I feel really proud that the onion is from here, the onion fest is here and I’m from here.
WESLACO — What do you do with 1,000 sweet Texas onions? Open a food stand here at the Texas Onion Fest, apparently.
Frankie Flav’s Craft Burger House was one of many vendors at Saturday’s festival in Weslaco and came armed with 960 sweet Texas onions for the masses. While that’s a lot of onion blossoms, it’ll also be a lot of joy doled out to attendees who come for the tasty treat.
Joseph Cantu, 34, an employee at Frankie Flav’s Craft Burger House, stood under the restaurant’s tent preparing each onion for frying by chopping it in pieces using an onion press.
Although an onion blossom is a familiar sight here at the festival, for Cantu their onion blossoms are particularly special because they are decorated with items such as brisket, pico de gallo, crema, barbecue sauce and queso fresco.
“We plan to sell out this time too,” Cantu said, adding that last year the restaurant sold out of onion blossoms.
Visitors from across the Rio Grande Valley gathered here to celebrate Weslaco’s annual onion festival. The temperature was in the low 80s, and it was sunny and humid during these morning hours, but attendees didn’t appear fazed and, in fact, began filling the grounds of Texas Boulevard and Kansas Avenue even as the event started.
Attendees such as Weslaco native Cynthia Gonzalez gathered here to celebrate the famous 1015 onion which was developed in the area. The onion, also called the sweet Texas onion, gets its name from the Oct. 15 planting date.
For 58-year-old Gonzalez, attending the festival has been a tradition in her family for years. She recalled the first time she attended Texas Onion Fest at the Harlon Block Sports Complex and was excited to see how much the festival has grown over the years.
“I feel really proud that the onion is from here, the onion fest is here and I’m from here,” Gonzalez said with excitement as she waited in line to buy her own onion blossom.
Although it is a tradition for some to attend the festival each year, for others it is the opportunity to support their community as a family.
Claudia Pina, 32, attended the event with her husband and kids, excited to share her experience at the festival with her family.
“We came to visit, watch the performances, purchase from vendors and kind of support the community,” Pina said, adding that she was interested in trying the famous onion blossom.
For her kids Adriel, Aubry, Daniel and Osiel, whose ages range from 7 to 10, they were excited to participate in the festivities.
“My favorite part is feeding the animals,” Osiel Ramirez said about the petting zoo at the event.
Lin Ortiz, a Weslaco resident, attended the festival last year and was excited to return.
“It’s wonderful, all the different people. It’s a lot of fun to come out here,” Ortiz said with a smile as she looked around at the various vendor tents.
She explained that she not only attends the events for the activities but also attends because she loves onions.
“We used to get them in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where we come from, but I didn’t know they were from here,” Ortiz said with excitement as she held an onion blossom in her hand. “They’re wonderful; we love them.”
In the spirit of celebration, each attendee received a free bag of onions which were donated by Tex Mex. According to Daniel Montes with the Culinary Center, about 22,000 pounds of onions were being given away Saturday.
According to Montez, the South Texas College Culinary Program performed a cooking demonstration using the onion.
Other festivities included children’s activities, a classic car show, music planned throughout the evening, and a documentary telling the story of the 1015 onion’s development which was shown at the Weslaco Museum on Texas Boulevard.
To see more, view Monitor photojournalist Delcia Lopez’s full photo gallery here:
