May 2, 2025 • 42 mins
Welcome to a new season of the officail iHeart Radio Fiesta Podcast! In this episode Pedro Al Aire speaks with Steve Rosenauer, Executive Director and Jim Merry, Senior Vice President of Fiesta Commission. Listen in and dive into the vibrant world of Fiesta celebrations. They explore the rich history and cherished traditions that make Fiesta such a beloved event. The episode also highlights the importance of fundraising for various organizations, showcasing how Fiesta brings the community together for a greater cause. Viva Fiesta!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Since eighteen ninety one, the first Battle of Flowers Parade,
the people of San Antonio celebrate Fiesta to bring the
community together. Now because of Fiesta, we're taking that story
and sharing it with you here on the Official I
Heart Fiesta Podcast. Discover how Fiesta gives back to San
Antonio and get to know the people who make it
(00:21):
all happen, have fun, give back Fiesta.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to a brand new season of the Fiesta Podcast,
The Official Fiesta Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Episode one. My name is Pedro A Laide.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
In the past, we have connected with folks that are
involved with Fiesta. Fiesta is this massive event that goes
over or that happens throughout the city of San Antonio
for almost two weeks. It's partying with a purpose, as
we like to say, because the purpose there is to
raise funds for education and many other organizations.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
In and around San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And we're reconnecting with some amazing individuals that we have
I've had the pleasure of speaking to speaking with in
past seasons of the Fiesta Podcast. Some familiar familiar voices
and some new voices on the podcast, and I don't
know if I should intro them or they can intro
themselves because because Steve's got a long title and uh
and Steve, we'll start with Steve. Steve, do you want
(01:15):
to intro yourself? Because I know it's executive director of
the Fiesta Commission, right.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
That's correct. Yeah, So this is Steve Rosenauer.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
I'm the executive director of the Fiesta San Antonio Commission.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
So happy to be here. Thank you so much for
having us.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, Steve, thank you for coming in for another episode,
another season and new season of the Fiesta Podcast. And
this time around I get to finally talk to We've
met before a couple of times, but now we get
to chat it up with mister Jim Mary, senior vice
president of the Fiesta Commission.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Correct. Yes, big title, big, I'm a big man.
Speaker 6 (01:43):
You gotta have a big title for a big man man.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, I've heard like you're the I mean, yes, Michael Ke.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
But like you're you're right up there in terms of
the energy that mister Fiesta brings on you. So you
could be you know what, your senior vice president, mister Fiesta.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
How about that? I like it. I'm going with it.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
I think that's great. Yeah, we don't want to doss Michael.
Michael Keaton. He is mister Fiesta. We can't do Fiesta
without Michael, but Jim's are very very close.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Second.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, you just need the mister Fiesta outfits that Michael.
I'm working on it. I'm working on it.
Speaker 6 (02:16):
Man.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Wait till you see you and you will stand out.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Guys, I'm beyond help. So Michael needs to do a
lot of work on my wardrobe.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Guys, thank you so much for jumping on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And really the goal here is one, you know, explain
the folks who may not know or have never done Fiesta.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
What is Fiesta? Right? That's number one? Number two? What
is the point of Fiesta?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Right?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
We all we you know, we hear it all the time.
Party with the purpose, Party with the purpose. But you know,
there's a lot of folks out there who are from
San Antonio, who have grown up in San Antonio, who
always known about Fiesta and maybe go to some of
the events, to the events you're in, you're out, but
maybe really never understood what the point of this festival,
this is, this event is. So let's break it down.
(03:02):
Let's get everything out there and kind of just explain
the folks what is Fiesta?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Who wants to go first, let me give it a shot.
All right, let's do it. We have to know our
history before we can go into the future.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
And so one of the things that we did is
we created a committee to go out into the public
to explain who the fiestasan Antonio Commission was. In doing that,
we've all learned ourselves because it was amazing to find out.
Even some people within our commission, we're struggling to completely
understand the picture. So in eighteen ninety one, there was
(03:35):
a gathering of people and they did a parade the
Battle of Flowers. Paryed, a group of women run organization
that created this great event. It was around celebrating the
defenders of the Alamo, and the sun has seized the battle.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So people would go with it down the road. They'd
be pelted with flowers, the true Battle of Flowers. Yeah,
mellow flowers.
Speaker 6 (04:01):
So and listen, I'm at thirty thousand feet. I can
tell you that there are people that can tell you
the colors that were involved. But really just to bring
you how we got started. Other events started happening, and
then there was other groups that started doing their fiesta
(04:22):
type events ordered the Alamo in nineteen or nine, now
that you have to go to the pilgrimage that happens.
Another event that were you walk in silence up to
the Alamo, that was done in nineteen eighteen. So they
started doing all these events around the spring of the
(04:43):
year in the early nineteen hundreds. By creating all these events,
they created a group of the San Jacinto Association. Then
it turned into a bigger group and dissatisfaction groove because
there's all these events and all this activity happening. So
(05:04):
the Greater Chamber of Commerce established us in nineteen fifty nine,
the Fiesta San Antonio Commission. That's how we got started,
and that's who we are.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Okay, we're just the umbrella organization, bring everybody together. Are
going to talk to you.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
About our participating member organization, big name, but we're going
to talk through that and Steve can tell you about
these pmos.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
I think one of the great things about being part
of the Fiesta San Antonio Commission is that we really
are here to support the one hundred plus nonprofit organizations
that actually produce the Fiesta events. You know, without our
participating member organizations. Without those organizations and their events, there
would be no Fiesta but because it's such a massive
undertaking to have Fiesta for eleven days, and even we
(05:58):
have events that happened even before before the official days
of Fiesta, we need an organization like the Fiesta Commission
to serve, as a Jim said, an umbrella organization that's
really here to serve the purpose of trying to help
make those organizations be as successful as they can be
so they can help raise funds to support the citizens
of San Antonio throughout the entire year.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
So that's ultimately why we're here now.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Now, now there's anything to take away at the end
of this podcast, is exactly what you guys already just
mentioned now is the nonprofit organizations. And we'll get to
that here in a second, because again, a lot of
folks don't really understand that, you know, the reason Fiesta
says party with a purpose, because they truly is a
purpose behind all this, right, So we'll jump into the
nonprofit stuff and who it helps here in the city.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
But I love the Jim, I love the history.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Behind how Fiesta began with the Battle of Flowers and whatnot,
because I think we covered this in a past episode
in a past season somewhere. Baos latimos queestes qutando right now.
And if you're a Spanish dominant, maybe you grew up
in Mexico and I immigrated the United States, or maybe
you're one generation removed. Fiesta San Antonio is very much
(07:05):
like Las Fiestas patronales in Mexico, the small towns that
have their yearly traditional fiestas which are either centered around
a religious date or just some type of I don't know,
just something going on seasonal. Right, So you mentioned an
event back in the early nineteen hundreds where the pilgrimage,
(07:26):
right where folks quietly walk up towards the Alamo. It's
kind of like again the fiestas centered around religion in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
You quietly make your way to the.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Church right during the day's festivities, and then you party
later in the day, right, And that's kind of what
all this reminds me of. And I think folks will
will understand that that this is It's like a piece
of Mexico living right here in San Antonio right now.
Obviously this is at a grander scale, like right, and
(07:56):
with a purpose of raising money, but I you know,
it is that part of the messaging that gets put
out from the from the feels the commission like telling
folks like, hey, you know this is you know, a
piece of why this happens, this historic, historic piece and
the cultural stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Cultural is a big part. I mean Rafael.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
Yes, the Spaniards would have their king, but the commoners
didn't like the king. So this was back in the
early eighteen hundreds, so they created their own, the king
of the people, ray Fael. Well in AVOs Scallientees. They
(08:38):
created this festival surrounding that well. Lulac number two chose
that premise, brought it to San Antonio, raising funds for
our children for education, and created ray Fayel and through
and you see how ray Fael has grown in stature
(09:01):
and part of the community.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
This man is raising a half a million dollars to
be ray Fel, right.
Speaker 6 (09:09):
And and people don't understand the thing behind it, but
understand when that man shows up, he has done his
part in the community to get to where he's at.
Absolutely hundreds of thousands of dollars that go to scholarship.
But that's the cultural background that you see that flows
in Yes, Fiesta San Antonio, the event.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Let's dive into some of the nonprofit stuff. And now
that we're talk about we're talking about raising funds. Half
a million dollars raised by Raphael. If we can talk
about numbers, what are the other numbers, uh, you know
from the other folks that raise money? Like, what are
we talking about here? And then I want to know
where where's it going right? Which we all know us
here in this room, no educational purposes.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Well, I think the great thing about Fiesta too, Like
Jim was saying, the history of Fiesta began in eighteen
ninety one with the first Battle of Hours parade. But
why I think is so unique and special about Fiesta
is that every organization that has an official Fiesta event
is a nonprofit in San Antonio, and each one of
those events actually has their own history as well too.
So I think that's also kind of interesting and unique
(10:15):
for San Antonio. That Fiesta itself began in eighteen ninety
one with the first Battle of Flowers parade, but that
as each organization was formed and developed their own traditions,
their own history, their own Fiesta events, each one of
our one hundred or so plus organizations they have a
built in history of San Antonio. So as the history
of Fiesta is developed, so too has the history of
(10:37):
San Antonio. So I think that also what makes Fiesta
very unique is this is something that san Antonio. Whether
you were born and raised in San Antonio or like me,
came from a different city and came to San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
And stayed and loved it.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
Every person in Santonio can develop their own history as
well because of or related.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
To a specific Fiesta event.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
So I think that's great and I think that's that's
why it's important for the nonprofit organizations to really be
successful in raising money for their charities. And one of
the things about the Fiesta Commission, we like to brag
that we really support many different types of charities that
are involved in Fiesta. There's historical organizations, there are organizations
(11:19):
that support pets, there's organizations that support health and wellness.
There's events to support special needs community, the LGBTQ community.
So we're very excited by the fact that we have
all these organizations that are all collectively part of the
Fiesta Commission doing these events and raising money for their charities.
(11:39):
But we also like to be able to say that
it's also a Fiesta for all, So beyond the dollars
that are raised, and it's in the million. Is We
don't have exact numbers from all the organizations, and each
one of the organizations has a special need that they're
actually raising money for, whether it's scholarships, or whether it's
for the special needs community, or whether it's to preserve
arts and nature and cultural community. So a lot of
(12:01):
different money is being spent throughout the city. But I
will say that the other exciting point beyond the scholarships
and the funds that are raised is a Fiesta for all.
That's what our theme is this year. We're excited that
every part of San Antonio is represented by Fiesta. That's
something that you know is probably unique to San Antonio.
We have that many organizations and that many events, and
(12:23):
whether you live on the north side, south side, east side,
west side, downtown, there is a Fiesta event for you
to attend. And there's a Fiesta events across the city
that you may not have attended before that are available
for you as well. So it's a great time to
be in San Antonio. Is very exciting. But we're talking in.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
The millions of dollars of money raised for charities.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And all, and the best part is it all stays here.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
It's all for San Antonio, and it's all for these
different sectors that make up this great community is San Antonio.
And I gotta be honest, I don't know of any
other event across the country that does something like this
like Fiesta, and it's for the city period.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
We've learned that we you know, we celebrate with other
fiestas or other large events in the community. We trade
and go visit with them and share information. So when
they come to San Antonio, they're they're amazed about our structure.
They're amazed about the opportunities that we give.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Did you hear them?
Speaker 6 (13:21):
A hundred different participating member organizations, over one hundred events
in eleven days. So so and David Christian, our president
who I'm here representing. David wants us to go to
the to the little events that support the pets, the
little events that bring charities to our children, all the
(13:45):
way to the big ones. I tell the story to Steve.
People would say, you go to Fiesta. Yeah, I went
to Fiesta. I went to Naosa, I went to one event,
one hundred events. And so that's the messaging that that,
especially when David picked Fiesta for all it's for every
part of the community and.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Jim's a great example of that too.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
So one of the committees that we have, like Jim mentioned,
we have a host committee that's part of the Fiesta Commission,
and we host dignitaries from events like the Tournament of
Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. Minneapolis and Saint Paul will
send some representatives from their events, the International Cherry Blossom
Festival and Nacan, Georgia. So these people are coming to
San Antonio to experience Fiesta. Hopefully they can take some
(14:29):
of that that Fiesta magic and spirit back to their towns.
But Jim has visited some of those cities and has
seen firsthand the exchange of ideas and they just the
experience of being at another person's festival, another group's festival.
By bringing some of that energy back to San Antonio,
and we hope we transfer that as well.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Love that. You know what I like about Steve? What's
that I have one card in front of him. I
saw that, I got and a half. No, I don't
get it. Steve Sea's got all right here. Yeah, and
I'm getting there. I'm getting there.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
No, And I love that. And it's it's two different personalities.
But again it's it's kind of like Yesta, right, it's
all these different sectors and different types of people from
all walks of life, all coming together for one common
purpose to this fund these amazing organizations that impact our community.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
We'll say paid one thing too about the dollars, So
there's the charitable impact that these events are generating with
the millions of dollars are going back to scholarships throughout
the community. And I don't want to get too technical
on numbers, but one of the things that the Fiesta
Commission did, we actually have an ordinance with the City
of San Antonio, so we have a ten year ordinance
(15:43):
and that's very important to know that the city is
also behind Fiesta, and it shows a lot of support
for Fiesta. One of the provisions in that ordinance is
that every so many years, the Fiesta Commission will do
an economic impact study for the city, and we're due
to have one next year in twenty twenty. But the
last one that was done, and it was before COVID
and we haven't done it since COVID, but those numbers
(16:05):
generated three hundred and forty million dollar economic impact for
the city.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Of San Antonio.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
Now that doesn't mean that that money is going into
our pockets, but what it does mean is it's generating
that money for people coming from out of town to
stay in hotels, the heat and restaurants. To support tourism.
We want to work very hard with visits San Antonio, which.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Is something that bring people.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeah, which is something that city has been struggling with
since COVID, Right, tourism has been kind of slowed down,
starting to see an uptick. But it's so cool that
folks are finding Folks across the country are finding out
about Fiesta. And I'm gonna get out here in a
second because I want to find out what what the
goal here is or what the mission, better say, what
the plan is to expand and and really promote Fiesta,
(16:48):
not just within the States but worldwide.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Right. But it's so cool to see people traveling to
San Antonio for this event.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Right, other cities got there, you know, right up the street,
right in Austin, they got south by Southwest and acl
good for them, right, But I but I love that
people are realizing, like, oh, San Antonio has more than
just the river Walk and the Spurs and hemisphere. They
got this eleven day festival. The other guy's only got
two days or a weekend, whatever it is. But so
(17:18):
my question there is what's And I'll give you me
as a perfect example. I lived in that in that
city up the road for a decade, a decade, and
I didn't know a really much about what Fiesta was.
I'd heard some people say like, oh, maybe in San
Antonio this weekend for Fiesta. I thought it was a
weekend thing. Did not know it was eleven day and
an eleven day event until I moved here and I
(17:40):
got to experience Fiesta for the first time, and I
will say super overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
And I went like to one or two events.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Because I thought like, oh, it's a niosa, right, a
case in point or whatever, you know. But then I
following year I got to find out about the parades
and Niosa and Fiesta Fiesta and what I'm missing all
these concerts under the bridge, under the I thirty five
thirty five bridge market. Yes, all that, And so is
there a plan in place or what is our plan
(18:07):
to really amplify what Fiesta is and reach a worldwide
on it and make this an international destination.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Well, I'll tell you that's a great question, and that's
one of the one of the challenges the Fiesta Commission
has from an executive committee standpoint is how do we
effectively tell the story but make sure that we try
to explain Fiestas so people can understand that it is
more than just one hundred different events, because it can
be overwhelming when we talk about one hundred different organizations
(18:35):
doing more than one hundred events, and each one has
their own mission, their own purpose, their own reason why
they exist. So that is a challenge to try to
communicate that. But we've been very fortunate the last couple
of years to work on a good marketing plan, like
Jim said, having our committee really go out into the
city of San Antonio and talk about the history of Fiesta,
but also what does the Fiesta Commission itself do? What
(18:59):
the Fiesta Commision to being a separate nonprofit organization, trying
to get the word out across the city first, So
it really starts by really getting the word out to
make sure everybody in San Antonio really understands what Fiesta is.
By this year, we've done some work with Visit San Antonio.
They've helped with some marketing ideas about outside of San Antonio,
So in markets like Austin, like Dallas, Houston, Corpus in
(19:20):
the valley to kind of spread that word about here.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Is what Fiesta is.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
And I think that's important to really develop relationships like
that that conductively help bring people to San Antonio, because
that really is what the goal is again, like I
said earlier, helping each one of our nonprofit organizations for
Fiesta be as successful as they can be, and sometimes
that means trying to help them increase their attendance, bring
people from out of town, but also to bring awareness
(19:45):
about their organizations. The other thing that we're doing this
year too is case Santa is our official broadcast partner
for the parades, and one of the things we've worked
with Casean as well too, and they've also done some
additional marketing and some of those different markets outside of
San Antonio. But technology is so amazing and it really
I want to thank like Peedro, I want to thank
(20:05):
you and iHeart Radio for everything that you guys do
for Fiesta because the way technology is now too, you
can be in another country and they can stream and
they can get information about what you're talking about in
San Antonio, and I think being able to utilize those
new technological advances to really be able to tell the
entire world Fiesta is here in San Antonio. One of
(20:26):
the things that we're excited about with caseat this year
is for the first time ever, we're going to actually
have both the Battle Flowers and Fiesta Flambeau parades have
an actual Spanish language brun Yeah, and that's going to
be something that's going to be important as well too.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
The way that people are viewing TV now.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Or listening to radio is so much different than it
was even five years ago, and we want to be
able to expand on how they're actually finding out about
Fiesta and be able to take whether they're streaming or
all kinds of different apps now that they can watch
Fiesta events or watch the parades, and being able to
communicate that message.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Around the world.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
So I think utilizing the technology and our partnerships that
we have now that will really expand the reach of
people being aware about Fiesta.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
So. I came in about four years ago, four or
five years ago officially in the Executive committee, and one
of the things that I did I came from I
was an assistant director of the Alamodoman Convention Center for years,
I was part of the tourism industry, and I came
to Steve and I was saying, Man, we got.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
To share this event.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Man, I mean, we got too many people just in
our visitation area of Houston, in Dallas, in the valley,
and and you know, Steve in his mind, calm take it.
So we have been pushing and we have visits San
(21:52):
Antonio in our camp and we're going to work hard
at that. We need to share our festival with our
friends from Texas and beyond and and and Steve is
doing a wonderful job of making those connections and we're
gonna get there.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Uh, A dear friend of mine, Tito, my friend and
your friends.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
We we worked hard at trying to figure out a
little bit of of trying to curve out some of
the visitation. We're gonna work harder with our partners, uh
case that and and visit San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Uh watch out, because we need to share. We need
to share this event.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Absolutely, and and you know, and and Steve, thank you
for you know, for thanking our part uh with Fiesta.
We love being a part of Yesta and amplifying the
message of of what the goal of Fiesta is each
and every year, and you know, of course the fact
that we can have you, gentlemen, and then all the
folks that make up YESA, either the Commission or the
(22:54):
different organizations like the Rays and the Rainas and the
and the everyone from the different courts, you know, and
amplifying them not just on the air, but on podcasts
like this, which are heard really anywhere you can access
the internet in the world, right is an honor and
and just you know, makes us happy because again it
helps us, you know, achieve those goals and those initiatives
(23:17):
of Fiesta with the different organizations raising funds and of
course impacting our community. But I love that that that's
the mindset of expanding of explaining what Fiesta is, and
especially with the Spanish broadcast, because again I'm telling you
guys right now, this definitely reminds me of Fiesta's that
happen in small towns all throughout Mexico. If you can
(23:40):
make that connection over a Spanish broadcast, I mean, light
bulb goes off in people's heads, more people come to
the festival, and then all of a sudden you have
people from either Monterrey or Guawela or whatever the case,
any part of northern Mexico. That's right, you know, right
next door to Mexican to San Antonio. They're here right right,
and so and then I'm sure that opens up other
opportunities like, okay, cool, what other type of events can
(24:00):
we add to Fiesta that now caters to this crowd
that's coming right.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
So anyways, that's.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Exactly right, and we're always on the look.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
So one of the things in order to become an
official Fiesta event, we do have a three year process,
and I think that's something the city really wants to
make sure.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Was so good, though good that first year, I got it.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
So we're excited to work with organizations, but they must
be nonprofit organizations or to be official Fiesta event. But
we do have an accreditation and a reaccreditation process.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
We want to make sure that the events that.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Are occurring during Fiesta, or the organizations that are doing
events that want to become Fiesta events, we want to
make sure that the Fiesta Commission has given them their
their seal of approval, their stamp of approval, making sure
the events are safe, making sure that they're they're raising
money for the reasons why they're the organization has been
formed making sure that the events are open to the
(24:54):
public and that they're fun and they're they're a good
value for this the citizen as well. They have good
volunteer spirit. So there's a lot of things that our
volunteer committee goes that has a checklist of what is
going to take to make these events become a Fiesta event.
But we are excited anytime that we can add Fiesta events.
We have a couple of new Fiesta events this year
that we're adding. A Fies the East is going to
(25:17):
be one of the official Fiesta events this year. We
have Fiesta on French is another official Fiesta event this year,
so we're excited about that. And we actually have a
couple of organizations in the queue for becoming official events
in twenty twenty six that we can talk about next year.
But we're always looking to expand Fiesta. But one of
the things that we also look at from the business
(25:38):
model standpoint, again, we want to make sure that the
events can be as successful.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
As they can be.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
When you have that many events in those eleven days,
sometimes there is that competition factor for you know, maybe
the same attendance at certain areas of town or certain events,
and you know, there's only so many portage ons and
dumpsters in town kind of thing. So we are looking
at strategies too on how we can how we can
maximize Fiesta and maximize the benefits for all these organizations too.
(26:05):
So I think that's important that the one of the
great things about our Fiesta Executive Committee is not only
are they worried about what's happening in the current year
of Fiesta, but like Jim said, we're talking about three
and five year plans down the road and and you know,
what is Fiesta going to look like in five years?
And I think that's also exciting from a from for
(26:25):
the city to know that that, you know, this organization
is really.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Committed to treating it like a business as well.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Yeah, we want to have a lot of fun, we
want to support a lot of charities, but there's also
a business element that we're trying to do. There's a
large economic impact that's involved, so that is exciting as
we look to continue to enhance Fiesta. And yeah, the
more that we talk about Fiesta, the more awareness that
we generate. We hope that we can definitely you know,
have more events and more people support those events.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Absolutely, not one three by five cars. Now what he's
on it. I mean, you know he must study this.
There is something.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
I've be living Fiesta for a long time, but I
think one of the one of the other things Jim
mentioned this and this is something that it happens more frequently.
I think the people realize when when somebody gets asked, oh,
I went to Fiesta.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
And they may have went to just one event.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
And one of the things that we try to let
our organizations know is that as much as the Fiesta
Commission is helping those organizations, we also make sure that
we communicate to our Fiesta events and our organizations that
they are also representing the entire Fiesta, the entire world
of Fiesta, the entire population of Fiesta goers. So sometimes
(27:43):
sometimes people may only come to for example, let's say
Taste to New Orleans for example, or they go to
the Pinatas and the Barrio, or they go to the
Taste of the North Side, or they go to oyster
bake over at Saint Mary's.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
That may be the only event that that.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
Person goes to during Fiesta, but in their mind, he
or she went to Fiesta, right, christ, So we really
try to explain to organizations that we want to provide
the assistance to make sure that their event can be
as successful as they can be because they are representing,
they are giving the standard of what a person going
to Fiesta expects, and because that might be their only
(28:17):
event during Fiesta, we want to make sure that no
matter which event they go to, we want somebody to
come back and go, Man, Fiesta.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Was just awesome.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
I'll be there next.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
I think that's great.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
That's something that we really try to make sure our
organizations understand that they do have a responsibility to make
sure that their event is good, that's well organized, because
it does represent all of the one hundred organizations that
go on.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Let's talk about the real stuff here. Let's talk about
chicken on the stick.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
All right.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
That's good because.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
When I did when I was a part of my
first guesta here, when I arrived to San Antonio started
working here, that's all I heard about was chicken on
the stick.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Chicken on a stick.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I had no idea what the significance behind and the
importance behind chicken. And honestly, because it is a big deal.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
But do you eat it with the halopena or with
that with the halopen What are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I hope that you said I did this right the
first time, and I said, okay, this is how we're
doing right.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
With the kapen on top of the stick.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
And they put some jolopeno juice ripple on the chicken.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
While it's on the steak and let the juice drift down.
See now, folks that are listening to this, they're probably thinking,
what are they talking about? But this is one of
the cool little little little quirks about Fiesta.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Right, you hear about chicken on the stick.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Aside from all the important stuff and the fundraising, chicken
on the stick, you hear about I don't know. Give me,
give me some other examples examples of maybe stuff you
like to eat at Fiesta.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Why, I tell you one of the things that that's
very unique and it really only happens during Fiesta. When
I go tonight and Old San Antonio, one of the
first boots that I go to is thees Cargo booth.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
You know that is that is just great.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
It's in the the garlic butter and it has the
piece of bread that goes with it that is one
of the staple items that I have to get besides
the chicken on the sticks and the gordidas, and that,
for some reason is one of those staple items I
have to get.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
So it's it's you know, the food that you can
find at Fiesta throughout those eleven days is another layer
to this onion that is Fiesta just crazy experiences. You know.
It's it's food, It's it's it's the rides at the carnival, right,
it's the parades, niosa, it's all the concerts happening throughout
(30:29):
the city. So you know, if if you've ever uh
thought about visiting San Antonio this time of the year,
end of April this year is when to do it,
because it's just it's a whole other world.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Right it is.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
It's a magical time in San Antonio, and it's a
lot of fun. That's the one thing that when we
say party with a purpose, we we like to highlight
that party part just as much as the purpose. We
you know, I think the thing that makes it exciting
is a lot of the people on our executive committee
have worked with some of the Fiesta organizations, so we
are a fun group to hang with too. During Fiesta's right.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
I think Steve, you look like an.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Organizations kind of trying to feed off of us as
well too.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
We love to have fun undrough events, and we were there,
so I just think that really kind of puts people
in a mindset. And they're wearing crazy hats and they're
wearing all these metals, and they wearing sashas and it's
you know, a certain Fiesta fashion that goes on. So
there really is something that people haven't been experiencing a
Fiesta before.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
It really is something to come out and see.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
This has been an enlightening conversation because there's more I learned.
I learned about something new about Fiesta every year. Every
year it's something different, whether it's the history of chicken
on the stick or how delicious it is. It is
to the how how Fiesta got started. Next episode I
want to talk about and we got to bring in
like like an expert. Is I want to talk about
the metals, right, because that's another thing you see. A
(31:50):
FSA is such an important piece of Festa because there's metal,
you know, people trading metals, there's metals being sold for
a reason that's also to raise funds and uh, I.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Mean can guess he touched on like what is the history?
How that gets started?
Speaker 6 (32:02):
So King Antonio, get this all right, King Antonio started.
So it was when I was at Saint Luke's Catholic School.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Well year was this? That was in the early seventies,
seventy four. OK.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
So he came and visited and they he created they
created a medal. They were always given out a little metal,
but he created a medal that he.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Put into it. Darned I should have brought it. Well,
it's so let me describe it.
Speaker 6 (32:29):
It's a round metal that's in a paper holder that
says King Antonio or singer and and it was one
of the official medals that you pinned on yourself. And
from that time it's grown into an incredible thing. And
(32:50):
the pandemonia that creates. We actually give the opportunity doing
Fiesta Fiesta our first event come out. There's pmos that
are going to be there and that we sell in
their pins. But this is everybody that somebody and one
day I'm going to be somebody will create a pan
(33:10):
and in a medal and it's just a it's a
wonderful exchange.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, I've I've learned, even though I'm from San Antonio,
that you gotta carry you extra and pucket.
Speaker 6 (33:22):
Man.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Let's simplify this for the younger folks. It's like trading
Pokemon cards, except these are heavy and once you got
a lot of a lot of them on you, it
weighs down.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
But it's cool because it's it's it shows.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
The the the creativity or the better said, the the
story behind each organization or business or whoever that gets
a metal put together. One of one of my favorites
sis here thus far that I've seen is of the
world's youngest mad.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
His lights up and that is.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Very cool, and it has his picture on there, his image.
It's this beautiful big metal. It's wired up and it
lights up. The other one I saw recently because it's
just to me it looked very regal. I think it's
from Ray. What was the one I was mentioning my
colleague here in the studio. It's very very simple. It's
like a solid like a dark blue color, right, it
was a blue or something like that, and it's just
it's very clean. So it looks very regal to me.
(34:15):
So you have fun exciting designs with lights to regal
and like very prestige, prestigious. So the creativity behind these
metals and the trading and then the money they gets
raised towards different organizations, it's just another again, another layer
to this crazy onion that is FSA.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
So it is very cool. I mean.
Speaker 5 (34:33):
The other thing about the metals too, is that it's
a great way to promote the organization. Yeah, they do
sell metals to raise money, but be able to also
promote your organization through the metals. Sometimes it's also a
piece of art at times, you know, I know what
the season's done that, you know, That's always been a
great story to find out what do people do with
their medals after a fiesta. But one of the things
that the people do, I've seen them at people's houses
(34:56):
and they're displaying them. It becomes a work of art.
So it really is a great way to to have
remembrance of of fiesta but also really kind of have
a piece of art throughout your house.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Last year, I was able to amass a big collection
of metals, so it's too heavy to carry around. But
so this year I want to carry my metals around.
But I guess I need to find like a vest
or something, because that's what I saw last year, folks
with vests on and they're just covered in metals. You
can hear them from a mile away walking up clink clink, clink,
(35:26):
So you know that's not something odd to see at Fiesta.
You're going to see a lot of that, or folks
asking hey, do you have any metals? You know, and
then you know, you know, get the undercover folks that
kind of like it almost looks like a drug deal, right, yeah, right,
But that's how that's how in demand these metals are,
and how cool, cool little memory of the fiesta you
(35:49):
you went to for whatever specific year you went to.
And yeah, to your point, you see metals from way
back in the day that people hold on to and
cherish and take care of. I saw some on display
at media day. Uh and and you get to hear
about the history behind some of these metals, like he
just mentioned King Antonio's metal.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
So well, if you do wear a vessel.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
One of the things that's exciting too is the actually
Mayor Ron Nurberg, he actually we actually provide him a
vest that he can put his medals on during the
rest of the time, so you fit right in with
the mayor if you get a vest. So there's a
lot of different a lot of different articles of clothing.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
We have this stove, yeah, so it pounds jeez by
the time we're done with.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
That's a workout.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
The stoles seems to kind of balance the medals a
little bit better than the sashes sometimes. But he's all
kinds of crazy and then some of the hats and
some of the crazy fashion, and you know, that's a
whole other.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
We got to bring in Michael that he can break
it down.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
And I do want to say one thing though, that
about the Fiesta commission to and I want to make
sure that we kind of mentioned this as well too,
but Fiesta's relationship with.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
The military is very important.
Speaker 5 (36:54):
San Antonio is military city, USA, and you know, I
know a lot of your listeners are have been involved
in the military or their families have been. And I
think that's something that makes San Antonio special as well too.
When Fiesta talks about the military involvement. Every year, it's
either the Air Force or the Army that serves as
the military coordinators.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
For the year.
Speaker 5 (37:15):
And one of the things that's exciting about Fiesta as
well is we do have military ambassadors. We have a
PMO and organization, the Civilian Club, and they work with
the military branches and have these military ambassadors go to
Fiesta events throughout the year to really promote their branch.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
So two members of each branch.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
Of the military and they will go to different Fiesta
events and they'll go to support the organization, but also
go they really are promoting their branches of the military
as well, maybe to help recruit obviously to get people
to join the military, but just to show that special feeling,
that special relationship between the City of San Antonio, Fiesta
and the military. So we're excited every year to work
(37:55):
directly with the military, and they do such a great
job of in our country and protecting us and let
us enjoy the freedom that we can actually have a
Fiesta in San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
But we're very happy to have Military City USA and
support the military absolutely.
Speaker 6 (38:11):
The US Army Commanding General, Lieutenant General Alan Pittman a
wonderful man. If you see him, go say hello, talk
to this man. You'll understand, uh how he's just a
wonderful guy. And to hear him makes me feel very safe,
(38:31):
just a wonderful.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
He's gonna yeah he's loud.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
I got to see him at the poster reveal event
and he didn't need a microphone that day.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
He is he's a tall man, very tall man. Now
it's it's he talks.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
I was ready to drop and give him right.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
No, of course, again another layer of what is Fiesta
and and the proud partnerships we have with the military
being San Antonio Military City, and the fact that that
involvement is also a piece of Fiesta. Gentlemen, this has
been one of the most fun conversations I've had in
a while. And you know, we're a few days away
(39:09):
from Fiesta. This podcast will be out before Fiesta even
starts off. But always fun to talk to you guys
learn something new about Fiesta.
Speaker 5 (39:16):
One last thing, I want to also kind of give
a lot of a lot of thanks to our Miss
Fiesta Kylie Rodriguez. She's our Miss Fiesta twenty twenty five
and one of the things that's exciting about Fiesta has
a lot of royalty, official royalty, unofficial royalty, but the
Fiesta Commission is very proud to say that we have
Miss Fiesta who's one of the official royalty and she
serves as an ambassador for Fiesta to the entire city
(39:39):
of San Antonio and throughout all of our Fiesta organizations.
One of the things that's exciting about the Fiesta Commission
we have a Fiesta San Antonio Foundation that's a five
oh one C three that raises money and this year
we're able to provide a scholarship again to Miss Fiesta
as well as the four finalists, and something about something
about having the this Fiesta program has really kind of
(40:01):
expanded and developed over the last three years from a
pageant type of event to really more of a of
a project. The girls are selected. We have our five
finalists out of maybe thirty plus applications. They're selected in
early October and they spend the next three or four
months and they'll do they'll support the Fiesta Commission during
(40:22):
parades well, they'll also really develop life skills, and I
think that's also important that the Fiesta Commission, the Fiesta
San Antonio Foundation, we're also putting our money where ourmouth
is to be able to say, we want to make
sure that the Commission is also giving back to scholarships
to support these young ladies who represent the Fiesta Commission.
But anyway, Kylie Rodriguez has done a great job, as
(40:42):
all of our Miss Fiestas have done. And I just
I'm very proud of the fact that the Fiesta Commission
can really support support these young ladies and really, you know,
really have a great ambassador to serve San Antonio and Fiesta.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
And when you see Miss Fiesta this year at one
of the parades on a we all know what we
need to yell, right, that's right, yeah, one, two three.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Working on her shoe game for the parade, So wait
to see what she's gonna.
Speaker 6 (41:12):
We gotta train people though, on this other thing, what
are we missing when when we acknowledge and say hello
to people, yes we say viva, Yes we say Viva
Fiesta and the responses viva. So uh, that's another five
year plans Fiesta Viva.
Speaker 4 (41:33):
That'll be part of our ninety second elevator speech.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Yeah yeah, but don't forget that.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Well, on on the on that note, thank you so
much for listening to another well new season of the
Fiesta Podcast. This is episode one with some amazing guests,
mister Jim, Mary and Steve always mispronounced your last name,
Rosy you thank you so much for listening, and uh,
Viva Fiesta Viva.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
For more info in the official event schedule, please visit
Fiesta San Antonio dot org. Consider becoming a member and
get invited to exclusive Fiesta Member events while giving back
to the community. We hope you shared this podcast with
a friend and remember have fun, give back Fiesta. This
is your announcer, Dave Rios. Thanks for listening.
Since eighteen ninety one, the first Battle of Flowers Parade,
the people of San Antonio celebrate Fiesta to bring the
community together. Now because of Fiesta, we're taking that story
and sharing it with you here on the Official I
Heart Fiesta Podcast. Discover how Fiesta gives back to San
Antonio and get to know the people who make it
(00:21):
all happen, have fun, give back Fiesta.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to a brand new season of the Fiesta Podcast,
The Official Fiesta Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Episode one. My name is Pedro A Laide.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
In the past, we have connected with folks that are
involved with Fiesta. Fiesta is this massive event that goes
over or that happens throughout the city of San Antonio
for almost two weeks. It's partying with a purpose, as
we like to say, because the purpose there is to
raise funds for education and many other organizations.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
In and around San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And we're reconnecting with some amazing individuals that we have
I've had the pleasure of speaking to speaking with in
past seasons of the Fiesta Podcast. Some familiar familiar voices
and some new voices on the podcast, and I don't
know if I should intro them or they can intro
themselves because because Steve's got a long title and uh
and Steve, we'll start with Steve. Steve, do you want
(01:15):
to intro yourself? Because I know it's executive director of
the Fiesta Commission, right.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
That's correct. Yeah, So this is Steve Rosenauer.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
I'm the executive director of the Fiesta San Antonio Commission.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
So happy to be here. Thank you so much for
having us.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
No, Steve, thank you for coming in for another episode,
another season and new season of the Fiesta Podcast. And
this time around I get to finally talk to We've
met before a couple of times, but now we get
to chat it up with mister Jim Mary, senior vice
president of the Fiesta Commission.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Correct. Yes, big title, big, I'm a big man.
Speaker 6 (01:43):
You gotta have a big title for a big man man.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, I've heard like you're the I mean, yes, Michael Ke.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
But like you're you're right up there in terms of
the energy that mister Fiesta brings on you. So you
could be you know what, your senior vice president, mister Fiesta.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
How about that? I like it. I'm going with it.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
I think that's great. Yeah, we don't want to doss Michael.
Michael Keaton. He is mister Fiesta. We can't do Fiesta
without Michael, but Jim's are very very close.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Second.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, you just need the mister Fiesta outfits that Michael.
I'm working on it. I'm working on it.
Speaker 6 (02:16):
Man.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Wait till you see you and you will stand out.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Guys, I'm beyond help. So Michael needs to do a
lot of work on my wardrobe.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Guys, thank you so much for jumping on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And really the goal here is one, you know, explain
the folks who may not know or have never done Fiesta.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
What is Fiesta? Right? That's number one? Number two? What
is the point of Fiesta?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Right?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
We all we you know, we hear it all the time.
Party with the purpose, Party with the purpose. But you know,
there's a lot of folks out there who are from
San Antonio, who have grown up in San Antonio, who
always known about Fiesta and maybe go to some of
the events, to the events you're in, you're out, but
maybe really never understood what the point of this festival,
this is, this event is. So let's break it down.
(03:02):
Let's get everything out there and kind of just explain
the folks what is Fiesta?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Who wants to go first, let me give it a shot.
All right, let's do it. We have to know our
history before we can go into the future.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
And so one of the things that we did is
we created a committee to go out into the public
to explain who the fiestasan Antonio Commission was. In doing that,
we've all learned ourselves because it was amazing to find out.
Even some people within our commission, we're struggling to completely
understand the picture. So in eighteen ninety one, there was
(03:35):
a gathering of people and they did a parade the
Battle of Flowers. Paryed, a group of women run organization
that created this great event. It was around celebrating the
defenders of the Alamo, and the sun has seized the battle.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
So people would go with it down the road. They'd
be pelted with flowers, the true Battle of Flowers. Yeah,
mellow flowers.
Speaker 6 (04:01):
So and listen, I'm at thirty thousand feet. I can
tell you that there are people that can tell you
the colors that were involved. But really just to bring
you how we got started. Other events started happening, and
then there was other groups that started doing their fiesta
(04:22):
type events ordered the Alamo in nineteen or nine, now
that you have to go to the pilgrimage that happens.
Another event that were you walk in silence up to
the Alamo, that was done in nineteen eighteen. So they
started doing all these events around the spring of the
(04:43):
year in the early nineteen hundreds. By creating all these events,
they created a group of the San Jacinto Association. Then
it turned into a bigger group and dissatisfaction groove because
there's all these events and all this activity happening. So
(05:04):
the Greater Chamber of Commerce established us in nineteen fifty nine,
the Fiesta San Antonio Commission. That's how we got started,
and that's who we are.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Okay, we're just the umbrella organization, bring everybody together. Are
going to talk to you.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
About our participating member organization, big name, but we're going
to talk through that and Steve can tell you about
these pmos.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
I think one of the great things about being part
of the Fiesta San Antonio Commission is that we really
are here to support the one hundred plus nonprofit organizations
that actually produce the Fiesta events. You know, without our
participating member organizations. Without those organizations and their events, there
would be no Fiesta but because it's such a massive
undertaking to have Fiesta for eleven days, and even we
(05:58):
have events that happened even before before the official days
of Fiesta, we need an organization like the Fiesta Commission
to serve, as a Jim said, an umbrella organization that's
really here to serve the purpose of trying to help
make those organizations be as successful as they can be
so they can help raise funds to support the citizens
of San Antonio throughout the entire year.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
So that's ultimately why we're here now.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Now, now there's anything to take away at the end
of this podcast, is exactly what you guys already just
mentioned now is the nonprofit organizations. And we'll get to
that here in a second, because again, a lot of
folks don't really understand that, you know, the reason Fiesta
says party with a purpose, because they truly is a
purpose behind all this, right, So we'll jump into the
nonprofit stuff and who it helps here in the city.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
But I love the Jim, I love the history.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Behind how Fiesta began with the Battle of Flowers and whatnot,
because I think we covered this in a past episode
in a past season somewhere. Baos latimos queestes qutando right now.
And if you're a Spanish dominant, maybe you grew up
in Mexico and I immigrated the United States, or maybe
you're one generation removed. Fiesta San Antonio is very much
(07:05):
like Las Fiestas patronales in Mexico, the small towns that
have their yearly traditional fiestas which are either centered around
a religious date or just some type of I don't know,
just something going on seasonal. Right, So you mentioned an
event back in the early nineteen hundreds where the pilgrimage,
(07:26):
right where folks quietly walk up towards the Alamo. It's
kind of like again the fiestas centered around religion in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
You quietly make your way to the.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Church right during the day's festivities, and then you party
later in the day, right, And that's kind of what
all this reminds me of. And I think folks will
will understand that that this is It's like a piece
of Mexico living right here in San Antonio right now.
Obviously this is at a grander scale, like right, and
(07:56):
with a purpose of raising money, but I you know,
it is that part of the messaging that gets put
out from the from the feels the commission like telling
folks like, hey, you know this is you know, a
piece of why this happens, this historic, historic piece and
the cultural stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Cultural is a big part. I mean Rafael.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
Yes, the Spaniards would have their king, but the commoners
didn't like the king. So this was back in the
early eighteen hundreds, so they created their own, the king
of the people, ray Fael. Well in AVOs Scallientees. They
(08:38):
created this festival surrounding that well. Lulac number two chose
that premise, brought it to San Antonio, raising funds for
our children for education, and created ray Fayel and through
and you see how ray Fael has grown in stature
(09:01):
and part of the community.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
This man is raising a half a million dollars to
be ray Fel, right.
Speaker 6 (09:09):
And and people don't understand the thing behind it, but
understand when that man shows up, he has done his
part in the community to get to where he's at.
Absolutely hundreds of thousands of dollars that go to scholarship.
But that's the cultural background that you see that flows
in Yes, Fiesta San Antonio, the event.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Let's dive into some of the nonprofit stuff. And now
that we're talk about we're talking about raising funds. Half
a million dollars raised by Raphael. If we can talk
about numbers, what are the other numbers, uh, you know
from the other folks that raise money? Like, what are
we talking about here? And then I want to know
where where's it going right? Which we all know us
here in this room, no educational purposes.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Well, I think the great thing about Fiesta too, Like
Jim was saying, the history of Fiesta began in eighteen
ninety one with the first Battle of Hours parade. But
why I think is so unique and special about Fiesta
is that every organization that has an official Fiesta event
is a nonprofit in San Antonio, and each one of
those events actually has their own history as well too.
So I think that's also kind of interesting and unique
(10:15):
for San Antonio. That Fiesta itself began in eighteen ninety
one with the first Battle of Flowers parade, but that
as each organization was formed and developed their own traditions,
their own history, their own Fiesta events, each one of
our one hundred or so plus organizations they have a
built in history of San Antonio. So as the history
of Fiesta is developed, so too has the history of
(10:37):
San Antonio. So I think that also what makes Fiesta
very unique is this is something that san Antonio. Whether
you were born and raised in San Antonio or like me,
came from a different city and came to San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
And stayed and loved it.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
Every person in Santonio can develop their own history as
well because of or related.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
To a specific Fiesta event.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
So I think that's great and I think that's that's
why it's important for the nonprofit organizations to really be
successful in raising money for their charities. And one of
the things about the Fiesta Commission, we like to brag
that we really support many different types of charities that
are involved in Fiesta. There's historical organizations, there are organizations
(11:19):
that support pets, there's organizations that support health and wellness.
There's events to support special needs community, the LGBTQ community.
So we're very excited by the fact that we have
all these organizations that are all collectively part of the
Fiesta Commission doing these events and raising money for their charities.
(11:39):
But we also like to be able to say that
it's also a Fiesta for all, So beyond the dollars
that are raised, and it's in the million. Is We
don't have exact numbers from all the organizations, and each
one of the organizations has a special need that they're
actually raising money for, whether it's scholarships, or whether it's
for the special needs community, or whether it's to preserve
arts and nature and cultural community. So a lot of
(12:01):
different money is being spent throughout the city. But I
will say that the other exciting point beyond the scholarships
and the funds that are raised is a Fiesta for all.
That's what our theme is this year. We're excited that
every part of San Antonio is represented by Fiesta. That's
something that you know is probably unique to San Antonio.
We have that many organizations and that many events, and
(12:23):
whether you live on the north side, south side, east side,
west side, downtown, there is a Fiesta event for you
to attend. And there's a Fiesta events across the city
that you may not have attended before that are available
for you as well. So it's a great time to
be in San Antonio. Is very exciting. But we're talking in.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
The millions of dollars of money raised for charities.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And all, and the best part is it all stays here.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
It's all for San Antonio, and it's all for these
different sectors that make up this great community is San Antonio.
And I gotta be honest, I don't know of any
other event across the country that does something like this
like Fiesta, and it's for the city period.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
We've learned that we you know, we celebrate with other
fiestas or other large events in the community. We trade
and go visit with them and share information. So when
they come to San Antonio, they're they're amazed about our structure.
They're amazed about the opportunities that we give.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Did you hear them?
Speaker 6 (13:21):
A hundred different participating member organizations, over one hundred events
in eleven days. So so and David Christian, our president
who I'm here representing. David wants us to go to
the to the little events that support the pets, the
little events that bring charities to our children, all the
(13:45):
way to the big ones. I tell the story to Steve.
People would say, you go to Fiesta. Yeah, I went
to Fiesta. I went to Naosa, I went to one event,
one hundred events. And so that's the messaging that that,
especially when David picked Fiesta for all it's for every
part of the community and.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Jim's a great example of that too.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
So one of the committees that we have, like Jim mentioned,
we have a host committee that's part of the Fiesta Commission,
and we host dignitaries from events like the Tournament of
Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. Minneapolis and Saint Paul will
send some representatives from their events, the International Cherry Blossom
Festival and Nacan, Georgia. So these people are coming to
San Antonio to experience Fiesta. Hopefully they can take some
(14:29):
of that that Fiesta magic and spirit back to their towns.
But Jim has visited some of those cities and has
seen firsthand the exchange of ideas and they just the
experience of being at another person's festival, another group's festival.
By bringing some of that energy back to San Antonio,
and we hope we transfer that as well.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Love that. You know what I like about Steve? What's
that I have one card in front of him. I
saw that, I got and a half. No, I don't
get it. Steve Sea's got all right here. Yeah, and
I'm getting there. I'm getting there.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
No, And I love that. And it's it's two different personalities.
But again it's it's kind of like Yesta, right, it's
all these different sectors and different types of people from
all walks of life, all coming together for one common
purpose to this fund these amazing organizations that impact our community.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
We'll say paid one thing too about the dollars, So
there's the charitable impact that these events are generating with
the millions of dollars are going back to scholarships throughout
the community. And I don't want to get too technical
on numbers, but one of the things that the Fiesta
Commission did, we actually have an ordinance with the City
of San Antonio, so we have a ten year ordinance
(15:43):
and that's very important to know that the city is
also behind Fiesta, and it shows a lot of support
for Fiesta. One of the provisions in that ordinance is
that every so many years, the Fiesta Commission will do
an economic impact study for the city, and we're due
to have one next year in twenty twenty. But the
last one that was done, and it was before COVID
and we haven't done it since COVID, but those numbers
(16:05):
generated three hundred and forty million dollar economic impact for
the city.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Of San Antonio.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
Now that doesn't mean that that money is going into
our pockets, but what it does mean is it's generating
that money for people coming from out of town to
stay in hotels, the heat and restaurants. To support tourism.
We want to work very hard with visits San Antonio, which.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Is something that bring people.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yeah, which is something that city has been struggling with
since COVID, Right, tourism has been kind of slowed down,
starting to see an uptick. But it's so cool that
folks are finding Folks across the country are finding out
about Fiesta. And I'm gonna get out here in a
second because I want to find out what what the
goal here is or what the mission, better say, what
the plan is to expand and and really promote Fiesta,
(16:48):
not just within the States but worldwide.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Right. But it's so cool to see people traveling to
San Antonio for this event.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Right, other cities got there, you know, right up the street,
right in Austin, they got south by Southwest and acl
good for them, right, But I but I love that
people are realizing, like, oh, San Antonio has more than
just the river Walk and the Spurs and hemisphere. They
got this eleven day festival. The other guy's only got
two days or a weekend, whatever it is. But so
(17:18):
my question there is what's And I'll give you me
as a perfect example. I lived in that in that
city up the road for a decade, a decade, and
I didn't know a really much about what Fiesta was.
I'd heard some people say like, oh, maybe in San
Antonio this weekend for Fiesta. I thought it was a
weekend thing. Did not know it was eleven day and
an eleven day event until I moved here and I
(17:40):
got to experience Fiesta for the first time, and I
will say super overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
And I went like to one or two events.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Because I thought like, oh, it's a niosa, right, a
case in point or whatever, you know. But then I
following year I got to find out about the parades
and Niosa and Fiesta Fiesta and what I'm missing all
these concerts under the bridge, under the I thirty five
thirty five bridge market. Yes, all that, And so is
there a plan in place or what is our plan
(18:07):
to really amplify what Fiesta is and reach a worldwide
on it and make this an international destination.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Well, I'll tell you that's a great question, and that's
one of the one of the challenges the Fiesta Commission
has from an executive committee standpoint is how do we
effectively tell the story but make sure that we try
to explain Fiestas so people can understand that it is
more than just one hundred different events, because it can
be overwhelming when we talk about one hundred different organizations
(18:35):
doing more than one hundred events, and each one has
their own mission, their own purpose, their own reason why
they exist. So that is a challenge to try to
communicate that. But we've been very fortunate the last couple
of years to work on a good marketing plan, like
Jim said, having our committee really go out into the
city of San Antonio and talk about the history of Fiesta,
but also what does the Fiesta Commission itself do? What
(18:59):
the Fiesta Commision to being a separate nonprofit organization, trying
to get the word out across the city first, So
it really starts by really getting the word out to
make sure everybody in San Antonio really understands what Fiesta is.
By this year, we've done some work with Visit San Antonio.
They've helped with some marketing ideas about outside of San Antonio,
So in markets like Austin, like Dallas, Houston, Corpus in
(19:20):
the valley to kind of spread that word about here.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Is what Fiesta is.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
And I think that's important to really develop relationships like
that that conductively help bring people to San Antonio, because
that really is what the goal is again, like I
said earlier, helping each one of our nonprofit organizations for
Fiesta be as successful as they can be, and sometimes
that means trying to help them increase their attendance, bring
people from out of town, but also to bring awareness
(19:45):
about their organizations. The other thing that we're doing this
year too is case Santa is our official broadcast partner
for the parades, and one of the things we've worked
with Casean as well too, and they've also done some
additional marketing and some of those different markets outside of
San Antonio. But technology is so amazing and it really
I want to thank like Peedro, I want to thank
(20:05):
you and iHeart Radio for everything that you guys do
for Fiesta because the way technology is now too, you
can be in another country and they can stream and
they can get information about what you're talking about in
San Antonio, and I think being able to utilize those
new technological advances to really be able to tell the
entire world Fiesta is here in San Antonio. One of
(20:26):
the things that we're excited about with caseat this year
is for the first time ever, we're going to actually
have both the Battle Flowers and Fiesta Flambeau parades have
an actual Spanish language brun Yeah, and that's going to
be something that's going to be important as well too.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
The way that people are viewing TV now.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Or listening to radio is so much different than it
was even five years ago, and we want to be
able to expand on how they're actually finding out about
Fiesta and be able to take whether they're streaming or
all kinds of different apps now that they can watch
Fiesta events or watch the parades, and being able to
communicate that message.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Around the world.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
So I think utilizing the technology and our partnerships that
we have now that will really expand the reach of
people being aware about Fiesta.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Absolutely.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
So. I came in about four years ago, four or
five years ago officially in the Executive committee, and one
of the things that I did I came from I
was an assistant director of the Alamodoman Convention Center for years,
I was part of the tourism industry, and I came
to Steve and I was saying, Man, we got.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
To share this event.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Man, I mean, we got too many people just in
our visitation area of Houston, in Dallas, in the valley,
and and you know, Steve in his mind, calm take it.
So we have been pushing and we have visits San
(21:52):
Antonio in our camp and we're going to work hard
at that. We need to share our festival with our
friends from Texas and beyond and and and Steve is
doing a wonderful job of making those connections and we're
gonna get there.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Uh, A dear friend of mine, Tito, my friend and
your friends.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
We we worked hard at trying to figure out a
little bit of of trying to curve out some of
the visitation. We're gonna work harder with our partners, uh
case that and and visit San Antonio.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Uh watch out, because we need to share. We need
to share this event.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Absolutely, and and you know, and and Steve, thank you
for you know, for thanking our part uh with Fiesta.
We love being a part of Yesta and amplifying the
message of of what the goal of Fiesta is each
and every year, and you know, of course the fact
that we can have you, gentlemen, and then all the
folks that make up YESA, either the Commission or the
(22:54):
different organizations like the Rays and the Rainas and the
and the everyone from the different courts, you know, and
amplifying them not just on the air, but on podcasts
like this, which are heard really anywhere you can access
the internet in the world, right is an honor and
and just you know, makes us happy because again it
helps us, you know, achieve those goals and those initiatives
(23:17):
of Fiesta with the different organizations raising funds and of
course impacting our community. But I love that that that's
the mindset of expanding of explaining what Fiesta is, and
especially with the Spanish broadcast, because again I'm telling you
guys right now, this definitely reminds me of Fiesta's that
happen in small towns all throughout Mexico. If you can
(23:40):
make that connection over a Spanish broadcast, I mean, light
bulb goes off in people's heads, more people come to
the festival, and then all of a sudden you have
people from either Monterrey or Guawela or whatever the case,
any part of northern Mexico. That's right, you know, right
next door to Mexican to San Antonio. They're here right right,
and so and then I'm sure that opens up other
opportunities like, okay, cool, what other type of events can
(24:00):
we add to Fiesta that now caters to this crowd
that's coming right.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
So anyways, that's.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Exactly right, and we're always on the look.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
So one of the things in order to become an
official Fiesta event, we do have a three year process,
and I think that's something the city really wants to
make sure.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Was so good, though good that first year, I got it.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
So we're excited to work with organizations, but they must
be nonprofit organizations or to be official Fiesta event. But
we do have an accreditation and a reaccreditation process.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
We want to make sure that the events that.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Are occurring during Fiesta, or the organizations that are doing
events that want to become Fiesta events, we want to
make sure that the Fiesta Commission has given them their
their seal of approval, their stamp of approval, making sure
the events are safe, making sure that they're they're raising
money for the reasons why they're the organization has been
formed making sure that the events are open to the
(24:54):
public and that they're fun and they're they're a good
value for this the citizen as well. They have good
volunteer spirit. So there's a lot of things that our
volunteer committee goes that has a checklist of what is
going to take to make these events become a Fiesta event.
But we are excited anytime that we can add Fiesta events.
We have a couple of new Fiesta events this year
that we're adding. A Fies the East is going to
(25:17):
be one of the official Fiesta events this year. We
have Fiesta on French is another official Fiesta event this year,
so we're excited about that. And we actually have a
couple of organizations in the queue for becoming official events
in twenty twenty six that we can talk about next year.
But we're always looking to expand Fiesta. But one of
the things that we also look at from the business
(25:38):
model standpoint, again, we want to make sure that the
events can be as successful.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
As they can be.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
When you have that many events in those eleven days,
sometimes there is that competition factor for you know, maybe
the same attendance at certain areas of town or certain events,
and you know, there's only so many portage ons and
dumpsters in town kind of thing. So we are looking
at strategies too on how we can how we can
maximize Fiesta and maximize the benefits for all these organizations too.
(26:05):
So I think that's important that the one of the
great things about our Fiesta Executive Committee is not only
are they worried about what's happening in the current year
of Fiesta, but like Jim said, we're talking about three
and five year plans down the road and and you know,
what is Fiesta going to look like in five years?
And I think that's also exciting from a from for
(26:25):
the city to know that that, you know, this organization
is really.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Committed to treating it like a business as well.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Yeah, we want to have a lot of fun, we
want to support a lot of charities, but there's also
a business element that we're trying to do. There's a
large economic impact that's involved, so that is exciting as
we look to continue to enhance Fiesta. And yeah, the
more that we talk about Fiesta, the more awareness that
we generate. We hope that we can definitely you know,
have more events and more people support those events.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Absolutely, not one three by five cars. Now what he's
on it. I mean, you know he must study this.
There is something.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
I've be living Fiesta for a long time, but I
think one of the one of the other things Jim
mentioned this and this is something that it happens more frequently.
I think the people realize when when somebody gets asked, oh,
I went to Fiesta.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
And they may have went to just one event.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
And one of the things that we try to let
our organizations know is that as much as the Fiesta
Commission is helping those organizations, we also make sure that
we communicate to our Fiesta events and our organizations that
they are also representing the entire Fiesta, the entire world
of Fiesta, the entire population of Fiesta goers. So sometimes
(27:43):
sometimes people may only come to for example, let's say
Taste to New Orleans for example, or they go to
the Pinatas and the Barrio, or they go to the
Taste of the North Side, or they go to oyster
bake over at Saint Mary's.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
That may be the only event that that.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
Person goes to during Fiesta, but in their mind, he
or she went to Fiesta, right, christ, So we really
try to explain to organizations that we want to provide
the assistance to make sure that their event can be
as successful as they can be because they are representing,
they are giving the standard of what a person going
to Fiesta expects, and because that might be their only
(28:17):
event during Fiesta, we want to make sure that no
matter which event they go to, we want somebody to
come back and go, Man, Fiesta.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
Was just awesome.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
I'll be there next.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
I think that's great.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
That's something that we really try to make sure our
organizations understand that they do have a responsibility to make
sure that their event is good, that's well organized, because
it does represent all of the one hundred organizations that
go on.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Let's talk about the real stuff here. Let's talk about
chicken on the stick.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
All right.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
That's good because.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
When I did when I was a part of my
first guesta here, when I arrived to San Antonio started
working here, that's all I heard about was chicken on
the stick.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Chicken on a stick.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I had no idea what the significance behind and the
importance behind chicken. And honestly, because it is a big deal.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
But do you eat it with the halopena or with
that with the halopen What are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I hope that you said I did this right the
first time, and I said, okay, this is how we're
doing right.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
With the kapen on top of the stick.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
And they put some jolopeno juice ripple on the chicken.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
While it's on the steak and let the juice drift down.
See now, folks that are listening to this, they're probably thinking,
what are they talking about? But this is one of
the cool little little little quirks about Fiesta.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Right, you hear about chicken on the stick.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Aside from all the important stuff and the fundraising, chicken
on the stick, you hear about I don't know. Give me,
give me some other examples examples of maybe stuff you
like to eat at Fiesta.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Why, I tell you one of the things that that's
very unique and it really only happens during Fiesta. When
I go tonight and Old San Antonio, one of the
first boots that I go to is thees Cargo booth.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
You know that is that is just great.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
It's in the the garlic butter and it has the
piece of bread that goes with it that is one
of the staple items that I have to get besides
the chicken on the sticks and the gordidas, and that,
for some reason is one of those staple items I
have to get.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
So it's it's you know, the food that you can
find at Fiesta throughout those eleven days is another layer
to this onion that is Fiesta just crazy experiences. You know.
It's it's food, It's it's it's the rides at the carnival, right,
it's the parades, niosa, it's all the concerts happening throughout
(30:29):
the city. So you know, if if you've ever uh
thought about visiting San Antonio this time of the year,
end of April this year is when to do it,
because it's just it's a whole other world.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Right it is.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
It's a magical time in San Antonio, and it's a
lot of fun. That's the one thing that when we
say party with a purpose, we we like to highlight
that party part just as much as the purpose. We
you know, I think the thing that makes it exciting
is a lot of the people on our executive committee
have worked with some of the Fiesta organizations, so we
are a fun group to hang with too. During Fiesta's right.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
I think Steve, you look like an.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Organizations kind of trying to feed off of us as
well too.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
We love to have fun undrough events, and we were there,
so I just think that really kind of puts people
in a mindset. And they're wearing crazy hats and they're
wearing all these metals, and they wearing sashas and it's
you know, a certain Fiesta fashion that goes on. So
there really is something that people haven't been experiencing a
Fiesta before.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
It really is something to come out and see.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
This has been an enlightening conversation because there's more I learned.
I learned about something new about Fiesta every year. Every
year it's something different, whether it's the history of chicken
on the stick or how delicious it is. It is
to the how how Fiesta got started. Next episode I
want to talk about and we got to bring in
like like an expert. Is I want to talk about
the metals, right, because that's another thing you see. A
(31:50):
FSA is such an important piece of Festa because there's metal,
you know, people trading metals, there's metals being sold for
a reason that's also to raise funds and uh, I.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Mean can guess he touched on like what is the history?
How that gets started?
Speaker 6 (32:02):
So King Antonio, get this all right, King Antonio started.
So it was when I was at Saint Luke's Catholic School.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Well year was this? That was in the early seventies,
seventy four. OK.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
So he came and visited and they he created they
created a medal. They were always given out a little metal,
but he created a medal that he.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Put into it. Darned I should have brought it. Well,
it's so let me describe it.
Speaker 6 (32:29):
It's a round metal that's in a paper holder that
says King Antonio or singer and and it was one
of the official medals that you pinned on yourself. And
from that time it's grown into an incredible thing. And
(32:50):
the pandemonia that creates. We actually give the opportunity doing
Fiesta Fiesta our first event come out. There's pmos that
are going to be there and that we sell in
their pins. But this is everybody that somebody and one
day I'm going to be somebody will create a pan
(33:10):
and in a medal and it's just a it's a
wonderful exchange.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, I've I've learned, even though I'm from San Antonio,
that you gotta carry you extra and pucket.
Speaker 6 (33:22):
Man.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Let's simplify this for the younger folks. It's like trading
Pokemon cards, except these are heavy and once you got
a lot of a lot of them on you, it
weighs down.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
But it's cool because it's it's it shows.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
The the the creativity or the better said, the the
story behind each organization or business or whoever that gets
a metal put together. One of one of my favorites
sis here thus far that I've seen is of the
world's youngest mad.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
His lights up and that is.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Very cool, and it has his picture on there, his image.
It's this beautiful big metal. It's wired up and it
lights up. The other one I saw recently because it's
just to me it looked very regal. I think it's
from Ray. What was the one I was mentioning my
colleague here in the studio. It's very very simple. It's
like a solid like a dark blue color, right, it
was a blue or something like that, and it's just
it's very clean. So it looks very regal to me.
(34:15):
So you have fun exciting designs with lights to regal
and like very prestige, prestigious. So the creativity behind these
metals and the trading and then the money they gets
raised towards different organizations, it's just another again, another layer
to this crazy onion that is FSA.
Speaker 4 (34:32):
So it is very cool. I mean.
Speaker 5 (34:33):
The other thing about the metals too, is that it's
a great way to promote the organization. Yeah, they do
sell metals to raise money, but be able to also
promote your organization through the metals. Sometimes it's also a
piece of art at times, you know, I know what
the season's done that, you know, That's always been a
great story to find out what do people do with
their medals after a fiesta. But one of the things
that the people do, I've seen them at people's houses
(34:56):
and they're displaying them. It becomes a work of art.
So it really is a great way to to have
remembrance of of fiesta but also really kind of have
a piece of art throughout your house.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Last year, I was able to amass a big collection
of metals, so it's too heavy to carry around. But
so this year I want to carry my metals around.
But I guess I need to find like a vest
or something, because that's what I saw last year, folks
with vests on and they're just covered in metals. You
can hear them from a mile away walking up clink clink, clink,
(35:26):
So you know that's not something odd to see at Fiesta.
You're going to see a lot of that, or folks
asking hey, do you have any metals? You know, and
then you know, you know, get the undercover folks that
kind of like it almost looks like a drug deal, right, yeah, right,
But that's how that's how in demand these metals are,
and how cool, cool little memory of the fiesta you
(35:49):
you went to for whatever specific year you went to.
And yeah, to your point, you see metals from way
back in the day that people hold on to and
cherish and take care of. I saw some on display
at media day. Uh and and you get to hear
about the history behind some of these metals, like he
just mentioned King Antonio's metal.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
So well, if you do wear a vessel.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
One of the things that's exciting too is the actually
Mayor Ron Nurberg, he actually we actually provide him a
vest that he can put his medals on during the
rest of the time, so you fit right in with
the mayor if you get a vest. So there's a
lot of different a lot of different articles of clothing.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
We have this stove, yeah, so it pounds jeez by
the time we're done with.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
That's a workout.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
The stoles seems to kind of balance the medals a
little bit better than the sashes sometimes. But he's all
kinds of crazy and then some of the hats and
some of the crazy fashion, and you know, that's a
whole other.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
We got to bring in Michael that he can break
it down.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
And I do want to say one thing though, that
about the Fiesta commission to and I want to make
sure that we kind of mentioned this as well too,
but Fiesta's relationship with.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
The military is very important.
Speaker 5 (36:54):
San Antonio is military city, USA, and you know, I
know a lot of your listeners are have been involved
in the military or their families have been. And I
think that's something that makes San Antonio special as well too.
When Fiesta talks about the military involvement. Every year, it's
either the Air Force or the Army that serves as
the military coordinators.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
For the year.
Speaker 5 (37:15):
And one of the things that's exciting about Fiesta as
well is we do have military ambassadors. We have a
PMO and organization, the Civilian Club, and they work with
the military branches and have these military ambassadors go to
Fiesta events throughout the year to really promote their branch.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
So two members of each branch.
Speaker 5 (37:34):
Of the military and they will go to different Fiesta
events and they'll go to support the organization, but also
go they really are promoting their branches of the military
as well, maybe to help recruit obviously to get people
to join the military, but just to show that special feeling,
that special relationship between the City of San Antonio, Fiesta
and the military. So we're excited every year to work
(37:55):
directly with the military, and they do such a great
job of in our country and protecting us and let
us enjoy the freedom that we can actually have a
Fiesta in San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
But we're very happy to have Military City USA and
support the military absolutely.
Speaker 6 (38:11):
The US Army Commanding General, Lieutenant General Alan Pittman a
wonderful man. If you see him, go say hello, talk
to this man. You'll understand, uh how he's just a
wonderful guy. And to hear him makes me feel very safe,
(38:31):
just a wonderful.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
He's gonna yeah he's loud.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
I got to see him at the poster reveal event
and he didn't need a microphone that day.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
He is he's a tall man, very tall man. Now
it's it's he talks.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
I was ready to drop and give him right.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
No, of course, again another layer of what is Fiesta
and and the proud partnerships we have with the military
being San Antonio Military City, and the fact that that
involvement is also a piece of Fiesta. Gentlemen, this has
been one of the most fun conversations I've had in
a while. And you know, we're a few days away
(39:09):
from Fiesta. This podcast will be out before Fiesta even
starts off. But always fun to talk to you guys
learn something new about Fiesta.
Speaker 5 (39:16):
One last thing, I want to also kind of give
a lot of a lot of thanks to our Miss
Fiesta Kylie Rodriguez. She's our Miss Fiesta twenty twenty five
and one of the things that's exciting about Fiesta has
a lot of royalty, official royalty, unofficial royalty, but the
Fiesta Commission is very proud to say that we have
Miss Fiesta who's one of the official royalty and she
serves as an ambassador for Fiesta to the entire city
(39:39):
of San Antonio and throughout all of our Fiesta organizations.
One of the things that's exciting about the Fiesta Commission
we have a Fiesta San Antonio Foundation that's a five
oh one C three that raises money and this year
we're able to provide a scholarship again to Miss Fiesta
as well as the four finalists, and something about something
about having the this Fiesta program has really kind of
(40:01):
expanded and developed over the last three years from a
pageant type of event to really more of a of
a project. The girls are selected. We have our five
finalists out of maybe thirty plus applications. They're selected in
early October and they spend the next three or four
months and they'll do they'll support the Fiesta Commission during
(40:22):
parades well, they'll also really develop life skills, and I
think that's also important that the Fiesta Commission, the Fiesta
San Antonio Foundation, we're also putting our money where ourmouth
is to be able to say, we want to make
sure that the Commission is also giving back to scholarships
to support these young ladies who represent the Fiesta Commission.
But anyway, Kylie Rodriguez has done a great job, as
(40:42):
all of our Miss Fiestas have done. And I just
I'm very proud of the fact that the Fiesta Commission
can really support support these young ladies and really, you know,
really have a great ambassador to serve San Antonio and Fiesta.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
And when you see Miss Fiesta this year at one
of the parades on a we all know what we
need to yell, right, that's right, yeah, one, two three.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Working on her shoe game for the parade, So wait
to see what she's gonna.
Speaker 6 (41:12):
We gotta train people though, on this other thing, what
are we missing when when we acknowledge and say hello
to people, yes we say viva, Yes we say Viva
Fiesta and the responses viva. So uh, that's another five
year plans Fiesta Viva.
Speaker 4 (41:33):
That'll be part of our ninety second elevator speech.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Yeah yeah, but don't forget that.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Well, on on the on that note, thank you so
much for listening to another well new season of the
Fiesta Podcast. This is episode one with some amazing guests,
mister Jim, Mary and Steve always mispronounced your last name,
Rosy you thank you so much for listening, and uh,
Viva Fiesta Viva.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
For more info in the official event schedule, please visit
Fiesta San Antonio dot org. Consider becoming a member and
get invited to exclusive Fiesta Member events while giving back
to the community. We hope you shared this podcast with
a friend and remember have fun, give back Fiesta. This
is your announcer, Dave Rios. Thanks for listening.
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