San Antonians celebrated the city's annual Battle of Flowers parade under sunny skies Friday, with thunderstorms forecast to roll into the area later in the day.
The Battle of the Flowers parade takes place on the second Friday of Fiesta every year. It was founded in 1891 as a way to commemorate the victory at San Jacinto and honor the soldiers of the Alamo. 132 years later, the parade is still going strong and attracts over half a million spectators.
The 2.5 mile parade started at Main Street near San Antonio College (SAC) and ended on Commerce Street.
One family of spectators, the Serna family, arrived at 6:00 a.m. to set up. Ernest Serna and his family have been participating in the Battle of the Flowers parade for 70 years. Although he’s a San Antonio resident, he’s been staying at a downtown hotel to have easy access to his parade spot.
“We’ve been waiting since yesterday till today for the parade for our kids. We’re just here to carry the tradition,” said Serna.
Two San Antonio teachers, Marianna and Erik Sanchez, came out to show support to their students. Their son and nephew were also there to collect Fiesta medals for their grandma, who was recently hospitalized.
“He's holding this for her to collect Fiesta medals for her. So I’ve been her little scavenger for her since she’s been sick. It makes her so happy, so even though it’s not our thing, I see how much joy it brings her,” said Marianna Sanchez.
Their son held a sign that read “Collecting Fiesta medals for my grandma.”
The Battle of the Flowers Parade is the oldest San Antonio Fiesta event. For Erik and Marianna Sanchez, the history was not lost on them.
“We were looking up the Battle of the Flowers this morning. We were reminded that this is awesome because this is the only fully women-organized and run parade in the whole United States. It’s really cool,” said Erik Sanchez.
One spectator, Rosalinda Perez, said that her family’s Fiesta origins started humbly with her mother renting out a few chairs.
“I think she started with 10 chairs, quickly grew to 25 and then she was renting 50 for a couple years and started incorporating all our family. We just continued this tradition. We've been doing this probably close to 40 years,” said Perez.
She added that even though her mom and dad are gone now, her family continues the tradition.
Fiesta continues into the weekend and ends on Sunday.
