squeeze that inright, it's a whole thing, right,
you gotta the person with the mostcups and the stack wins at the
end of the night. But wedo hat stack how many hats? But
(37:45):
speaking about the beer cups that arestacked, I remember did doing a year
a story when you're about things likethat, And I met a guy who
had something like fourteen hundred beer cupsin his garage and could say through the
years, Yeah, so I thinkhe gets that title. Yes, that's
crazy. This has been so muchfun. Thank you Michael so much for
(38:07):
all that you do for Fiesta.You're welcome and for the energy and the
positive light you bring to Fiesta.It truly is appreciated. So thank you
very much. You're welcome. Thankyou Lean, Thank you for sharing your
art and your beautiful poster with SanAntonio. I'm so glad that UM San
Antonio and the Fiesta Commission and everybodymade you feel welcome, because that is
(38:29):
really what we're about here in SanAntonio, and I think Fiesta is the
organization that UM just amplifies UM thatcommunity spirit here in San Antonio. So
Steve and Suzie, thank you guysso much for everything you guys do.
You guys are super busy right nowas we get into Fiesta, but thank
you guys for getting here on theweekends and doing the podcast here with us.
(38:51):
It's it's been a lot of fun. And Pedro, yes, you're
ready to Fiesta, but yes,it's never full hydrate hydrate hydrate, yes,
yes, and be sure to tellyour boss that you might not make
it in the meetings anyway. Thankyou guys so much. I love it.
(39:14):
We'll see you guys at Fiesta.Fiesta. Fiesta San Antonio would like
to thank its official sponsors Toyota,Doski's Chick fil A, Silver Star and
(39:35):
Texas Disposal. Fiesta twenty twenty threekicks off at Travis Park Thursday, April
twentieth, four p m with FiestaFiesta. For more info in the official
events schedule, please visit Fiesta sanAntonio dot org. Consider becoming a member
and get invited to exclusive Fiesta Memberevents while giving back to the community.
(39:57):
The Official Fiesta podcast has written andproduced by Steve Rosenaller in association with Susiotis
Editor and production director is Pedro Escalera. The Official iHeart Fiesta podcast is hosted
by Tito Cavalletto. We hope youshared this podcast with a friend and remember
have fun give back Fiesta. Thisis your announcer, Dave Rios. Thanks
(40:17):
for listening.
Since eighteen ninety one, the firstBattle of Flowers Parade, the people of
San Antonio celebrate Fiesta to bring thecommunity together. Now because of Fiesta,
we're taking that story and sharing itwith you here on the Official I Heart
Fiesta Podcast. Discover how Fiesta givesback to San Antonio and get to know
the people who make it all happen, have fun, give back Fiesta.
(00:25):
Fiesta San Antonio would like to thankits official sponsors Toyota, Dosaki's Chick fil
A, Silver Star and Texas Disposal. Hi Fiesta, they went a Fiesta.
We wrotegle say people. It's theOfficial Fiesta Podcast. I Heeart Fiesta
(01:00):
talking about all things Fiesta twenty twentythree this year and this so far has
been the most fun episode because wehave Michael, my guys, Mister Fiesta
in the studio with us and KathleenWhiddle, who created the official Fiesta poster
for twenty twenty thirty. So todayit's about art and fashion, two of
(01:23):
my favorite things to talk about,uh and Fiesta partying with a purpose here
in San Antonio and Pedro we hadwe had to get Pedro Alda on a
mic because this is really interesting Pedro'slearning a lot about Fiesta as uh he
rolls into his first Fiesta event herein San Antonio, my first Fiesta and
San Antonio. I'm this this podcasthere has been super informative, super educational.
(01:47):
I like history, right, myhistory buff. I wouldn't say maybe
buff, especially not physically buff,but I like learning anything that's history related.
Right then, So, so Iwas not aware of the hist three
of Fiesta and when it started.So as we've been knocking out these episodes
and I've been part of these sessions, this has been mind blowing, and
(02:07):
that today's definitely mind blowing. SoKathleen and Michael are both helping Pedro put
on and me put on these capeswhich are amazing, Oh my god,
robes, robes, robes, royalrobes, well hold on robes usually like
come around the front. Well,Michael, how important fashion is? Though?
(02:28):
He brought these capes in and hecame in and his gorgeous hat,
in his gorgeous suit, and hechanged the whole energy. If you want
to see what this gorgeous had andthis makeup, I mean this whole costume
and shoes and and and robes,look like you can go to the instagram
of one or four five Latino hitsand check out all the photos are away.
(02:49):
You guys were meant to wear robes, yes, and what they put
those robes on and they instantly startedworking. I want to see your way
out right, hold on, isit so I decide or like like off
(03:10):
their heads? Yea, you do. Look I am mad, kath I
was mentioning to Michael. I wantto see what his closet looks like.
Maybe go shopping in there. Butmy closet is so tiny, like it
would only have room for maybe twohats. I have at my home.
(03:31):
I have one of the bedrooms nowis a room Okay, yes, that's
where I make things. And well, you know what that's like, Kathleen.
When you work from home and createfrom home, you got to have
your sacred space to do that in. My husband teases me because he says,
my studio is the entire house.I just like slowly. I just
every surface has got paintbrushes. Andwhen Fiesta rolls along, I just bring
(03:55):
out all my hats and I putthem on sofas on the dining table.
What will I work today? Yes, I'm intrigued about that room. Now
like we should show like we gotto do a behind the scenes like MTV
cribs Michael's house. Well the hatammorein right now if I may, sure?
This was so. I I'm fromSan Antonio. I grew up on
(04:17):
the South Side and yay. Iwent to Burbank High School and then Trinity
University, and journalism is my background. I've been a writer and a reporter
for forty something years. I startedat the Express News and uh, and
you know how journalism is, andyou guys are in broadcasting and all that,
you have to move for your job. Often you're in you to San
(04:39):
Antonio, Pedro, so you understandthat. So you know, I left
the city to explore my career andyou get homesick. So when I finally
returned to San Antonio about maybe howlong ago was that, Susie Steve,
maybe twelve twelve years ago? Itotally Kathleen. I threw myself into Fiesta,
Like, what did you mean?My mom would always say, what
(05:00):
me? What did you miss themost? I said, well, my
you and now, but I don'tmean that mean hold what else? I
said, I really missed Fiesta.She said, well, jump into it.
Those were my my, my mom'sfavorite words to me. She would
always say jump in, like jumpinto life. Right, So she said
jump into it and I did.This was the first hat I made.
It was the year that Fiesta wentfrom ten days to eleven days. There
(05:25):
are eleven hats. Oh, it'smy hat of hats. Describe all that's
in there, because there's a lot. Because people can't see this podcast,
they can hear the but what's what'sin there? Well, you guys see,
you got you describe its feathers,feathers, a lot of stones,
(05:46):
a lot of color, ribbon,just everything I could say. Bus I
see an airplane, I mean there'sno there's there's there's angel wings at the
very very top. So this ismy thing. Don't ever throw anything away.
I just have boxes of stuff andalways repurpose things that you have at
home. And you just kind ofstart. I wanted to do because I
knew that hats were a big thingfor Fiesta, and I thought, well,
(06:10):
this is my motto. I'm neverdone until I'm overdone. Okay,
when I feel like it's overdone,benito, I am done. Hold it's
overdone. So is it done orare you still adding to Oh? No
I added something, Hi, Taia, what do you think this will be
(06:34):
done? Though? Or you willclassified overdone? Oh? I don't know
just when when when something falls off? And I add two more things,
you know. But so I wantedto create and I love Doctor SEUs.
It's the kid in me, Yesta, I think brings out the kid in
us, right, And that's whatI love about Fiesta are the children and
(06:56):
how they dress up and how theylove Fiesta. And there are so many
art projects for children too, asKathleen, will you speak about later.
But also so I wanted to makethis kind of an homage to doctor Seuss.
And so I wanted to do ahat of many hats that are like
tumbling and chaotic and having fun andhedonistic, you know, you know,
(07:18):
And so that's what I came upwith. So eleven half earlier. Sorry,
Michael was trying to tell me earlierthat he wasn't an artist, You're
a sculptor. This is a beautiful, such a beautiful balance in colors.
Beautiful. Well, you know what, I once did a session with kids.
I wanted to do a class withkids. Only did it once,
but there's so much potential in thishow to make a hat and how so
(07:41):
much math and engineering is involved inmaking a hat like this, because I've
stacked three hats. I walked aroundthe house with it and said, no,
it's falling over. I need toput one in the front. I
need to put one on the left, I need to you know, do
it. So there was a lotof math and engineering and measuring and then
you walk around in it. Andyou know, this is my fashion tip
to ladies out there. When youbuy a new pair of shoes, if
(08:05):
you're going out to a thing tonightor tomorrow night, tests walk those shoes.
You know. You gotta walk inyour stuff before you go to stuff.
So that's what I did with ahat, you know. And I'll
tell you the best trick of all. And Steve knows this and Susie.
So I'm gonna take this hat offso you guys can see what the trick
is. Kathleen, will you helpme? Well, okay, here you
(08:26):
go. Okay, see this capI'm wearing this. See the baseball yep?
Yes, okay. So we're abackwards baseball cap that has a strong
brim on it because it will preventthe hat from falling back ahead. Yeah,
yeah, and then put some kindof a sweat absorbent pat on your
ford because you're gonna sweat when you'rewearing it, and be ready to suffer
for fashion. That's all I wasgoing to ask you, Michael, what
(08:52):
was it that inspired you to sharea fashion and be a part of the
fashion can? You know? Fashionis my background. So I was at
the Los Angeles Times for fifteen years, and my last what maybe eight years
of that was covering fashion. Iwent to New York, Milan, London,
and Paris twice a year and coveredjust you know, the most fabulous
(09:16):
shows, the runways of the world, all of the great designers sitting in
front row, and I think seeingthese things, seeing these creations, especially
from mostly from the avant garde designerslike I'm thinking Rick Owens, maybe John
Galliano, they would come out withthese outrageous looks on the runway, and
meeting the designers, interviewing them backstage, being up close and actually touching the
(09:41):
garments and seeing the beauty in them. And yes, the craftsmanship and the
art, the artistic expression, andthat's what all this is about. And
I just kind of thought, Ijust need a glue gun. Yeah,
you know, I was Project Runwaybefore Project. Growing up, did you
(10:03):
know that you were gonna pursue acareer in fashion? Yeah? What were
What were the things when you werea child that influenced you to kind of
go down that road? My mom, mom was a seamstress. She's working
for the o Levi Strouss blue jeans, Yes, yes, and you know
what she did. She did zippers, Kathleen, she you know, putting
(10:24):
blue jeans together. It's all piecework. She did all the zippers and
she got paid twenty five cents azipper back then, so you can imagine
she was always exhausted. Her handswere always hurting. But the faster you
work, the more quarters you madedoing those zippers. And then my mom
sewed a lot, so she wouldalways uh. She would even make my
bed sheets, like the fittest sheet, and then the throw sheet, and
(10:46):
then the pillowcases. And she'd haveone time she had leftover fabric. I
will never forget it. It wasI wanted like the American flagstars and stripes,
and she had leftover fabric. Isaid, Mom, what are you
gonna do with that? She said, I don't know. I said,
make me a shirt. So shemade me your shirt to match my bed
sheets shirt. I wish I did. But the body of the shirt was
(11:07):
was the stripes blue and white stripes, and then we did the collar and
the cuffs were the were no,the flag is red and white, and
then the stars were blue. Sothe collar and the cuffs were the stars,
and then the body of the shirtwas red and white. I mean
you you could you could like runme up a flagpole. But every time
(11:28):
my mom made me some bed sheets, she always had bought extra fabrics so
she could make me a matching shirt. If you've ever been to Fiesta and
you've seen a huge hat, it'sprobably Michael Key. But there's so many
now, there's a lot. Imean, that's why I got into it,
because I saw so many men andwomen making the hats, and they
(11:50):
make gorgeous hats, beautiful hats.It's all fantasy. You know, you
were special. I remember you frommy very first TESTA. Definitely, you
definitely are memorable. Yes, absolutely. Kathleen has the official Fiesta poster for
twenty twenty three and beautiful poster rightbehind Michael there. And if you check
(12:13):
the artwork for this podcast, you'llsee the poster for Fiesta twenty twenty three.
Kathleen tell us a little bit aboutthe inspiration behind your piece, because
it's kind of unique. It's ina frame and that's the actual painting.
So the painting came about very organically. When we my husband's in the military,
the Army brought us to Fort Sam, Houston. I've grew up in
(12:35):
Houston. I have lived in Texasuntil I met a soul journey took me
away from all this, and thenhe finally brought me back. He got
stationed at Fort Sam and we gothere about two weeks before the first Fiesta
that was a little bit late,was held a little bit late, right,
and it was the first one afterCOVID. Yeah, and all of
(12:58):
our events were sort of official functionswe ought to go to with Fiesta and
with the Fiesta Commission and with thecavaliers and at Bob and I just felt
like the city just throw open hisdoors and said come on in. And
then we got to go to Beethovensand saw the poster contest for last year's
poster and I looked over at himthat night and I was like, what
(13:20):
do you think Maybe I could dothat? And then I went home,
and I started painting. I wentto the McNay Museum with a friend of
mine and walked through the courtyard andthere's that beautiful Spanish Revival arched doorway with
the wrought iron gate on it,which was so beautiful. And so that
was the basis for the painting.And I actually have had several people come
(13:41):
up and say where have I seenthat door before? I took all the
symbols. That's when I started.So I'm Texas history. I've had all
the years of Texas history, butI still didn't know about Fiesta, and
so I started in all the research, right, I started in all the
research on the symbols of not justFiesta, but San Antonio and the obviously
(14:03):
there's all the symbols of Texas inthere. I got to put in my
favorite things, like the little buttercutflowers, like when you took picked them
on the playground as a kid andput them on your nose so you would
get the yellow on the end.And of course blue bonnets and the prickly
pear cactus and magnolia's are my favorite, and the yellow rose and the yucca.
(14:24):
I've got the the horny toe justdown there on the steps that seems
to be something people like like andthe mockingbird We've got a country, and
the crape myrtle so and the Vivafiata peppio picado via Fiesta. So I
wanted to make that warm glowing lightcoming out from the center and the doors
(14:46):
is just open just a little biton come on end is the name of
the painting. And I believe theymade uh NFT out of it actually where
they animated and because the original conceptwas to have like the confetti bursting out
of the doorway, it got abit busy. Yeah, edit that out,
(15:07):
um, but I think that's whatthey did with that NFT and the
door swings open slightly in the confettipersa. Yes, it's on the commission.
We'll actually be debuting the NFT shortly. We're working on finalizing some of
the graphics. It's a great posterand that you know Kathleen's inspiration for the
poster. It really set the themein tone for this year, the Fiesta
(15:30):
family spirit. Like Kathleen said,with the with the door slightly open,
but Fiesta is a great way forSan Antonio's to open their doors to their
visitors, to all the guests ofSan Antonio for Fiesta, it really welcome
them in to join in the Fiestafamily spirit. So we really thank Kathleen
for her inspiration and not only thegreat poster that she created, but also
setting the tone for the theme thisyear. Steve tell us a little bit
(15:54):
about the process for folks who wouldlike to do this in the future.
What's that process look like to beable to submit poster for consideration. Well,
the process has changed over the years, but what we've worked on the
last couple of years is whatever thecurrent president of Fiesta, he or she
(16:15):
will recruit five artists to submit adesign, give them kind of a theme
and a color can work with orThis year it really was kind of open
ended where we ask each one ofthe artists to actually come up with their
own theme, their own color scheme, and what we do is we'll have
basically called a contest, a fiveto one, basically taking five artists down
to one selection. We do thatin the fall, and it's been a
(16:37):
great way the last couple of yearsthey have our Fiesta members actually be involved
in the process of selecting the posterartists. Yeah, so we've had this
event in September the last couple ofyears, and our membership has invited and
we get several hundred members to attendthe event and they cast their vote for
whichever of the five posters that theywould like to see as the official Fiesta
poster. We gray, we scorethe votes, and the one that comes
(17:02):
up with the largest amount of votesfrom our membership that is the one that's
selected, and we actually do theunveiling end of January first of February.
But it's a great way not onlyto involve the local art community for San
Antonio, but it's a great way. It's a great benefit for our Fiesta
membership to actually be involved in selectingthe poster that's going to go on merchandise
(17:22):
that's going to be set up forthe theme, it goes on the cover
of the magazine and on our media. It's just a great way to really
tie the whole Fiesta experience into theinto the Fiesta poster selection. Yeah,
I've had so many people come upto me and say, I voted for
your poster. That's the one Ivoted for. I knew it was going
to win that night, and soyou're right. That's it's such a good
way to make people personally invested inthe process, and anybody can be a
(17:45):
member of the Theistic Commission. Youjust have to go online and fill out
the form and it's it's not right, it's a nominal theme from great benefits.
But also by by creating this,this event and this element in September,
we want people to be thinking aboutFiesta year round. It's not just
a party in April for eleven days. There's really a year long process involved
(18:07):
that if there's ways that we canenhance the value for our membership but also
tie in the local art community tobe part of the whole Fiesta operation.
Again, that really ties in thewhole Fiesta family spirit. We have a
lot of family members involved in Fiesta. We have two point five million guests
that attend Fiesta events. But allthe Fiesta organizations that are involved according their
own events. We want to makesure that they feel the Fiesta experienced twelve
(18:30):
months out of the year. Stevensright, because people ask me, oh,
I bet you can't wait for Fiesta'sstart in April. I said,
dude, it started in November.Known about this for a while, and
they're like, you've been going toFista things like asking me what I'm doing.
I'm you've been going to fasten thingsfor two months now. I thought
you said, fys, it wasn'tuntil the end of April. Yeah,
yes, is all year round.Yeah, and it's not just here in
(18:52):
Texas because if I may, andSteve and Susie know this. And I
have to say, Steve and Susieare like they're the blood, sweat and
tears and heart of Fiesta, youknow. And these guys know that I've
been actually I've been through visit SanAntonio. I've made appearances as mister Fiesta.
Uh, you know, in frontof tourism people in Las Vegas and
(19:15):
Chicago. These are people from allaround the world, and they see me
dressed like this, you know.And they when I was in, when
I was in, when I wasin Las Vegas, and one said to
me which show I was? Isaid, the Fiesta Show. Actually thought
I walked off some kind of showin Vegas. That's how good that is.
(19:38):
We had you right here in SanAntonio. I love that. I
really do have to vouch for Michael. He really is mister Fiesta. He
really embodies the Fiesta spirit of ofjust getting people to join together, whether
it's coordinated a dance contest, orshowing off as fashion or are being an
MC for a lot of different Fiestaorganizations. Michael Willi embodies the Fiesta spirit.
(20:00):
That's really what is so great tosee from a from a staff perspective.
We coordinate Fiesta, we work withall the organizations to do the best
we can to make sure that Fiestasuccessful for everyone. But Michael really takes
that to another level, and hereally has the heart and soul and spirit
of Fiesta. He shows it throughhis fashion and through all the examples of
(20:21):
just giving back to the community.And we just can't thank Michael enough for
what he does for Fiesta throughout theyear. Well, thank you so very
mentioned. It's all inclusive, right, you know, Fiesta. Just a
couple of weeks ago, I hosteda hat making workshop with Eva's Heroes participants
and these are young adults who areintellectually challenged. We had, oh my
gosh, maybe forty participants and wemade hats and now they're going to enter
(20:48):
the Fiesta Hat Contest, which happensduring uh, you know, during Fiesta,
and that's a big fashion moment too. For the hat makers in town.
And we're talking not just like funhats like the one in Warning right
now, silly hats. We're talkingglamour hats, glitzy hats, Texas toppers,
vintage hats. This is a bigcitywide contest that brings in hundreds of
(21:10):
people and they walk the catwalk anddo their thing, and we have judges
and hey, you guys need tobe judges next year. I was just
gonna diving into Pedro. You gota hat, We'll do a workshop.
But first, Pedro, You've gotto get you on the Fiesta website.
(21:32):
You got to become a member.Yes, I know that, but want
to get insane. I add aquestion for Kathleen real quick. I'm looking
at the poster and yeah, Iknow we talked about what it takes to
become or excuse me, the judgingprocess right of the poster. But I
wanted to find out from Kathleen,like what is that pressure like of like,
yeah, of putting this together andtrying to you know, I guess
(21:56):
for a lack of better we'll justnail it, you know. So it
was it was daunting, and itwas intimidating, and it was a challenge.
So at you know, at acertain age it is kind of hard
to be challenged by things. ButI had a Boston tell me you have
to be you have to be outsideyour comfort zone every single day. So
this was very far outside my comfortzone because it's it's really personal, it's
(22:18):
my work, and I was newto the community and I was just putting
myself out there. Was it felta little bold to just just say,
hey, I think I could dothis. And then, like Steve said,
last year they did a color scheme, you had to go with the
blues and purples, I think,but this year there was a zero.
They were just like, go paintand and so I did. I did
(22:40):
talk to a lot of my friendsthat are locals that have been here for
ever and ever, and so Iwas able to make sure I was headed
down the right path. But stillthe night of the of the poster contest
where we had to unveil it,and my heart rate was up all day
long. It was really exciting,but it was the receptions been so amazing.
(23:00):
It was it was scary, butit was really fun because everybody in
the FISC Commission is so nice andwelcoming, and so it felt good it's
beautiful coffee. When when did youknow you were done or overdone? Oh
my goodness, So I've never done. I've never done, and I think
so as an artist, I thinkthat's a problem that a lot of artists
(23:22):
has have, is knowing when too, when it's done, when walk away
and don't touch it. I've watchedYouTube. You watch YouTube videos of people
painting and it's beautiful or it's it'syou can see where it's going, and
then it's beautiful, and then oh, they just took it one step too.
They haven't one too many elements.Do you wake up like a four
am with an idea? I do, me too. I am to bed,
(23:52):
Really, I don't go back tobed. It's like the needle and
thread and the glue gun and Iwore the feathers. You know, that's
inspiration. I think there's like thatthat artistic energy that got there in the
universe, and it's like coming toyou when you're when you're ready to receive.
Is this too much question? Idon't know what I'm asking. I
(24:12):
mean, you know, how muchis too much? Kathleen? So,
uh, you're an artist and youhave a you have a gallery here in
San Antonio. So my husband's actuallyretiring. We always knew to retire in
Texas, and then when we gothere and we realized how amazing San Antonio
was. It wasn't really on aradar before. Like I said, I
(24:33):
grew up in in Houston, Iwent to undergrad and Abilene. I went
to grad school in Austin. That'swhere I met my husband. The Army
had sent him to grad school there. We always thought we'd go back to
Austin. But San Antonio has justgot the best energy. Everybody is so
inclusive. And I've talked to acouple of other small business owners and without
being prompted, they say, it'sso all the other business owners are so
(24:57):
helpful and they just want everybody tosucceed. And so we decided and it
was like a universe the energy inthe universe thing Michael, where we were
looking. We had decided to sayin San Antonio. I had won the
poster contest. My husband got ajob offer, and we found a gallery
on South Alamo and so it's agallery underneath and we live over the top
(25:19):
of it. And it's a ninetwenty three South Alamo, Sweet number one,
and we'll have it. We'll havea pop up store for a Fiesta
soon, probably on April sixteenth.We're gonna do a pop up store for
Fiesta and you'll be able to buythe poster and that it'll be for the
Fiesta Commission, and all the proceedsfor the closter sales go to supporting the
Fiesta Commissions, scholarships and all ofthe all of the fundraising that they do
(25:44):
here for forwer San Antonians. Well, that's wonderful. You ended up in
a beautiful area for your gallery.By the way, it's so amazing.
There's such a great energy down there. There's always something going on. There's
so many great restaurants and ours,and there's just always an event. King
William Cultural Arts District is the actualspot that we're in. Well, your
(26:04):
T shirt, I mean, willyour poster beyond a T shirt? It
is on a T shirt right now, right now? Good. So you
can go to Viva Fiesta dot comto get the T shirt and the poster
and some of the pins and youcan go through that's uh FTA dot com.
Right Just verifying with Steve, I'mactually also on the Fiesta San Antonio
dot org website because I was intriguedabout the NFT and it's on there.
(26:26):
You can claim your NFT now nice, are you already buying it yet?
Org? Or you can just google, you know, Fiesta NFT and it
took me straight to the website,so that's pretty cool. And you also
go to Kathleen Little dot com.That's my website for my artwork, and
you can see I've got a linkto the Fiesta website where you can buy
the posters. And also we madescarves and ties this year, which I
(26:48):
think turned out so beautifully. That'sgreat, that's great. I'm all about
the ties and the scars accessories.Lady your tag Michael, like, can
I say, Morris Moore? Toomuch? Much? Is too much?
(27:15):
Never? That's right. If youdo, go to our website, Fiesta
San Antonio dot org and click onthe shop button and there's a link that'll
take you to Viva Fiesta dot comto purchase your posters and T shirts and
caps. And then by our trophystudio sells the official Fiesta medals, so
there's also a link there to gopurchase your medals. Again, it's a
(27:36):
great way to purchase some of thegreat poster art. It's also a great
way to support the Fiesta Commission aswell as our nonprofit organizations that do make
up Fiesta. So it's a greatway to support, but also it's a
great way to look great during Fiesta. It's hard to top Michael out.
Definitely go out to purchase your yourposters, your t shirts, your caps,
(27:56):
and your medals and and really getinto the Fiesta spirit. Yeah,
I guess there was a contest Michaelhas won. I've been to thanks and
they say you're not going to enter, right, No, I'm just here
to help and whatever, because youknow, but anyways, metals like metals
is really when you think about it, that's fashion, you know. And
(28:18):
everyone wearing the metals and then thesashes accessories, that's right, that's right,
father, accessories. So when youthink about it, I have seen
women turn metals into jewelry, necklaces, sometimes even earrings, and you put
them on so many other things aswell. So you know, Fiesta fashion
is everywhere, sure, and peopledress up for certain events with with a
(28:40):
Fiesta flour, whether it's going toa parade or an event. You know,
I'm I'm I'm seeing several events.One of my favorite is the is
the web party for the San Antonioeighth Foundation Favorite and that's pretty wild and
crazy. So this year the themeis opulence, and it was to this
year. It's going to be atthe sp this year. Some's gonna be
lots of fun and just the themeis opulently So just think what you can
(29:03):
do with that. Oh my gosh, you know. So they're going to
be a lot of over the topoutfits and uh great fashion. Then we
do have contest, which is allabout fashion. There's another organization a Pan
American League. They do a fashionshow every every Fiesta that features uh um
uh, you know, bright floralsand hot hues and anything that just resonates
(29:26):
with the colors of Fiesta, thevibrancy of Fiesta. I was gonna ask
Sarry, I'm still looking at hereat the poster. Is there, like
I'm curious. I don't know,you guys can tell me. Is there
a like a whole of Fiesta postersor something that is all there? All
the posters. When you win thecontest, your your work goes um.
(29:47):
The Fiesta commission Um has them allhoused at the Witty and so they Whitty
has a retrospective of the posters,and I think that they have it.
They have it coming up. Youknow, well you have. The Witty
is one of our fiesta organizations,and they will actually do their exhibit beginning
on April the twentieth, and it'llcontinue until October the first. And there's
a great way to show off theposters. A lot of the dresses from
(30:07):
the coronation of the Queen of theOrder of the Alamo, so some great
Fiesta fashion is tied into the Witty. It's really beautiful and that's the That's
what was also so humbling about thiswhole experience because I went back and I
researched all of the posters from backto the early nineteenth century when they first
started doing artwork for this event,and there's some incredible work. So to
(30:30):
be included in that part of history. Now, I was about to say
that that what's that feeling? Veryit's your outfits? Are they housed there?
Have you donated anything? But youknow, a few years ago,
how long ago is that, Susie, Maybe two years three before COVID.
(30:52):
Before COVID, we had an exhibitat the Institute of Texan Cultures. They
had wanted to put some of mythings on display. We didn't do everything,
just a few, but it wasenough room. The space was limited,
but we wanted to do something reallyfastened. We did it with also
with Graciela, a designer in townwho makes beautiful uh Festa fiesta wear,
(31:15):
and some of her vintage pieces thatwomen had purchased maybe twenty five thirty years
ago were on display. And thenthey wanted some of my things, and
I had a lot of cool things. One of my favorite things that was
on display that I have. Idon't know if you remember a few years
ago when there was a line shortagein San Antonio. It was horrible,
right, and they were blaming iton the on the drug cartels. I
think something like that. It wasit's like fifty shades of avocado that were
(31:48):
this time around with the cartels.But anyway, so I did it.
I did an homage to to toMargarita's in lime I made. I had
this line soon Burrow and I hadI had line dangling off of it and
I had a skeleton on top drinkinga margarita. Everyone loved that hat.
That one they put under glass.I don't know why, but you know,
I maybe they're afraid someone would takea line. I don't know where
(32:12):
because there was a shortage, butI did have an I didn't have,
you know, but they did havesome of my things on display and this
is this is for fun, thisone. But I have some other pieces
that are just they're like dazzling,right, Kathleen. I mean they're just
loaded. I have a pair ofshoes that a friend of mine made for
me. They have their sneakers andthey have over two thousand Swarvovsky crystals on
(32:37):
them of all sizes, and theyjust I mean they just like spots beautiful
suits that had to tow and thesebeautiful, rich fabrics and so much fun,
so much fun going to get dressedevery day. And I go to
h B like that. Oh God, the ladies and AGP know me all
(33:01):
right, it's gonna be like awhole other series. Yes, yes,
And I can see him like doingit. You know. Usually they're going
to Waterburgerger Hi. You know youcan't get a hat out of the window
to order. Oh, I gotyou, guys. One night I was
all dressed up in a tuxedo goingto an event and it was the wrong
(33:21):
night I got there. There wasno one there and I called my friend
Yolie. What happened? She says, Michael, it's next Saturday, said,
oh my god. I went toWaterburger in my tuxs really cool.
And there were these three guys whowere sitting by themselves and they said hey.
They said, hey, hey,sir, you look so nice.
I said thank you. I said, well, you guys look nice to
(33:42):
what's going on with you all tonight? And says, well, I'm getting
married tomorrow. One of the guyssaid he was getting married. They invited
me to sit with them, andso I was part of their bachelor party
that night in tuch eating water Burger. So I did go to a great
event that night. Rest like you'regonna be invited to all the party.
Let me, I'm a party inSan Antonio. Bachelor party that mister san
(34:04):
Antonio, isn't it. That's soSan Antonio, isn't it. I want
to let we have to give Pedrouh some things to do during fiesta that
are like musts. Right, I'mfollowing list already and I seriously am overwhelmed.
Okay, but I'm trying to likewhittle down. Yeah, what are
the musts? Yes, the musts. I'm gonna parades for sure, at
(34:28):
least one parade, right, Ithink definitely Pedro. You have to attend
all three of the Paris, Chavaliers, River Pard, the Battle of Flowers,
which is the historical educational parate,in Fiesta Flambeau, which is the
largest illuminated parade in the United States. I want to keep hearing about what
people, I mean, I keephearing them like, what is Flambeau for
(34:51):
a torch? So it's a greatway for the parade. All the paris
have to be lit up in lightsand it's really just a great spectacle going
down the streets and either the streetsays downtown San Antonio, but Flambeaux or
Torch. And they actually have amascot that they call Torchy. Yeah,
you can't miss that. And that'sin Travis Park this year. That's the
opening in PA. I was goingto say, I Heeart is going to
(35:14):
be in Travis, but Michael willbe leading off the pizza trade. Yeah.
Yeah, that's one of my favoriteparades, by the way, but
go ahead. But the people Paradeis for the people. It's for everyone.
It's free everybody, So please everyonecome on out. There to Travis
Park. It is for the pmosthat participating member organizations of Fiesta, which
(35:38):
there are more than a hundred Ithink, yeah, about one hundred different
organizations that put on more than onehundred different events and nonprofits. And so
we line up, they're invited andwe just march through the will march around
Travis Park and anyone who wants toparticipate just joins in and we have a
lot of fun. You can purchasemedals at night. Correct. We will
(35:59):
have venders there and uh, you'llget to meet the royalty. We have
Jasline Ramirez who is amazing young woman. Her parents, her lineage goes back
to the Alamo in her on hermother's side, She's got survivors of the
Alamo. That's and so it's justso much fun to have Jasline as our
Miss Fiesta this year. She'll bethere. I'll be there signing posters.
(36:20):
Plain will be there. You canget a poster, you can bring your
poster or I'll sign your T shirt. Military ambassadors will be there too.
I'm just gonna say FSA Fista isthe kickoff to Fist twentieth, four pm
to ten pm, Travis Spot.Yeah, it's on Thursday. So it's
wonderful. I'll hug you up,yes, Michael together. Yeah, absolutely,
(36:40):
I'll be over at four am.I'll be away. I'll be four
um too much and get back tothanks about FISA. And then the food.
You know, you have to likejust it's like my annual time to
(37:02):
get to eat gods. You haveto have a chicken ony stick with anything
grease on it. Um, andthe gods for sure. Okay, so
the parades all three yep and chickenon sticks. You have to do those
(37:22):
this year, right, And ifyou have time to squeeze in um,
how many cups you can stack iniosa? What is that about? You
can? You gotta squeeze that inright, it's a whole thing, right,
you gotta the person with the mostcups and the stack wins at the
end of the night. But wedo hat stack how many hats? But
(37:45):
speaking about the beer cups that arestacked, I remember did doing a year
a story when you're about things likethat, And I met a guy who
had something like fourteen hundred beer cupsin his garage and could say through the
years, Yeah, so I thinkhe gets that title. Yes, that's
crazy. This has been so muchfun. Thank you Michael so much for
(38:07):
all that you do for Fiesta.You're welcome and for the energy and the
positive light you bring to Fiesta.It truly is appreciated. So thank you
very much. You're welcome. Thankyou Lean, Thank you for sharing your
art and your beautiful poster with SanAntonio. I'm so glad that UM San
Antonio and the Fiesta Commission and everybodymade you feel welcome, because that is
(38:29):
really what we're about here in SanAntonio, and I think Fiesta is the
organization that UM just amplifies UM thatcommunity spirit here in San Antonio. So
Steve and Suzie, thank you guysso much for everything you guys do.
You guys are super busy right nowas we get into Fiesta, but thank
you guys for getting here on theweekends and doing the podcast here with us.
(38:51):
It's it's been a lot of fun. And Pedro, yes, you're
ready to Fiesta, but yes,it's never full hydrate hydrate hydrate, yes,
yes, and be sure to tellyour boss that you might not make
it in the meetings anyway. Thankyou guys so much. I love it.
(39:14):
We'll see you guys at Fiesta.Fiesta. Fiesta San Antonio would like
to thank its official sponsors Toyota,Doski's Chick fil A, Silver Star and
(39:35):
Texas Disposal. Fiesta twenty twenty threekicks off at Travis Park Thursday, April
twentieth, four p m with FiestaFiesta. For more info in the official
events schedule, please visit Fiesta sanAntonio dot org. Consider becoming a member
and get invited to exclusive Fiesta Memberevents while giving back to the community.
(39:57):
The Official Fiesta podcast has written andproduced by Steve Rosenaller in association with Susiotis
Editor and production director is Pedro Escalera. The Official iHeart Fiesta podcast is hosted
by Tito Cavalletto. We hope youshared this podcast with a friend and remember
have fun give back Fiesta. Thisis your announcer, Dave Rios. Thanks
(40:17):
for listening.
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