Frontier Fiesta Continues

One of UH’s most beloved traditions, the Frontier Fiesta, kicked off its annual three day event today march 25. The fiesta is one of the University of Houston’s biggest social-gathering traditions and the oldest. Frontier Fiesta began in the 1940’s with participation being about the same as the rodeo. However the festival was discontinued in 1959, but reopened in 1992. Since then it has become an opportunity for students and organizations to show their talents with variety shows.

Since the reopening of the festival in 1992, student involvement has mostly been only fraternities and sororities.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing (Frontier Fiesta) as kind of a post-Rodeo event and getting 100,000 or 200,000 people out here again,” Chief of staff for Frontier Fiesta, Darren Randle said.  “We want to set high goals and I don’t think it’s impossible to do that.”

Although the event is a school tradition and a symbol of Cougar pride, many UH commuters are becoming outraged, just as in the past, about the festival’s location, which hasn’t changed, Robertson Stadium. The stadium parking lot is by far the largest of the school’s number of lots and the most used.

To prepare for the construction of “Fiesta City” the school has closed parking lots 12A and 12B, both of which are the stadium’s main parking lots. The lots will remain closed until April 1 so that students will have enough time to tear down their stalls.

To counter this negativity to the Fiesta tradition Lucas Evers, president of the UH chapter of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, said to the university’s student newspaper, The Daily Cougar,

“As the University is trying to move to a (Flagship status), we need this event as a flagship for school pride, tradition and unity the master plan of the University is working to stray away from a commuter campus, and moving Fiesta further away from campus is counterintuitive.”

Despite the number of students opposed to the location of “Fiesta City” this year will boast the most student involvement than any year since 1992. This year will include many first-time organizations such as, the UH chapter of UNICEF, the Houston Students of Ethiopia and Eretria, and the Cougar Computer Science Club.

Frontier Fiesta will be open march 25, 26, and 27. “Fiesta City” will be open from  4:00 pm to 12:00 am. On Friday it will open be open from 5:00 pm until 1:00 am. Saturday from 11:00 am until 1:00 am. The Fiesta will include concerts, silent auctions, carnival rides, variety shows, and a cook-off. Saturday will include the closing ceremonies and awards from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am.