Our city is launching its “party with a purpose”, Fiesta San Antonio, and this year we have so much to celebrate.
We are delighted to see the revelers back in their brightly colored attire. We can already imagine young Fiesta royalty showing us their shoes.
Better days have finally arrived. After being canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 and scaled back in 2021 due to a wave of the pandemic, Fiesta is back.
It’s a different day in San Antonio — our city’s risk of COVID-19 is at a steady low with a seven-day rolling average of 74 cases on Tuesday. Schools have rolled back COVID-19 precautions. We hosted the NCAA Sweet 16 and Elite Eight Men’s Basketball Tournament. And on Saturday, crowds gathered for the 26th annual César E. Chávez March for Justice.
Our economy looks brighter as San Antonio’s unemployment rate continued to decline in February and wages are at an all-time high, with jobs in the hospitality industry booming after the pandemic shutdown a year ago. two years.
Fiesta is a metaphor for the heart of San Antonio. We are a city that likes to party, just as we are a community that comes together to help each other when it is needed most.
Dating back 130 years, our “party with a purpose” is more than just a good time.
The 11-day event, supported by over 75,000 volunteers, contributes over $340 million in sales to the local economy, generating $3.6 million in sales taxes and $900,000 each year for nonprofit organizations, according to a University of Texas at the San Antonio Center for Community and Business Research 2017 study.
It’s the San Antonio way.
Funds are needed – just ask the San Antonio Food Bank, the superhero organization supported by volunteers, partners and donors that serves 90,000 people each week. Or any non-profit organization that helps those who are struggling.
Michael Guerra, a spokesman for the San Antonio Food Bank, told us the food bank saw weekly emergency food distributions increase from 60,000 people before the pandemic to 180,000 at the height of the pandemic, before to drop to 120,000 in the second year of the pandemic.
Fiesta is a time of celebration, and we’re excited for Fiesta’s full return, but please take a moment to reflect and remember those who are no longer with us due to the pandemic. Our community has lost over 5,300 lives to COVID-19, according to the city’s website.
After 15 months of continuous operations and more than 226,700 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered, the Alamodome mass vaccination site closed last week.
Metro Health Director Claude A. Jacob said that through the combined vaccination efforts of community partners and Metro Health clinics, including the Alamodome mass vaccination site, 76.5% of people aged 5 years and older are fully vaccinated on Friday.
Of course, we must remain vigilant. COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere — experts say the number of cases will rise again — and San Antonio still has a lot of work to do in many areas. But we can meet these challenges together – and Fiesta brings us together.
Show us your shoes, San Antonio. Long live the party!