Vicente Fernandez Jr. named Mr. Amigo 2010
Champion horseman, singer and actor Vicente Fernandez Jr. -- “a true charro for Charro Days” – is being honored with this year’s Mr. Amigo award.
Son of the legendary Mexican singer and actor, Vicente Fernandez Jr. has made his own mark in the world of charreado, or Mexican style rodeo. Read more...
Johnny N. Cavazos as Charro Days Parade Marshal 2010
 Honorary Parade Marshal for the 2010 Charro Days festival will be successful businessman and philanthropist Johnny N. Cavazos.
Cavazos is being honored for his extraordinary years of volunteer service to Charro Days, and his involvement throughout the Brownsville community. He will ride in a position of honor in the traditional Illuminated and Grand International parades.
“Johnny has been an active member of Charro Days for over 50 years,” said Kenneth Lieck, president of the Charro Days Association. “He’s a past president and life director.
Read more...
Charro Days Book signing
 Meet the authors of “Charro Days in Brownsville” at Baile del Sol on Sunday, Feb. 21
Dr. Anthony Knopp, Dr. Manuel Medrano and Priscilla Rodriguez will sign copies of their new book “Charro Days in Brownsville” between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the Charro Days headquarters, 455 East Elizabeth Street.
Books will be available for purchase. A portion of book sales revenues will go toward a scholarship for UTB/TSC history majors.
Read more...
Charro Days Volunteers ...Thank You!
Volunteers are the heart, soul and willing hands of Charro Days.
Also, the crepe paper flowers, fajita taquitos and just about everything else.
Whether it’s arranging beautiful table-top decorations or cutting, scooping and rolling hundreds of pounds of grilled beef into flour tortillas for a hungry Baile del Sol crowd, Charro Days wouldn’t be Charro Days without the thousands of helpers who give their time to make the festival happen.Read more...
|
‘Iraqi Sombrero Festival!!’
Somewhere in Baghdad, the soldiers of 812th Quartermaster Company are getting into the Charro Days spirit, with help from Sombrero Festival and Charro Days officials, plus other civic and veterans groups.
Sombrero Festival officials were contacted in January by Sgt. Mark Anthony Lucio of Brownsville, who is currently stationed at Camp Stryker near Baghdad. Lucio had a plan to stage an Iraqi Sombrero Festival, just like the ones he has attended and enjoyed all his life.
Most of the soldiers in his company, based in Harlingen, are from the lower Rio Grande Valley, he wrote.
“For years I've attended the Charro Days events and not a year goes by that I am not planning for the next one. My idea is to sponsor the same type of event here in Iraq. The ‘Iraqi Sombrero Festival.’ The soldiers and my command are pretty pumped about the idea and the fact that it will boost the morale of the soldiers.”
But Lucio said he was having a difficult time finding the sombreros, Mexican flags and other key items that would help him recreate the Charro Days and Sombrero Fest spirit far from home.
That’s where Roy De los Santos, Jr., chief marketing officer for Sombrero Festival, stepped up. In a letter to various organizations, De Los Santos asked for help with a “care package” to the troops.
“The idea that the spirit of what began 73 years ago with Charro Days still burns so strong that our young men and women in the Armed Services are working to bring it to the other side of the globe is inspiring,” De Los Santos wrote.
He noted that Lucio and his fellow Valley soldiers have plans for jalapeno- and Honeybun-eating contests, Tug-O-War and horseshoe competitions and several other events.
De Los Santos asked for donations of goods to further the Iraqi Sombrero Fest, as well as monetary donations to offset shipping and handling costs to send the care package to Iraq.
Flags, banners, sombreros, colorful serapes, and even a copy of the new Charro Days history book eventually were included in the package, along with Charro Days official posters and other items.
Charro Days officials were delighted to participate. The spirit displayed by those Valley soldiers is what will keep Charro Days an annual tradition in Brownsville for many years to come, said Interim Executive Director Carlos Banales.
“I don’t foresee it ever fading way, just because of the strong beliefs that we all have about it, and the tradition of participation that we hand down to our children.”
Even overseas, “they always remember Charro Days and Sombrero Fest, the dances and the parades,” Banales said. “We look forward to them sending us pictures after their event.”
|
