SAN ANTONIO – The Fiesta Oyster Bake at St. Mary’s University has been canceled for a second year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The St. Mary’s University Alumni Association on Friday announced that the beloved event will not take place in 2021 despite hopes that a normal Fiesta season would return.
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“I am sad to announce that we are canceling Fiesta Oyster Bake 2021 due to the substantial numbers of COVID-19 cases in our region,” association president Joe L. Vela Jr. said in a news release. “We cannot risk impacting the health of our campus residents, alumni and the community by scheduling the event this spring. We will return next year stronger and more focused on continuing a better and safer celebration.”
The association said the tradition will resume on April 1-2, 2022.
The Oyster Bake is one of Fiesta’s biggest events, drawing in about 60,000-70,000 fans to the university’s grounds. It’s known for its various entertainment stages, and of course, oysters.
Fiesta 2020 was canceled entirely due to the first impacts of COVID-19.
San Antonio officials had hoped to postpone Fiesta events to Nov. 5-15, 2020, but those plans were scrapped as virus cases continued to increase.
As of Friday, Fiesta is still scheduled to take place from April 15-25, 2021.
Despite an alarming number of new COVID-19 cases in San Antonio announced daily, other major events like the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo and the Poteet Strawberry Festival are slated to continue in 2021, with safety protocols in place.
The COVID-19 case count reached 155,588 total on Thursday, an increase of 2,507 new cases from the day prior.
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