It was definitely a fiesta in Brownsville as the 86th annual Charro Days Fiesta took center stage in this city last week.
From parades, to street dances, to a carnival, to a festival that provided plenty of music for all, residents from Brownsville, Matamoros and other areas of the Rio Grande joined the city’s biggest celebration.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott even took part by participating in the Grand International Parade on Saturday.
Charro Days Fiesta 2023 is officially over. Here’s a wrap-up of the week-long celebration.
>> Preparations are underway as the 86th Charro Days Fiesta is just around the corner
Last week, workers continued to prepare some 31 floats that will be featured in the parades. Some 25 to 30 years ago, the parades only had about 10 floats, said Henry LeVrier, president of Charro Days Fiesta.
Charro Days was first conceived in 1937 by local business leaders to help residents get through the Great Depression. The event commemorates the Mexican heritage of the area on both sides of the Rio Grande and is named in honor of the “Charro”, that dashing Mexican gentleman cowboy.
According to Charro Days Fiesta, the first Charro Days celebration was held in February of 1938, and featured parades, dances, races, a bullfight, a rodeo, a concert, a grand ball and Noche Mexicana. Residents and visitors dressed in the traditional costumes of Mexico and honored the Mexican “Charros”.
Read more about the preparations and the history behind the celebration here.
>> Charro Days kicks off with Baile Del Sol in Brownsville
Elizabeth Street was bustling with crowds of costumed performers, vendors and celebrants Saturday afternoon for Baile Del Sol outside the Charro Days Inc. headquarters.
The smell of sizzling tacos wafted on the breeze, with children dancing and playing as the community showed up for an afternoon of fun to officially herald the start of Charro Days Fiesta in the city.
Read the full story here.
>> Fiesta Folklorica: Traditional dances on display for Charro Days
Fiesta Folklorica, the Brownsville Independent School District’s beloved annual festival of folkloric dance and Mexican music, kicked off at Sams Memorial Stadium on Monday.
View Brownsville Herald photojournalist Miguel Roberts’ full photo gallery here.
>> Brownsville ISD Children’s Charro Days Parade
As BISD bands and performing groups assembled Thursday afternoon in the Sams parking lot, groups with a band entered the parade from the downtown side, marching away from West First Street, while those without one queued up to join them from the other side of Church of the Advent Episcopal.
In all, 107 units made up the parade, from marching bands to dancers, Superintendent Rene Gutierrez and his administration and members of the BISD Board of Trustees.
View Brownsville Herald photojournalist Miguel Roberts’ full photo gallery here.
>> Betty Landreth, 100, BISD parade grand marshal, recalls 86 years of Charro Days
Betty Samuel Landreth can still remember riding in the very first Charro Days parade as a high school junior in 1938 and going to a ball at the El Jardin Hotel back when it was “the place to be in Brownsville.”
On Thursday, Landreth, now 100, was honored as the grand marshal of the 2023 Brownsville Independent School District Children’s Charro Days Parade.
Read the full story here.
>> Besteiro Middle School students stage mini Charro Days parade
Carrying Mexican Lotería placards they designed themselves, the students staged a parade through Besteiro’s front hallways, complete with a drum line and accompaniment by the Besteiro choir.
Read the full story here.
>> Families attend Charro Days Grand International Parade in downtown Brownsville
The Grand International Parade was in full swing Saturday afternoon. But like all things, the parade and Charro Days Fiesta must end for the year. The Grand International Parade serves as the herald of the beginning of the end for the fiesta until next year.
View Brownsville Herald photojournalist Miguel Roberts’ full photo gallery here.
And that’s a wrap on Charro Days Fiesta 2023. We hope you all had a wonderful time, see you next year!
