SAN ANTONIO – Thousands of volunteers have spent countless hours building, cooking, assembling and creating the Fiesta favorite event opening on Tuesday.
Ahead of NIOSA’s 77th year, welcoming around 20,000 people each night, organizers said that none of it could happen without the family feeling that volunteers have created.
“Everybody’s a butterfly, a social butterfly, you know, and everybody loves to come and see another year,” said Chairman of the Bongo K-bobs Patricia Salinas. “They’ll go ‘Hey, I saw you last year!’ and then you know they may switch numbers or they have contacts or come and see me here."
Volunteers have already assembled more than 10,000 Bongo K-Bobs made from peppers, onions, marinated beef, a secret spice and jalapenos.
“Working here in the kitchen, you make new friends,” said coffee shop owner and volunteer Marta Alonzo. “I’ve already made so many friends from last year. They remember me from this last year, so I’m here.”
Brad Dietrich, NIOSA staging chair, has been volunteering for over 45 years and helping to assemble the various booths throughout La Villita.
Dietrich said while it may look like it takes weeks to build everything, the team has found efficiencies over time.
"So we started setting up on (April) 22, and it takes us all seven days to get up,“ Dietrich said. ”And then it takes two days to tear it down and start getting it back to the warehouse after all the fun’s over."
Dietrich said what has kept him coming back year after year to continue volunteering is the family he has made along the way.
“It’s a family,” he said. “Everybody working together, smiling faces. And as I mentioned earlier, at 5:30, when those gates open, it’s, ‘Wow, we did it, guys. We made it happen.’”
NIOSA opens at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. For more information and tickets, click here.
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