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The weekend is finally here and TPR’s Jack Morgan says there’s plenty going on for the adventurous among us.
Natural Bridge Caverns
On Saturday and Sunday, Natural Bridge Caverns is celebrating recent rains, and how the rain changes the experience of those who visit it. Winter Prosapio says rain isn’t a problem there.
“We are open all year long, and rain doesn't slow us down. We do have a bypass walkway where you can see this amazing phenomenon of the Trinity Aquifer rising inside the cave,” she said.
And in fact, Prosapio says those rains have replenished the Trinity, and the cave, and now there’s water in places that were almost dry.
“Natural Bridge Caverns formations are alive. That means they're still forming every day, but that process involves a lot of time, a lot of rocks and a lot of water,” she said. “So a formation could grow under certain conditions, maybe the size of an ice cube over 100 years.”
Natural Bridge Caverns is open all weekend.
Fiesta Jazz Festival
St. Mary’s University’s Dr. Adrian Ruiz says the Fiesta Jazz Festival will feature jazz, but with a twist.
“We ask all performing ensembles to program a tune that basically has Latin style,” Ruiz said. “So it could be a bossa nova, it could be a samba, it could be a mambo, it could be some sort of salsa tune.”
The event has been around for a long time, as this weekend’s will be the 63rd Fiesta Jazz Festival at St. Mary’s.
“Tonight (Friday) will be the university invitational, which runs all the way until 6 p.m. and then, in conjunction with that, we will have the middle school jazz band festival, which begins at 8 a.m. and runs until about 4 p.m. on two stages.”
Concerts will both be indoors, so no rainouts!
Charro Association's Mexican style rodeo
Then on Sunday a rodeo that’s probably unlike any you’ve seen. Here’s San Antonio Charro Association’s Edmundo Rios on the event’s origin.
“It's a rodeo in the old way, when haciendas used to compete against each other, or ranches against a ranch, my vaqueros were better than your vaqueros, and that's how this started,” Rios said.
This isn’t a western rodeo with jeans and a hat. He said this rodeo is far more formal.
“We have to wear a suit. It's kind of like a mariachi, but it's not a mariachi suit. Tell everybody, come on down, and we will accept everybody here with open arms. Like I've always said, ‘mi casa es su casa.’”
