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BROWNSVILLE — The movements of the girls, the shifting and turning and fluttering, revealed the anticipation they felt as they waited to perform their dance.
Flowers, perfect in stitching and color, adorned the white blouses of the students from Paredes Elementary who had practiced their dance for months in preparation for the kickoff of Charro Days which took place Saturday. The event with the music and dance groups is called “Baile del Sol.”
“We have been practicing three times a week since October,” said Myra Cortez, one of the sponsors for the “Sharkettes” from Paredes.
“We are dancing a banda song, ‘La Nena’,” she said.
A section of street had been blocked off, the area in front of the Charro Days Headquarters at 455 E. Elizabeth St. The afternoon was filled with color and music and the aromas of tacos and perfume. The joy of the 89th Charro Days Fiesta was everywhere, and the weather was perfect.
Charro Days is an annual fiesta which was first conceived in 1937 by local business leaders, says its website. The event commemorates the Mexican heritage of the area on both sides of the Rio Grande, and is named in honor of the “Charro,” that dashing Mexican gentleman cowboy.
To Juan Rojas, 38, Charro Days is a great coming together of Anglos and Hispanics.
“It’s promoting the uniqueness of our culture,” he said.
Next to him sat his wife Roxana. The colorful flowers contrasted nicely against her brown hair and her black dress. Charro Days, she said, is very important. She had choreographed a Oaxaca dance for one of the elementary groups and was pleased with the result.
From a large stage at one end of the street, music played for the dancers who had gathered to celebrate culture in dance and song and in the spirit of the day. Parents and children and grandchildren crowded the bleachers on both sides of the street.
For Dazanique Uribe, it was something glorious and new.
“This is my second one,” said Dazanique, a California native who married into a local family which is heavily involved in Charro Days.
“That’s all they talk about,” she said with a broad smile. Her two small children sat next to her. One had performed a polka with his group from Burns Elementary.
“I’ve got relatives that are doing the contests, the frijole contest, the jalapeno,” Dazanique said. “My sister-in-law is on the board of directors. I am falling in love with it.”
Away from the dancers and the bleachers, kids and parents enjoyed tacos and raspas and visiting their friends.
Daniela Ceballos, 9, was lovely in her black Jalisco-style dress with red trim and white lace. She had come to dance with her group from Pullam Elementary.
“I have been dancing for a long time,” she said. “I have done tap, ballet, and dance.”
She prefers jazz dancing, but all of it has made her better at folklorico.
“This helps me get more experience,” she said.
Her parents were happy their daughter was doing so well.
“She’s more social, more outgoing, has a sense of responsibility,” said her mother, Karla Ceballos.
“She does talent shows, all this helps,” she said.
Daniela said she was enjoying the snacks, and there were so many.
Kids and parents lined up behind a Kona Ice truck for raspas. A man in a black shirt with a fish swimming purchased a raspa with all sorts of flavors. A young girl from Garden Park Elementary, dressed in a flowered blouse and a skirt with Mexican colors, waited with her father.
Texas Kettle Korn, La Estacion Amor y Tacos, and Yo’! Mommas Cookin! Pupusas and More. Visitors gathered beneath a large tarp to drink beer and enjoy a slow meal.
Back out on the street, the kids danced to the delight of everyone, even to the delight of themselves.
“It’s been really good,” said Sarah Olivia Cortez, 10, a student at Paredes.
“I feel like I am showing my culture,” she continued. “I have been a dancer my whole life. It shows a lot for Mexican and Hispanic and Latino culture.”
Now another dance group performed, this one an adult group called Telpochcalli Grupo Folklorico based in Brownsville. They danced with hands on hips, kicking their boots out. Four of the men, the ones in jeans and straw hats, picked up a fifth by his hands and feet and tossed him in the air.
It was a fine preamble for the festive “Grito” which took place in a few minutes later to signal the beginning of Charro Days.
To see more, view staff photographer Miguel Roberts’ full photo gallery here:
Photo Gallery: 89th Charro Days Fiesta kicks off with Baile del Sol