2020 Fiesta Day Celebration will continue!Fiesta Committee Finds Creative Ways to Continue Fiesta Day Celebration! Fiesta Day at the Colorado State Fair will continue! The Colorado State Fair Fiesta Committee has found creative ways to keep the spirit and celebration of Fiesta Day alive, despite COVID-19. The committee voted this week to host the event branded “El Día de Fiesta Reinventado” (Fiesta Day Reinvented) at the Colorado State Fair on Sunday September 6, 2020. Ivan Reyes, son of Henry G. Reyes who was instrumental to the foundation of Fiesta Day, will be leading the charge and said, “In our culture and history we have faced many obstacles and had to rise and overcome. After 53 years without interruption we were not about to let COVID-19 defeat us. Viva Fiesta Day!” Though it will be a scaled down version, it will reach as many people as possible via live streaming and other virtual platforms. The public will be able to participate safely from the comfort of their own vehicles. The committee opted to include many of the traditional Fiesta Day events. The day will include a Mariachi Mass in collaboration with the Diocese of Pueblo and a drive-through parade at the fairgrounds. This year’s “reverse parade” will include activities where the units are stationery and motorists drive through. This will allow the entertainment, dancers, Fiesta Queen and Court to have their own space safely apart from each other. Spectators will stay in their cars and proceed down a pre-established route through the fairgrounds. The day will kick off at 11:30 am with a Mariachi Mass live streamed to Facebook from the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Pueblo. No in person participation will be offered, but the public is encouraged to tune in online. The reverse parade will begin at 1:00 pm at the fairgrounds in front of the Events Center and will feature entertainment by Serina Sonrisa with Up Town Jam, Mariachi Lobos, and CSU Pueblo Ballet Folklorico. Fiesta Day Programs will be handed out to spectators. In the spirit of this year’s pageant theme “Mujeres Cambiando el Mundo” (Women Changing the World), the 2020 Fiesta Queen and Court will be front and center at the event. They will encourage future Fiesta Queens by giving out mini tiaras to little girls who come through the parade route. There will be no charge for the public to participate in the event. History of the CommitteeFiesta Day
Fiesta Day, as we know it today, took form in the last three days of the Colorado State Fair in 1966. Mr. Henry G. Reyes was able to convince the newly appointed State Fair Manager, Don Svedman that his ideas for a day dedicated to the importance and influence of the Hispanic Culture in our community were worth celebrating. Mr. Svedman was looking for ways to make the fair more successful. The idea of Fiesta Day had been previously proposed, but never adopted. Together with George Sandoval, KAPI Radio Station manager, they were able to contract a performance for Thanksgiving Day, 1966, with famed singer Antonio Aguilar and his wife Flor Silvestre. Mr Svedman was so impressed with the brilliance and performance at the well-attended event that he was willing to support the idea of “Fiesta Day” during the State Fair. A committee was formed and would select a theme, which would be celebrated with mariachi music, charros, folklorico dancers, and caballos amaestros. There would be wonderful decorations, food and plenty of fanfare. Mr. Antonio Aguilar would present grandstand entertainment and would bring his trained horses to acquaint people with the Mexican Cowboy- El Charro Mexicano. The Charreada, or Mexican Rodeo, continues to be a Fiesta Day tradition to this day. As Henry Reyes once said, “The important part for a successful Fiesta Day is to find other persons enthusiastic about the idea and then to excite all of Pueblo and the entire State of Colorado.” Our continued partnership with the Colorado State Fair to support the Hispanic community has kept this tradition going for all these years.  Fiesta Queen Pageant
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