Fiesta Folklorica, the Brownsville Independent School District’s beloved annual festival of folkloric dance and Mexican music, returns to Sams Memorial Stadium on Monday as Charro Days 2022 gets underway for a week of celebrating Brownsville’s Mexican heritage.
BISD has two events during Charro Days, the second being the Children’s Charro Days Parade that kicks off this year’s parade lineup at 2:30 p.m. Thursday on Elizabeth Street.
Puppeteer Bradley Freeman Jr. of Sesame Street, an alumnus of Veterans Memorial Early College High School, will be the Grand Marshal.
Both events are free to the public and promise to be special this year with Charro Days returning after being cancelled in 2021 because of the pandemic.
Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and interested others can be expected to fill the stands at Sams Stadium Monday evening as elementary school children perform dances from various Mexican states. Estudiantina Sombra Verde from Pace Early College High School and Estudiantina Centinela from Veterans Memorial will perform at 6 p.m. as the crowd fills the stadium.
This year, students from Garza, Brite, Benavides, Burns, Villa Nueva, El Jardin, Champion, Skinnner and Pullam elementary schools will perform starting at 6:30 p.m.
Garza Elementary will represent Yucatan state, performing “Las Mujeres que se Pintan,” followed by Brite Elementary dancing “El Toro Rabon” from Guerrero, Benavides Elementary performing “Los Machetes” from Jalisco, Burns Elementary representing Tamaulipas and performing “Huapango Tamaulipeco,” and Villa Nueva Elementary performing “La Costilla” from Michoacan.
Next will be El Jardin Elementary performing “El Sauce y La Palma” from Sinaloa, Champion Elementary performing “Pichito Amaroso” from Campeche, Skinner Elementary representing Veracruz and performing “El Querreque,” and Pullam Elementary dancing “El Lloron” from Chiapas.
Special guests Brownsville Early College High School will perform “Que Chula es Puebla,” at the beginning of the program, and dancers from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will perform “El Coyote/Toro Mambo” from Sinaloa at the end.
“I love that it gives us a chance to showcase our students dancing in the tradition of Mexico and Brownsville and the United States, celebrating our friendship with the youth as well as the adults,” Pamela Ramirez of BISD’s Fine Arts department and organizer of both events, said of Fiesta Folklorica.
The parade departs at 2:30 p.m. Thursday from Sams Stadium and follows the traditional route down Elizabeth Street to International Boulevard.
This will be the second year for the Children’s Parade to be restricted to BISD schools and students only. Ramirez said every BISD school will participate, some with floats carrying special education students, high school athletes, or students representing other activity areas.
High school and middle school bands will march, cheerleaders will perform, it’s up to each individual school who’s in the parade doing what, as the district showcases every aspect of its operation from early childhood education to high school graduation.
