2,000 expected to celebrate
Fiesta at San Antonio church

By Claudia M. Williams
Staff Writer
Colonial Hills UMC, San Antonio, was expecting some 2,000 guests Thursday night.
The visitors were coming for Family Fiesta, one of only a handful of church-sponsored activities recognized as an official part of Fiesta San Antonio.
Fiesta is an annual community celebration that runs for 10 days each April. This year’s citywide party began April 21 and concludes Sunday.
Across the city nonprofit organization sponsor more than 100 events, including the popular Night In Old San Antonio. Often called “NIOSA,” it showcases 15 cultures with their costumes, music and food.
Colonial Hills, the only United Methodist congregation officially involved in Fiesta, puts on a festival designed specifically for children and families. No alcoholic drinks are allowed, and activities are favorites of children and youths. Those include pony rides, dunking booths and popular carnival snacks.
Admission and parking are free.
“You go to these events, like NIOSA, and you can’t take your kids,” said Jim Bruton, one of the Colonial Hills event organizers. “Or you don’t want to.”
People like to have a Fiesta event that’s safe and that they can take their families to, he said—and one that isn’t in downtown San Antonio.
Family Fiesta isn’t just a neighborhood party for the church, located on the near northwest side of San Antonio, Bruton said. While celebration is its main purpose, Family Fiesta is an outreach to the community and a source of funds, too.
Colonial Hills gives away a number of items with information about the church on them. When people buy sodas, for example, they get a free church koozie.
To win various prizes, people fill out registration forms. Their information is later used for contact by the church. Volunteers were to give away Bibles at Thursday’s event.
“We have had visitors come to worship from Family Fiesta,” Bruton said. “Some people who have become members of Colonial Hills came to Family Fiesta and got information and joined the church.”
Family Fiesta costs the church about $8,000 to $10,000, which the church usually recoups, Burton said. Food and game vendors give 20 percent of their proceeds to the church. Any profit the church makes from the festival goes into its outreach ministries fund.
Now in its 12th year, Family Fiesta is always scheduled on the Thursday night before the Battle of Flowers parade. San Antonio area schools are closed on that Friday.
“We do it on Thursday so the kids can stay up,” Bruton said, “and their parents don’t have to get them up in the morning.”
Bruton, with his wife, Gina, and Joe Piekos, organized this year’s event.