Plan to extend Fiesta seven days gets green light

Artist Marcelino Villanueva's entry was selected as the poster for Fiesta 2014. Artist Marcelino Villanueva's entry was selected as the poster for Fiesta 2014. Photo: Courtesy Image Photo: Courtesy Image Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Plan to extend Fiesta seven days gets green light 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The City Council on Thursday unanimously approved extending Fiesta 2014 from 11 to 18 days so the opening weekend doesn't overlap with Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The citywide party now will begin April 10 instead of April 17. It still will run through April 27.

Like many of the official Fiesta events forced to reschedule in deference to the holiday, several unofficial events are moving, too — or considering doing so.

One event, Fiesta Castle Hills, will be moved to Saturday, April 12 from April 19.

“A lot of people who participate in our parade also do the Battle of Flowers or Fiesta Flambeau, so we couldn't move it back (to Saturday, April 26),” said Richard Huizar, the event's committee chairman. “Fiesta's a good thing, but your faith is huge. We didn't want to interfere with the Easter observances.”

Festival de Cascarones, which usually is held Fiesta's opening weekend, already had been rescheduled to Sunday, April 27, when word came that the Fiesta Commission was considering expanding the event by a week.

“We were like, 'Oh, wow, we could have moved it up a week instead,” said Marilu Reyna, a spokeswoman for Texas A&M-San Antonio, which sponsors the fundraising music festival. “But we've already booked the band and ordered the street banners, so we'll probably stay where we are.”

Officials with the Main Plaza Conservancy, which runs Corazon Fiesta, still are uncertain when their music event will take place.

“We held it on the first Saturday (of Fiesta) this year, but if we did that again, there'd be a conflict with the Passion of the Christ that San Fernando Cathedral does,” said Ashley Quinn, the conservancy's program manager.

Quinn said a meeting was scheduled for Friday with officials from the conservancy, the cathedral and others to hash things out, adding: “It's likely the Passion of the Christ will do their thing and we'll do ours at a different time.”

Alamo Heights Night, formerly an unofficial event that this year officially comes under the Fiesta banner, also will move up to Friday, April 11. It's usually held on the first Friday of Fiesta.

“We're on the campus of the University of the Incarnate Word, so it seems appropriate to move,” operations manager Rick Berchin said.

When it was held at the Alamo Heights pool, the event went forward even if it conflicted with Good Friday, he recalled.

“We probably did more business because we were one of the only events on the schedule.”

During Thursday's City Council meeting, several members expressed appreciation for efforts made to avoid a conflict with the holiday.

“Thank you and the Fiesta Commission and everyone who worked together to make sure we know how to really respect all of our traditions that we have in S.A.,” District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca J. Viagran said to Jim Mery, interim director of Downtown Operations, who presented the proposal.

The run of Fiesta must include San Jacinto Day, which is April 21. There are no plans to expand Fiesta beyond 2014.

Also on Thursday, the Fiesta San Antonio Commission unveiled its 2014 poster.

Created by artist Marcelino Villanueva, the poster depicts the sun encircled by Mexican loteria cards with Fiesta-related designs: the Alamo, cascarones, a piñata and the like.

“I remember playing with loteria cards as a child, and the concept hasn't been used in a Fiesta poster before so I decided to go with it,” said Villanueva, a computer graphics artist in the San Antonio Express-News marketing department.

His poster was selected from among 42 entries, and this is the second time his work has been chosen for the official Fiesta poster.

rmarini@express-news.net