SAN ANTONIO – Fiesta 2023 is wrapping up -- and it has been a whirlwind of celebration, fun, and phenomenal food.
Steve Rosenauer, Executive Director of the Fiesta San Antonio Commission, joined Leading SA this weekend to discuss how it went and plans for future Fiestas.
“The feedback has just been tremendous. This year, Fiesta was back to a normal timeframe in April. And all the organizations just had some great successes this week. So it’s been a lot of fun to share the Fiesta family spirit with more than two and a half million people. So it has been a great week,” Rosenauer said.
As one Fiesta ends, planning for the next one begins.
Rosenauer gave us an insight into the planning already taking place for next year’s festivities.
“We are having meetings about next year, and we’re looking into the future. Obviously, it takes a whole year to plan the Fiesta with our great volunteers and all the great Fiesta organizations. We’re looking to start making some fans now. One of the possible plans would be a location for Fiesta Fiesta if Civic Park is available. We have a plan right now to move it to the Civic Park downtown and hold Fiesta Fiesta. So we’ll be working best with Hemisfair and city officials and Fiesta officials. But yes, we’re already making plans for next year,” Rosenauer said.
Population continues to grow inside and outside the city. Rosenaur shared more on how growth can lead to the expansion of future Fiesta events.
“One of the things that I personally love about Fiesta and I think a lot of people do, is that Fiesta events happen in all parts of San Antonio... That’s really what makes Fiesta very special, is that all parts of San Antonio are represented during Fiesta. One of the discussions that we’ve had with our board this year is to look at some of the contiguous counties of Bear County to see if we need to work with having some Fiesta events that expand outside of Bexar County. So we’re going to be looking at some of those some of those organizations and some of those ideas as we go. But we really want to make sure that they’re all parts of San Antonio are represented during Fiesta,” Rosenauer said.
Fiesta is fun, it emphasizes the local history and culture, and it acts as a huge economic generator.
“We did a the economic impact study a few years ago, and the results showed a $340 million economic impact to San Antonio. So that’s a great boost for the economy, for San Antonio. But it doesn’t necessarily track the charitable impact that organizations do to, which is tremendous. And we’ll be getting a lot of those numbers back in the next couple of weeks from our organizations really will be part of the purpose. Our organizations are doing a great job, and because of Fiesta, they’re able to raise funds to support their organizations that support the citizens of San Antonio throughout the entire year. And that’s really why we do Fiesta,” Rosenauer said.