A big Día de los Reyes, or Three Kings Day, celebration will be held Friday at Gonzalez Park in Brownsville, and all are invited to attend this free event.
Gonzalez Park is located at 34 Tony Gonzalez Dr. The event will be held from 5 to 8 p.m.
Día de los Reyes, also known as the Epiphany, honors the three kings who delivered gifts to Jesus Christ.
It’s celebrated every Jan. 6, and the event scheduled Friday in the Southmost area of Brownsville just happens to fall on the actual day, said District 1 Commissioner Nurith Galonsky.
“It’s something very special in honoring our cultural traditions,” Galonsky said. “It’s important to have events in different parts of the city, and I think this one is especially significant because of a lot the people in this area do celebrate Día de los Reyes.”
This is the third year the event is being held, and Galonsky expects at least 500 people to attend.
Sponsors include H-E-B, ROCA or Revival of Cultural Arts, the International Southmost Choice Neighborhood, McDonald’s, and Sylvia’s Restaurant.
Galonsky said the idea to hold the event in the Southmost area came from a manager at H-E-B who grew up in the area.
“She always wanted to do something here…since she works for H-E-B we asked for the sponsorship,” she said.
There will be roscas, tamales and rice and beans, plus music from performed by ROCA students. There will also be a pastorela musical that will cover the story of the three kings, Galonsky said.
Galonsky said organizers are also using the event as an opportunity to get community engagement for the International Southmost Choice Neighborhood.
Part of a grant that the city and housing development received to help development in the area involves an early action project.
“So we are focusing on that, on how to transform Gonzalez Park,” she said.
Ambassadors for the project will be at Friday’s event talking to the community and asking what they would like to see at Gonzalez Park in terms of public parks, murals, and other ways to make the public spaces friendlier, Galonsky said.
